Life, Death, and After Death

by Thubten Yeshe, Nicholas Ribush (Editor), Thubten Zopa (Introduction)

This book contains the last teachings Lama Yeshe gave in the West. Poignantly, the topic was death and rebirth; six months later, Lama Yeshe passed away. It also includes an introductory discourse by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and concludes with a teaching on transference of consciousness given by Lama Yeshe in London in 1982.


"Tibetan Buddhism teaches us to understand the death process and trains us to deal with it so that when the time of crisis arrives and the various illusory visions arise, instead of being confused, we’ll know what’s going on and will recognize illusions as illusions, projections as projections and fantasies as fantasies." Drawn from Lama Yeshe's teachings in London, October 1982 and Geneva, September 1983.


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Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality

123 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2011

About the author

Lama Thubten Yeshe was a monastic teacher of Tibetan Buddhism most closely associated with the Gelug school of the Dalai Lamas. He established the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and was succeeded in leadership of that organization by his heart-disciple Lama Thubten Zopa in 1984.

Reviews

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I wasn't borrowing this, over half of it would be highlighted.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book transcribe the last teachings of Lama Thubten Yeshe before he passed away. While his teachings in these sessions were limited and geared towards beginners, there was a lot of substance in them for us to ponder. Tibetan buddhism can get pretty complex but like a rose bud waiting to open if you take the time and have the patience to watch it can be beautiful and worth it.

[Thupten Tsoklam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for anyone who sees some bad people as their enemy, and this book is for anyone with fear of death.
Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–84) was born in Tibet and educated at the great Sera monastic university in Lhasa. After the Chinese attack on Tibet in 1959, he, as well as many other Lamas, geshes, monks, nuns and Tibetan people, fled from Tibet, and they separately settled in many different countries in the world. He continued his studies and practice in India. There, Geshe Rapten was the master of Lama Thubten Yeshe, and Ven. Gonpo. He gave each of them students, so Lama Thubten Yeshe got Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and Ven Gonpo got the Sera Me abbot as his student in Baksa. After that, they both began teaching Buddhism to westerners at Kopan monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal. Afterward, in 1974, at the invitation of their international students, the lamas began to travel the world to spread the Dharma. Since 1975, they have founded the FPMT, an international Buddhist organization that now has some 160 centers and related activities in more than 30 countries worldwide.
By reading this book, your life becomes more stable and full of happiness, and you get more ideas about living with Dharma in your everyday life. I learned many new words, and it changed my polluted thoughts and intentions toward all things and their reality.
Lama Thubten Yeshe attained paranirvana in 1984, and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche attained parinirvana on April 13th 2024.
- By Thubten Tsoklam (Class 10, Kopan Monastery)

[2GB GAMER · Rating 5 out of 5]

TITLE: Life, Death and after death
The author of this book is Lama Yeshe. He lived from 1934–84. He was educated at the great Sera Je monastery. He began teaching Buddhism to westerners at Kopan Monastery. I will rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is because it teaches us a lot about life and death. I really enjoyed reading and learning new things from it. We can learn so many things from it. I think it’s good to spend your free time reading this book.
This book is good for every living being. The way Lama explains life, death and after death is so nicely done in this book. I also learned so many things from it such as what peace is, how we can find peace in our everyday lives, etc. The topics that I mentioned above are the ones that I liked the most from this book, but you can find so many topics in the book. The main thing we can learn from it is to be free from this samsaric life -- I mean freedom from suffering. If we learn the process of becoming free, it can give us lots of benefits in our lives. The benefit that we can get from these books is so unexpected, so try to read them and learn something.
These books can change our lifestyle and, make us more attracted to Buddhist Dharma and practicing it. It shows that if we learn to practice it in our daily lives, then we can be free of suffering. Read it and understand the death and after death.
I hope you will understand what I am saying. Just read it once and make your life into a meaningful life.
- By Thubten Dondup (Kopan Monastery – Class 10)

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by Lama Thupten Yeshe. He was born in 1935 in Tibet, and educated at the great Sera Monastery University in Lhasa. In 1959, he fled the Chinese oppression and continued his study and practice in Tibetan refugee camps in India. In 1969, with his chief disciple, Lama Thupten Zopa Rinporche , he began teaching Buddhism to Westerners at their Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal. Then he started to teach Buddhism all over the world, and he is the founder of FPMT…
This book is for the process of finding peace in human life. It teaches about why we should understand the death process. And also, this book teach the importance of meditation.
- By Lobsang Donden – Class 10, Kopan Monastery

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Like many of these by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche, it is a transcription of talks given over a weekend workshop. As such, it isn't as structured or detailed as a text deliberately written to inform on a subject, so isn't as detailed as I'd like it to have been. But it's only 112 easy pages and can be read in a day (as I did).
Each section is followed by questions and answers.
These books are available by donation from Tibetan Buddhist centres. However, they have stopped printing them, so in future will be available from FPMT online (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition).

[Thupten Zorlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for anyone who doesn’t know about life, death, birth, and what happens after death; and also anyone who would like to know more about death from a Buddhist perspective. The author of this book is Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He wrote it to help develop peace in the life of all sentient beings. Yes, this book is good.
- By Thubten Jorlam – Class 10 (Kopan Monastery)

[Dawn Saquin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I'm not a buddhist, I love the life antidotes that can be observed and practiced by all walks of life in these short transcripts of Lama Yeshe's seminars.

"A person who is angry has no freedom. "
"Your responsible for your own happiness/satisfaction/misery"