Wisdom at Work

ConsciousLivingDying

Resources and inspirations for a Virtual Salon Exploring

Conscious Living, Dying, and

the Deathless—Together & Alone: 

Profoundly Practical Guidance & Insight

from Buddhism, Science, & Other Wisdom Traditions

“The fact of death is certain.
The time of death is uncertain….
We don’t know which will come first—
our next breath or our next life….
(Are you ready?)”
~ Tibetan proverb 
☀️
“If you learn to die before you die,
then when you die,
you won’t really die.”
Sufi Wisdom which we interpret as…
“If you develop access to the birthless-deathless dimensions of your being before you die, then when you die you will essentially come home to this deathless dimension of being.”
☀️

“You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot

unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,

open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires

lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity…

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides,

that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance…”

~ Khalil Gibran

Video:

•• Highly Recommended:  Death Makes Life Possible (Video from a most dear friend and researcher) – Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video, and Kanopy

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Death-Makes-Life-Possible/0GXKPFA0XY3A94G0HQKSGOUJHE

•• Is There Life after Death? Fifty Years of Research at University of Virginia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AtTM9hgCDw&t=81s

•• Sublime Continuum: Tibetan Perspectives of Conscious Living, Dying, and Rebirth
(NOTE: This is a summary to essential teachings distilled from Thurman and Sogyal’s books below)
http://www.wisdomandcompassion.us/home/Sublime_Continuum_files/LeveySublimeContinuum.pdf

Robert Thurman and Death and Dying (many excellent videos):  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Robert+thurman+dying

Dalai Lama – Some Advice on Dying – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3eJ4ezYXDI  and – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dalai+lama+advice+on+dying 

•• Kilung Rinpoche – Inspiration and Guidance for Death and Dying https://kilung.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Death_Dying-Inspiration_Guidance-May2017_updated-Sept-2023.pdf 

Inspiring new research on the most subtle stages of the dying project:

Brother David Steindl-Rast and Gale Holland on Rainbow Body Deaths https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/christian-buddhist-explorations-rainbow-body/?srsltid=AfmBOoq4MVK1SiKkIjxOReqadNU4ibeiGckGEfoa7gyQq55bmM16nWwD

and – Tukdam: Between Worlds – full movie on Vimeo

This is also available on Amazon Video

Readings:

Reading we shared from Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche on Awakened Mind in the Bardo: https://tricycle.org/magazine/bardo-teachings/

Joel & Michelle Levey http://wisdomandcompassion.us/meditations-for-death-and-dying/

•••Tonglen Meditations: Embracing and Transforming Uncertainty & Suffering: Compassion on Every Breath Meditation 

(A potent practice to antidote to the distress of these challenging times.)

•••Written Version: https://www.wisdomatwork.com/wp-content/uploads/Leveys-Essential-Practices-for-Daily-Life.pdf
NEW! Guided Audio Meditation from Michelle & Joel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfjSmvDUewY&feature=youtu.be

••Also see brilliant explanation of Tonglen by our friend Lama Willa Miller – at http://www.academia.edu/9119205/Compassion_and_Resilience_Slide_Show_for_Presentation_at_International_Symposium_for_Contemplative_Studies_Boston_2014

Also – Lama Palden’s inspiring book – Love on Every Breath – https://www.google.com/books/edition/Love_on_Every_Breath/LBWUDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
Also – see: http://WisdomAtWork.com/EssentialPractices/  for some guided audio and other links and readings

What Happens When You Die According to The Tibetan Book of the Dead

”The Tibetan Book of the Dead“ isn’t just about dying, says Judy Lief. (See her book Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality.)  This ancient text offers a step-by-step guide to what happens when you die—plus it helps you navigate the transitions, losses, and uncertainty in this very life.

https://www.lionsroar.com/the-tibetan-book-of-the-dead-isnt-just-about-dying/?utm_source=Lion%27s+Roar+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1a3b12eb95-TOP_STORIES_2025_10_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-070340879e-25760008&goal=0_1988ee44b2-1a3b12eb95-25760008&mc_cid=1a3b12eb95&mc_eid=9eda6796ed 

Also see for following excellent books:

Tulku Thundrup – Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth

Andrew Holecek – Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition 

The Dalai Lama- Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life

Larry Rosenberg – Living in the Light of Death

Notes and Media Illuminating the Science of Compassion – https://www.wisdomatwork.com/greatcompassion/ 

The Vital Role of Mindfulness for Blue Light Services, Military, Health Care and Emergency Services Professionals Who Work with Danger and Trauma (These are transcripts from our recent teachings at a special session exploring this topic at British Parliament.)

The Mindfulness All Party Parliamentary Group hearing: Armed Forces, Policing and Emergency Services Parliament Transcript-Military Bluelight Hearing w/Leveys

The Mindfulness All Party Parliamentary Group hearing: Armed Forces, Policing and Emergency Services

The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope – https://www.amazon.com/Scalpel-Soul-Encounters-Surgery-Supernatural/dp/1585427136 

Gladys Taylor McGarey – Born to Live (Modern western accounts of documented reincarnation stories from a respected colleague and M.D.) https://www.amazon.com/Born-Live-Gladys-McGarey-M-D/dp/098146484X

Meditations on Great Compassion:  https://www.wisdomatwork.com/greatcompassion/ 

Robert Thurman and Andrew Holocek DEATH AND THE ART OF DYING, A JOURNEY INTO THE BARDOS OF LIFE AND BEYOND – FULL TWO WEEKEND STREAM https://thusmenla.org/p/bardos-of-life-and-death

“Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think . . . and think . . . while you are alive. 
What you call “salvation” belongs to the time before death.

If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive,
do you think ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will rejoin with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten—
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now,
in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
Believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that
does all the work.

Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.”

~~ Kabir

Stephen and Ondrea Levine – Brilliant teachings on Conscious Living, Conscious Dying – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stephen+levine

Joel and Michelle Levey Embracing the Personal & Universal Dimension of Change, Loss, Grief, and Death (for St. Francis Hospice in Honolulu)

  • Part 2 begins at about 30 minutes into that video…

More Video of Interest:

The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1994) – Narrated by Leonard Cohen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hny2X84-RBg 

Richard Gere – The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Audiobook) [HD]

Robert Thurman – Art of Dying & Living: Tibetan Book of the Dead with Bob Thurman

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpEyx0s7r8w

Timothy Leary, Ralph Metsner, Richard Alpert – A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ca6SMjGbM

Tibetan Chanting Tibetan Book of the Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJB87qL0hOM&list=PLSKvr_vOSLY0cIE4UXfelfPA4IHMpUKaT

Moving transcript of talks by the Leveys and leaders from emergency services and military leaders regarding the vital role of mindfulness for people who work in dangerous and traumatic settings:

Parliament Transcript-Military Bluelight Hearing Military Leveys

Readings:

Inspiring notes on loss, grief, empathy, compassion, deep adaptation, and climate change: https://www.wisdomatwork.com/deepadaptation/

Great Compassion:  https://www.wisdomatwork.com/greatcompassion/ 

The image below is said to be a sources of blessings to have with the body of a person who has died when they are buried or cremated.