List of References

Death and Dying: List of References

The General Index at the www.accesstoinsight.org website has a selection of references on the subject of death and dying. These references have been excerpted as listed below.

First, a note of clarification about Access To Insight.

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Now, back to the list of references.

The excerpted index can help you locate sutta translations, articles, transcribed talks, books, and other items on the Access To Insight website. Again, it is not an exhaustive index: not every text is indexed here, nor have references to each and every occurrence of a given topic in the texts been included. Nevertheless, it is hoped that readers will find it helpful in steering them in the right direction.

The tilde (~), where it may appear, stands for the head-word in a given entry. Short essays and individual chapters from books are shown in quotation marks. Books and longer works are shown in italics. Links to terms listed elsewhere in this index are shown in bold face. 

Aging

The Buddha spits on aging: SN 48.41

Description of aging: MN 9

Understanding of aging as a basis for Right View: MN 9

“Aging” (Dhammapada XI)

Effects of aging on the body: Thig 13.1

How to train yourself when your body is old and decrepit: SN 22

You’re never too old to realize the Dhamma: Thig 5.8

Age is no measure of wisdom: SN 3.1

Advice to two aging brahmans: AN 3.51, AN 3.52

“Beyond Coping: The Buddha’s Teachings on Aging, Illness, Death, and Separation” (Study Guide)

“The 1st Noble Truth” in the Path to Freedom pages 

Illness

The Buddha attends to a monk with dysentery: Mv 8.26.1-8

The Buddha’s advice to Maha Kassapa during a painful illness: SN 46.14

One need not be sick in mind just because one is sick in body: SN 22.1

How even a sick person can realize Awakening: AN 5.121

Ten perceptions that can heal body and mind: AN 10.60

Even the best medicines for the body don’t always work; here’s one for the mind that does: AN 10.108

Five qualities that make a sick person easy (or hard) to tend to: Mv 8.26.1-8

Five qualities that make a good (or bad) nurse: Mv 8.26.1-8

“Beyond Coping: The Buddha’s Teachings on Aging, Illness, Death, and Separation” (Study Guide)

“The 1st Noble Truth” in the Path to Freedom pages

“A Good Dose of Dhamma for Meditators When They Are Ill” (Kee)

A Handbook for the Relief of Suffering (Lee)

Ministering to the Sick and Terminally Ill (De Silva)

“Our Real Home” (Chah)

Straight from the Heart (Boowa)

To the Last Breath: Dhamma Talks on Living and Dying (Boowa)

“The Last Sermon” in Inner Strength (Lee)

“The Truth and its Shadows” in Inner Strength (Lee)

“Using Meditation to Deal with Pain, Illness, and Death: A talk given to a conference on AIDS, HIV and other Immuno-deficiency Disorders” (Thanissaro)

Death

Five subjects for frequent recollection: AN 5.57

Understanding of death as a basis for Right View: MN 9

Why do we grieve when a loved one dies?: SN 42.11

As one of seven beneficial reflections: AN 7.46

As a call to abandon grief and lamentation: Sn 3.8

The greatest protection for the layperson: Sn 2.4

Overcoming death by regarding the world as empty: Sn 5.15

Overcoming fear of death: AN 4.184, Thag 16.1

Heedlessness leads one to death: Dhp 21

No need for worry as death nears: SN 55.21, SN 55.22, AN 6.16

Citta’s deathbed conversation with some devas: SN 41.10

Sariputta’s teachings to a dying Anathapindika: MN 143

Ven. Ananda’s grief over Ven. Sariputta’s death: SN 47.13

The Buddha’s reaction to Ven. Sariputta’s death: SN 47.14

Kisa Gotami’s grief cured by searching for a mustard seed: ThigA X.1

Death by a runaway cow: MN 140, Ud 1.10, Ud 5.3

Death by murder (see also Murder): Ud 4.3

Death of daughter: Thig 3.5

Death of grandson: Ud 8.8

Death of son: MN 87, SN 42.11 Ud 2.7, Thig 6.1

Death of spouse: AN 5.49

Honor your ancestors and deceased loved ones with gifts: Pv 1.5

Reflections on the brevity of life:

  • Death comes rolling towards you, crushing everything in its path. Are you ready?: SN 3.25
  • Life flies by, faster than any arrow. What are we to do?: SN 20.6
  • No shelter from aging and death: SN 2.19
  • Your last day approaches — this is no time to be heedless! Thag 6.13
  • Life is brief — practice ardently! Ud 5.2

“Beyond Coping: The Buddha’s Teachings on Aging, Illness, Death, and Separation” (Study Guide)

Buddhism and Death (M. O’C. Walshe)

“Educating Compassion” (Thanissaro)

“Facing Death Without Fear” (De Silva)

“The 1st Noble Truth” in the Path to Freedom pages

“Our Real Home” (Chah)

“The Last Sermon” in Inner Strength (Lee)

Straight From the Heart (Boowa)

To The Last Breath — Dhamma Talks on Living and Dying (Boowa)

Deathless (amata-dhamma; a synonym for Nibbana) See also Nibbana.

Eleven modes of practice that lead to the deathless: MN 52, AN 11.17

Grief

How to move beyond obsessive grieving: AN 5.49

Do arahants grieve?: SN 21.2

Death and loss are inevitable, but is grief?: Sn 3.8 

Divine Messengers

“Meeting the Divine Messengers” (Bodhi) 

Samvega (spiritual urgency; chastened dispassion)

Danger #1 — death threatens from all sides: AN 5.77

Danger #2 — the conditions for practice may never again be so good:

AN 5.78

Danger #3 — there may not always be good teachers around: AN 5.79

Danger #4 — the Sangha may someday decline: AN 5.80

Who knows? — tomorrow, death may come: MN 131

A call to wake up: Sn 2.10

Death is crashing in on you, like a huge mountain: SN 3.25

Three urgent duties for meditators: AN 3.91

“A Single Mind” (Fuang)

“Affirming the Truths of the Heart: The Buddhist Teachings on Samvega and Pasada” (Thanissaro) 

Maranassati (mindfulness of death)

Death can come at any time; are you ready?: AN 6.20

Mindfulness of death should be developed continuously: AN 6.19

As one of the ten Recollections: see Recollections, ten.

“Mindfulness of Death: Insight Meditation” (Lee)

Buddhist Reflections on Death (V.F.Gunaratna)

To the Cemetery and Back (Price)

Words Leading to Disenchantment: Two Essays (Soma)

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Source: “General Index”, edited by Access to Insight. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 17 December 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-subject.html .

©2007 Access to Insight.

The text of this page (“General Index”, by Access to Insight) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Last revised for Access to Insight on 17 December 2013. [The above notes have been adapted from the Access to Insight website by Alexander Peck in order to provide a context for the excerpted material. Notes taken from “Frequently Asked Questions About Access to Insight” and “General Index”.]