Koshin Paley Ellison - 24 May

Table of Contents

Praise for Awake at the Bedside

Marvelous. A compilation of essential treasures exploring the face and feeling of utter engagement, compassion, and wisdom in turning toward death.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are

Weaving together the wisdom of ancient traditions and the experience of those in the caring professions today, Awake at the Bedside is a deeply moving, poetic, and practical guide to dying.

Stephen Batchelor, author of After Buddhism

Profoundly moving, inspiring, and helpful, Awake at the Bedside is a real treasure.

Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

This is the best book Ive read on the end of life not only what it means for a dying person but what it means for all of us. Reading it moved me to tears many times.

David Loy, author of A New Buddhist Path

Important and inspirational for all us as we move into the inevitability, the necessity, the privilege, of holding space for those we love as they make their journey. It provides compassionate guidance to honor death with the same grace we do life.

Seane Corn, yoga teacher, activist, and cofounder of Off the Mat, Into the World

A new paradigm is expressed here: death is as important a transition as birth, the journey that needs above all else love, presence, and listening. This book speaks eloquently to this new expansion of human compassion.

Dorothy Dai En Friedman, Zen teacher at Ocean Zendo

From poetry, meditation, and philosophical counsel to care-giving and care-receiving guidance, this profoundly moral book is a gift to all. Vital reading for anyone involved in the process of death and that means everybody.

Janet Gyatso, PhD, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, Harvard Divinity School

This book isnt about sickness or death its about diving into the heart of life discovered when we truly meet another person. Providing practical support, emotional resonance, and celebration of ordinary sacredness, it is a priceless treasure.

Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Contem-plative and Religious Studies, Naropa University

Supportive and honest, this collection of stories, poems, and practices is a perfect companion for providing loving support to those we care for including ourselves.

Michael Stone, guiding teacher at True North Insight

In the practice of medicine in the US, the act of dying has been completely separated from the care of the patient, yet this process can give one the deepest of gifts an insight into what living a life really means. This wonderful volume will not only relieve our anxiety and fear but will allow us to embrace what is at the end of the path; it will allow our own awakening.

James R. Doty, MD, founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education

We experience advanced illness with such a complex and changing interplay of suffering and solace, stress and resilience, that the most certain observation is that each is unique, and one never knows what is needed, unless there is engagement. Awake at the Bedside illustrates that the necessary and very human task of connecting with another is one of the most important things to be learned from the practices of contemplative care.

Dr. Russell K. Portenoy, chief medical officer, MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care

Awake at the Bedside is an essential book that points out the therapeutic power of being fully present and compassionate at the beside of those who are dying.

Dr. Mitchell Levy, medical director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Rhode Island Hospital

Finally a compendium that gets us above, below, and behind the clinical science that narrows and dominates our understanding of death, dying, and wellness. How do we make meaning? How do we relate self and other on this shared ride? Lets look inside these pages and see.

Dr. BJ Miller, Zen Hospice Project

In Awake at the Bedside, we are moved from suffering to peace, darkness to light, brokenness to wholeness. It is a quiet feast of small portions: poetry, wisdom, social context, and spiritual guidance. Bring it with you.

Thomas R. Cole, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Filled with quiet insight based on years of experience, Awake at the Bedside extends an intimate, wise, and loving hand on behalf of those whose lives are presently coming to an end, as well as those who care for them. As our families and communities continue to age and die, this book will serve us well.

Eihei Peter Levitt, founder and guiding teacher of the Salt Spring Zen Circle

Here are healing guides to being present with the dying, with the survivors, and with yourself facing death wholeheartedly. Many moving and gritty stories of passing combine with meditation instructions, subtle reflections, and poetry. These illuminating encounters with death provide deep intimacy into the heart of compassion and of a caring life. This is a truly lovely and loving book.

Taigen Dan Leighton, author of Zen Questions

When Shakyamuni Buddha directed his mind to teach the Dharma and stood up from his seat under the bodhi tree, he said, The gate of deathlessness is open. Then he began to walk the path of birth, living, aging, sickness, and dying for the rest of his life with all living beings. Bodhisattvas are still walking the same path today. Awake at the Bedside shows how bodhisattvas are working in the modern times.

Shohaku Okumura Roshi, author of Living by Vow

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Awake at the Bedside supports this development of love and compassion.

HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

THIS BOOK ISNT ABOUT DYING. ITS ABOUT CARING AND WHAT GIVING CARE REALLY MEANS. ITS ABOUT LIFE AND WHAT LIFE HAS TO TEACH US.

In Awake at the Bedside, pioneers of palliative and end-of-life care, as well as doctors, chaplains, caregivers, and even poets, offer wisdom that will challenge, uplift, comfort and change the way we think about death. Contributors include Elisabeth Kbler-Ross, Cicely Saunders, Derek Walcott, and many more.

This nourishing book should be required reading for any caregiver engaged in fostering healing and envisioning revolutionary change in how we care for ourselves and the world.
DR. ANDREW WEIL, author and director of the Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona

Awake at the Bedside brings together an extraordinary group of teachers who share their wisdom and insights into the great issue of our lives: how to understand the dying process in a way that allows for grace and peace.
JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN, author of Mindfulness

A beacon in the dark night of our healthcare system today. This is a must-read.
DONNA KARAN, fashion designer and founder of the Urban Zen Foundation

Moving and informative this is a much-needed book! Put into practice, the wisdom of Awake at the Bedside could transform end-of-life care in America.
SHARON SALZBERG, author of Lovingkindness

The essence of palliative care and our whole health-care system needs a prescription for this medicine. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
DR. R. SEAN MORRISON, director of the Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute

For Grandma Mimi Ellison who inspired us to bring meditation and care together as a practice, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care Sangha, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, our patients, their loved ones, and the clinicians who taught us how to be with all of them