Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death by Joan Halifax

I'm subscribed to the Mind and Life Institute mailing list and just heard about a new book by board member Roshi Joan Halifax about death and dying: Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death by Joan Halifax.

Here's the summary of the book from last week's email:

In this long-awaited book of inspiring and practical teachings, Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax offers the fruits of her many years of work with dying people. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person's care, facing their own death, or wishing to explore and contemplate the transformative power of the dying process. Halifax offers lessons from dying people and caregivers, as well as guided meditations to help readers contemplate death without fear, develop a commitment to helping others, and transform suffering and resistance into courage. She says, "Why wait until we are actually dying to explore what it may mean to die with awareness?"

A world-renowned pioneer in care of the dying, Joan Halifax founded the Project on Being with Dying, which helps dying people to face death with courage, and trains professional and family caregivers in compassionate and ethical end-of-life care.

It sounds like a terrific book -- Buddhism teaches that death is just a part of life so I've never been terrified or saddened by the idea of dying and I hope this book will teach non-Buddhist readers this valuable concept.