Zen teacher Joan Halifax's Project on Being with Dying has been helping both the dying and their caregivers to face death with courage and compassion since 1994, but her work with the contemplative approach to the dying process goes back much further than that. Here, Joan offers the fruits of her three decades of work with the dying, providing comfort, inspiration, and practical skills for all those who are in the process of dying or who are charged with a dying person's care.

Her teaching, based on Buddhist principles, emphasizes that we have the ability to open up to and rely on our inner strength, and we can help others who are suffering to do the same. She notes that all of us will ultimately have to deal with the loss of parents and loved ones and that most of us are largely unprepared emotionally for their deaths. She says that the process of dying is a rite of passage, and can be viewed as natural and not something to be denied.

Joan offers stories from her personal experience as well as guided exercises and contemplations to help readers meditate on 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?

"In this moving meditation on palliative care, Halifax tells a story about a dying Zen teacher who confesses to his students: 'Maybe I will die in fear or pain. Remember there is no right way.' This sentiment forms the core of a book that provides practical and philosophical guidance to caregivers. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in the 'contemplative care of the dying,' Halifax honestly enumerates the challenges of being with the dying while exalting it as 'a school for unlearning the patterns of resistance... [it] enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown.' According to Halifax, 'bearing witness to dying' can teach innumerable lessons to the living — assuming 'we give up our tight control strategies, our ideas of what it means to die well.' Halifax is a Zen priest, and while many of her teachings derive from Buddhism, her supremely readable book will attract readers of all faiths who will appreciate her clarity and compassion and the poignancy of these stories of ordinary people facing their final hours with quiet courage. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Zen teacher Halifax emphasizes that the process of dying is a rite of passage, and can be viewed as natural and not something to be denied. Here she offers stories as well as guided exercises and contemplations to help readers meditate on death without fear.

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, who are facing their own death, or who are 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 actualy 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.

To learn more about the author, Joan Halifax, visit her websites: http: //jhalifax.gaia.comwww.flickr.com/photos/upaya

To learn more about the Upaya Zen monastary, visit: www.upaya.org