The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Reading Aloud

by Jean-Claude van Itallie (Adapter)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Reading Aloud is famed playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie’s poetic adaptation of traditional Tibetan passages used to aid and comfort at the time of death. His lyrical and insightful poetry is accompanied by Gerry Vezzuso’s vivid photographs, Tibetan art, and other images evocative of this process. This text leads us through the stages we experience after death and helps us to overcome the ambitions, desires, jealousies, and fears that can obscure our understanding of ourselves and our transition into the next life.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible language, evocative images nicely presented.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short, compact poetic rendering of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. A type of book to read over and over again to find more meaning in each reading as well as to familiarize oneself with the phases we go through from dead to birth.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seen live, this must be quite a spectacle: dancing, music, continual movement, crazy stage design. Unfortunately, you can't really capture that in text form, and so I was left with a slight fragment of an undoubtedly more impressive whole. Still, this has encouraged me to read more about Buddhism.