|
English 240: Ancient Literature Tibetan Book of the Dead Al Drake | Cyber Cafe M/W 10-11 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com General Questions Note: These general questions are not pleasant, but they seem appropriate since we are studying a book that has to do with preparation for death. If you don't want to think about this matter for personal reasons, I'll understand. 1.What's your own view of death? Do you find it necessary or useful to think of your own death, or of the death of others who are still with you but who might someday be gone? Or is the subject best avoided if at all possible? Explain. 2. How does American culture treat death, at least as a rule, and aside from religious values? What sorts of things happen with regard to terminal-stage medical care and healthy people's attitudes (friends, the general public, etc.) when a person is known to be dying of an illness, or very old and in failing condition? 3. Based on the religion with which you are most familiar, what would you say is the purpose of such events as funerals, viewings, wakes, and any number of the various ceremonial actions and words that accompany the passing of a loved one? Is it simply commemoration and a way of expressing sorrow, or something in addition? Explain. 4. How much difference does it make, with regard to your attitude towards death, whether a person's passing is sudden and untimely, or due to a slow illness? Can a person ever be "ready" to die? Explain your response. 5. How was death treated in, say, the 1800's and earlier in America and elsewhere, as well as today in countries without much access to technology? 6. Materialists (those who don't accept any metaphysical explanations for material processes) might respond to the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the "mind-body complex" as follows: "the consciousness that generates all those noble thoughts about spiritual realms of truth is itself the product of electrochemical processes in the brain. We are 'soft machines'--we run on electricity, and when the plug is pulled, the machine shuts down. End of story. No more consciousness. Hasta la vista, baby. Period." So how do you suppose a Tibetan Buddhist would respond to that challenge? Chapters 5-6 (responses can be based on either chapter--the questions are general and not technical) 7. How important does the mentor or guide seem in some of the many prayers in these chapters--what does he or she do, in general terms? Do the prayers take up a tone of authority, or are they best characterized some other way? 8. How much responsibility lies with the person who is about to die or who has already died? Is this person mostly dependent on the guide, or is he or she more of an active participant than that? 9. What are some of the difficulties that the dead must expect as they move through the various stages (the "in-between states") of the death process? 10. What seems to be the status of the kinds of "images" (mild deities, fierce deities, etc.) that the guide advises the departed person to pay attention to? Are they what we would call "real"? Entirely imaginary? Explain. 11. How much difference does it make whether or not someone has lived as a practicing Buddhist when it comes time to go through the death process? Why does such a person still have a chance at moving to a better, more "enlightened" level of awareness? 12. Most who aren't familiar with Buddhist beliefs probably find the elaborate schematizing and "envisioning" of the fifth and sixth chapters confusing. What would you say is the point of so much complexity in dealing with something most people think of as simple?
|