This book was written by the Dalai Lama and was translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, who also wrote the Foreword. In this book the Dalai Lama uses a wide range of traditions and beliefs to explore the stages we all go through when we die. (For all my reviews of the author, click on his name.)

The 27-pp Foreword by Hopkins tells how he became a Buddhist and summarizes Tibetan History. The framework for this book is a seventeenth-century poem. The stages are described so vividly that one can imagine the process of traveling deep into one’s mind on the ultimate journey of transformation. He tells how to prepare for that time and, in so doing, how to enrich our time on earth and die without fear or upset. “If the dying person believes in God, then thinking of God may make the person more comfortable, more peaceful, and have less attachment, fear, and regret. If the dying person believes in rebirth, then thinking about a meaningful next life in the service of others will have similar results.” The advice he gives in the first half of the book for this preparation is very wise.

The second half goes into great details of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy – the body is made of four impure “elements” (earth, water, fire and wind) and how they disappear as one dies. This is far removed from modern knowledge of the body. The Buddhist concepts of “dependent arising” and “emptiness” are the same as in book 29. The ultimate goal is to advance along the path to enlightenment. If one doesn’t achieve this, then one goes through an intermediate stage (which is important to do correctly or one can get “stuck” there) before one’s next reincarnation. If one achieves enlightenment, then one attains a “mind of clear light” or “fundamental mind” that is not temporary but has “existed continuously since beginningless cyclic time.” In other words, if one is able to “transform the clear light of death into a fully qualified spiritual consciousness, the mind recognizes its own face, its own nature: the entity of the fundamental mind.” It seems to me that the entity of fundamental mind is like being “in God” or “with God,” but this cannot happen to one unless one has found enlightenment (or attained nirvana). Whatever faith tradition you follow, the Dalai Lama's very wise but practical advice in this book is well worth reading. We all can learn from him about how to prepare for and face death.