Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved

A valuable and amazing resource! These incisive accounts from different cultures offer crucial lessons on what has been lost and gained in our understanding of care of the dying over the past 100 years. This collection is a ‘must’ for those of us involved in chaplaincy care.–Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Guiding Teacher, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Abbot, Village Zendo, New YorkA wonderful contribution to the emerging discussion on how to develop spiritual, compassionate support for the dying in our society.–Anyen Rinpoche, author of Journey to Certainty and Dying With ConfidenceA wonderfully intelligent and compassionate account of modern Buddhist approaches to death and dying.–Gil Fronsdal, author of The Issue at HandInspiring. Critical insights into the actual, in-the-trenches work of caregiving–featuring numerous, rich case studies. Should be an essential text in the field.–Sulak Sivarksa, author Conflict, Culture, ChangeThese authors intelligently ask how Buddhists worldwide, right now, are helping with dying, and find that there are so many ways. They also show how we can do a better job, individually, collectively, and institutionally. This book is a treasure-trove–we will most definitely use it in classes.–Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., Professor, Naropa University Buddhist Chaplaincy programWatts and Tomatsu provide an unprecedented look into modern Buddhist practices of caring for the dying and bereaved. This book is an indispensible field manual for contemplative caregivers, and a must-read for anyone drawn to end-of-life care.–Willa B. Miller and Cheryl A. Giles, coeditors of The Arts of Contemplative Care

Jonathan S. Watts graduated with a BA in religious studies from Princeton University in 1989 and an MA in human sciences from the Saybrook Institute in 2002. He has been a researcher at the Jodo Shu Research Institute in Tokyo since 1999 and the International Buddhist Exchange Center since 2005. He has also been an associate professor of Buddhist studies at Keio University, Tokyo, and has been on the executive board of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) since 2003. He has coauthored and edited Never Die Alone: Birth as Death in Pure Land Buddhism, Rethinking Karma: The Dharma of Social Justice, This Precious Life: Buddhist Tsunami Relief, and Anti-Nuclear Activism in Post 3⁄11 Japan.

Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu became a fully ordained Buddhist priest in 1978. As a temple abbot, he has presided over thousands of funerals and memorial services while attending to spiritual needs of lay people. He received his masters of divinity at Taisho University, Tokyo, in 1979 and his master’s of theological studies at Harvard University Divinity School in 1991. Rev. Tomatsu has been the coordinator of Jodo Shu Research Institute Study Group on Bio-Ethics since 2000, an associate professor at Keio University School of Medicine since 2005, and the founder and director of Jodo Shu Research Institute Ojo and Death Project since 2005. Tomatsu is the co-editor, with Jonathan Watts, of Never Die Alone: Birth as Death in Pure Land Buddhism and Traversing the Pure Land Path: A Lifetime of Encounters with Honen Shonin.