Tibetan Book of the Dead

Questions for Further Study

• 1. If for no other reason than its title, the Tibetan Book of the Dead bears comparison with the Egyptian Book of the Dead. What differing visions of death do the two documents present? What cultural factors might have given rise to these differences?
• 2. With regard to Tibetan Buddhism, the entry states: “Everything is dying, including presently living things, but Buddhists believe that people should not panic or despair over death.” Do you see any similarities between this view and the view expressed by Lucretius in On the Nature of Things? Explain.
• 3. In 2010, thirty-three miners were trapped a half mile below ground in Chile. They remained in this dark, underground “tomb” for sixty-nine days until they were rescued by being pulled up one by one in a metal cage or pod through a narrow shaft. Their plight and successful rescue, a kind of death and rebirth, attracted worldwide attention. Do you see any similarities between the story of the Chilean miners and the vision of death and reincarnation presented in the Tibetan Book of the Dead? Do you think miners in these circumstances would be more hopeful and optimistic about their circumstances if they had copies of the Book of the Dead with them, particularly the passage that reads, “When suffering miseries of karmic propensities here, / May the blissfulness of the Clear Light dawn”?
• 4. How do you think the Tibetan Book of the Dead would be explicated by a modern psychologist or psychiatrist?