Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive

by Larry Rosenberg

Book Overview

This book presents the Buddhist approach to facing the inevitable facts of growing older, getting sick, and dying. These tough realities are not given much attention by many people until midlife, when they become harder to avoid. Using a Buddhist text known as the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection, Larry Rosenberg shows how intimacy with the realities of aging can actually be used as a means to liberation. When we become intimate with these...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570628203
• ISBN13: 9781570628207
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Shambhala
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Just started reading and writing notes. This is my second book by L Rosenberg and it is just as inst

Very informative on the subject of Vipassana meditation and loss.

Why Not Now?

This is one of my favorite books ever. It asks us to take the elephant out of the closet. That elephant is that we are all alive and at some point we each will experience our own death. That actually was very empowering for me - it helps me to make decisions about things I thought I had no choice over such as how I want to respond to certain people, situations, past experiences, and anticipations of future events. Somehow, by really getting that I will experience my own death, my present reality and choices have come more into focus. I like how the author writes - he is kind, firm, funny and insightful all at one time. I highly recommend this as well as his other books. Breath by Breath was a great one too!

Living in the Light of Death

This is an excellent, down-to-earth, practical and clear explanation of the most essential concepts of Buddhism, namely impermanence, aging, sickness, and death. Although these are topics most of us would rather sweep under the rug, the author makes a great case for confronting these issues head on. His point is that when confronted we can live our lives truer to our inner selves. The writing is clear. The analogies are simple and directly applicable. The author is honest and his sharing of his own journey helpful to the reader. This book has helped me understand these important concepts in Buddhism and I highly recommend it.

A life changing book

As a new practitioner to the Buddhist way of life, I felt that this book distilled several books/teachings I've encountered on finding happiness in the present. I heartily recommend it to anyone living - especially those living in a fast-paced society.

living in the light of death

This book is brilliant..........using death awareness as subject, the author shows us how we can actually live in freedom now, today. His clear, experiential understanding of the dharma is revealed over and over again throughout and his convicted and loving embrace of it is an amazing gift, given graciously, to us all. One of the finest dharma books ever written!

Rising above physical limitations

This book stands out from the crowded genre of authors dealing with loss, pain, and death. Most of the books I have read on the subject focus on the struggle against death and against pain, but while Larry Rosenberg certainly supports the idea that you should embrace life, he takes an honest look at what happens to people who will lose the fight--a group that, in the final analysis, includes everyone.Rosenberg is one of the few authors I have read with the courage to address the inevitable and to show us how to embrace what we can delay, but what we cannot prevent. Using examples from a wide variety of cultures, he looks at the way in which others face death, and shows us what lessons we can learn as we approach the ends of our lives. Whether you hope to live for eight more weeks or eighty more years, Rosenberg has an important message for you.