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Lessons from the Dying
Rediscover the mystery and wonder of life through gentle reflections on death and dying.
What can death teach the living? Former monk and hospice worker Rodney Smith teaches us that through intimately considering our own inevitable end we can reawaken to the sublime miracle of life we so often take for granted. A well of stories, personal anecdotes, and direct advice gleaned from years of working with the dying in their final moments, Lessons from the Dying helps us redefine our conception of what it means to truly live. Each chapter contains guided reflections and exercises that allow the reader to integrate the wisdom in its pages more fully into their lives. With a sense of compassion, Lessons from the Dying provides all the tools of mind one needs to rediscover, in this very moment, the mystery and wonder of a lifetime.
From the foreword by Joseph “ Lessons from the Dying could also be called “lessons for the living” because of the courageous honesty revealed in so many of the stories told here. These accounts reflect back to us our own attitudes toward death and love, and they prompt us to examine the way we are living our lives right now. In the busyness of our lives we rarely take time to consider our mortality and the implications that it might have for the choices we make. Yet when we do cultivate this awareness it becomes a powerful force for wise discrimination.”
What can death teach the living? Former monk and hospice worker Rodney Smith teaches us that through intimately considering our own inevitable end we can reawaken to the sublime miracle of life we so often take for granted. A well of stories, personal anecdotes, and direct advice gleaned from years of working with the dying in their final moments, Lessons from the Dying helps us redefine our conception of what it means to truly live. Each chapter contains guided reflections and exercises that allow the reader to integrate the wisdom in its pages more fully into their lives. With a sense of compassion, Lessons from the Dying provides all the tools of mind one needs to rediscover, in this very moment, the mystery and wonder of a lifetime.
From the foreword by Joseph “ Lessons from the Dying could also be called “lessons for the living” because of the courageous honesty revealed in so many of the stories told here. These accounts reflect back to us our own attitudes toward death and love, and they prompt us to examine the way we are living our lives right now. In the busyness of our lives we rarely take time to consider our mortality and the implications that it might have for the choices we make. Yet when we do cultivate this awareness it becomes a powerful force for wise discrimination.”
232 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 1997
32 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Rodney Smith
4 books28 followersRodney Smith is a renowned insight meditation teacher. He is the founding and guiding teacher of the Seattle Insight Meditation Society. He is also a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. He was at one time an ordained Buddhist monk in Southeast Asia, and considers Ajahn Buddhadassa, Nisargadatta Maharaj, J. Krishamurti, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Adyashanti, Joseph Goldstein, and Eckhart Tolle to have been influential in his development as a teacher and practitioner. He lives in Seattle and teaches around the world.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 2, 2024
If you liked Frank Ostaseski’s “The Five Invitations,” you will like Rodney Smith’s “Lessons from the Dying” (another book about death written by a former Buddhist monk). Each of the 14 chapters contains a lesson, and each concludes with recommended exercises and meditations.
Like other books on mortality, the call is to live in awareness of our finitude. However, this book makes some points better than most:
1. Why preparing ourselves for death prepares us for all of life’s losses, uncertainties, and insecurities
“Since many of our psychological difficulties come from how we handle transitions, death provides understanding into how and why we suffer. A deep and penetrating awareness of death gives direct insight into most of our problems. To investigate death, then, is to comprehend our confusion and ignorance of life.”
2. Why projecting ourselves into the future causes us suffering
“We often look to the future with a false sense of realism, as if we were assured that it will actually occur. But when we realize that dying is inevitable, we can no longer project ourselves into a certain future. Each moment becomes alive and vital without anticipating how it might evolve. We can no longer pretend that life is anything other than what it has always been – an immediate process.”
3. Acknowledging the whole of the human experience
When we claim life as good and death as bad, “having created this imaginary division, we pit one against the other. We fracture the original wholeness of life by demanding it to be only one way. The division is entirely mind-created. It is the splitting off of what we want from what we resist. Our conflict is internal not external. We struggle with our fears and desires and project the resulting confusion onto the natural unity inherent in life. . . We see existence as the opposite of extinction. We then pit our existence against our extinction in a contest we are bound to lose.”
Like other books on mortality, the call is to live in awareness of our finitude. However, this book makes some points better than most:
1. Why preparing ourselves for death prepares us for all of life’s losses, uncertainties, and insecurities
“Since many of our psychological difficulties come from how we handle transitions, death provides understanding into how and why we suffer. A deep and penetrating awareness of death gives direct insight into most of our problems. To investigate death, then, is to comprehend our confusion and ignorance of life.”
2. Why projecting ourselves into the future causes us suffering
“We often look to the future with a false sense of realism, as if we were assured that it will actually occur. But when we realize that dying is inevitable, we can no longer project ourselves into a certain future. Each moment becomes alive and vital without anticipating how it might evolve. We can no longer pretend that life is anything other than what it has always been – an immediate process.”
3. Acknowledging the whole of the human experience
When we claim life as good and death as bad, “having created this imaginary division, we pit one against the other. We fracture the original wholeness of life by demanding it to be only one way. The division is entirely mind-created. It is the splitting off of what we want from what we resist. Our conflict is internal not external. We struggle with our fears and desires and project the resulting confusion onto the natural unity inherent in life. . . We see existence as the opposite of extinction. We then pit our existence against our extinction in a contest we are bound to lose.”
March 7, 2022
Fantastic, enlightening read. These lessons are obtained from working with Hospice patients. This book is full of beautiful wisdom - a must-read, and one I will be returning to for years to come.
"As the buds of spring begin their bloom, the fall winds are just over the mountains. We touch a flower, and it has already wilted in our grasp. With all the passing expressions of life moving into new variations, love alone is the one constant. We are here for such a short period of time before we move on. Perhaps all we really have time to do is love . . . and dance."
"As the buds of spring begin their bloom, the fall winds are just over the mountains. We touch a flower, and it has already wilted in our grasp. With all the passing expressions of life moving into new variations, love alone is the one constant. We are here for such a short period of time before we move on. Perhaps all we really have time to do is love . . . and dance."
February 9, 2018
I had the pleasure of working side-by-side Rodney while he was the director of a hospice in Texas. He is extremely insightful and compassionate. This book will help you understand that learning to die will teach you how to live. Thank you, Rodney, for all that you give while taking nothing in return. You will always be my mentor, my hero, my friend.
September 7, 2020
To be honest, I never finished this book because I found comfort with the fact that I would die someday as I struggled emotionally to get to other chapters. Tears and all. I think it was the perfect book to have read as someone who had lost a loved one a while back and was left feeling emotionally scarred by the pervasiveness of death.
March 6, 2017
This book comes out of Rodney Smith's experience working in hospice, as well as Buddhist ideas of self, connection, living in the moment, and more. I recommend it to anyone who wants to truly live before they die.
January 18, 2026
Pěkná kniha. Do značné míry je o všímavosti a žití v současném okamžiku. Navíc autor vytahuje spoustu příkladů z jeho praxe dlouholetého zaměstnance hospicu, což je zajímavé a dokresluje teoretický základ o kterém mluví.
February 3, 2018
Meh. I had read some good reviews of this book, so I expected more than I got. Decent, but I've read as good and better.
July 28, 2020
beautiful
August 23, 2020
Exceptional! A very unique perspective about death and what the living can learn from it.
October 31, 2020
Read this book years ago and found it just as thoughtful and meditative this time as well.
Did not finish
December 15, 2020This book was inspiring, but once I fell out of the groove I did not want to continue reading. Did not finish.
April 13, 2023
Excellent book on death and dying- and of course, it’s also about living.
November 9, 2023
Loved loved loved this book. I got so much out of it. Everyone should read it!
March 18, 2008
Rodney Smith is our primary meditation teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation. He worked many years as a hospice counselor and was a Buddhist monk in the Vipassana (insight) tradition for five years in SE Asia. Rodney has fifteen years of insights and learnings from working with the dying. This is a valuable book filled with practice, stories, and meditations. As Joseph Goldstein wrote, Lessons from the Dying "is also a gentle reminder of what faces us all and that death is the great mystery that illuminates life".
March 16, 2015
I recommend this book for anyone who is currently experiencing or has experienced grief over the loss of a loved one, or who is struggling with their own mortality. I found it deeply touching and quieting to read Smith's insights on death and dying, as well as his accounts of the many hospice patients with whom he has worked. For a subject so shrouded in fear, this book is comforting and approachable.
May 1, 2016
Not light reading but certainly lighter than his subsequent books. This book inspired me to work with the elderly and hospice clients. Reader be aware that what this book depicts is not necessarily what one will fine in a majority of situations with the same population. I once heard someone say "everyone can be an example, sometimes for what not to do as well as what to do".
March 7, 2009
There is much to be learned about living from dying.
August 3, 2009
Lessen voor de levenden. Wat het mysterie van de dood leert over het leven.
April 16, 2012
The reflection questions were very good.
Read
May 31, 2019Somehow, this book preaches, using other people's dying to make a point. Not for me.
March 17, 2018
Sau khi đọc xong cuốn sách này mình đã muốn học về chăm sóc người sắp mất :D
April 5, 2016
Another amazing book on death and dying. Simple yet powerful n profound!!!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews