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The Wheel of Life & Death
Drawing on the teachings of Eastern and Western religions, with insights gleaned from his own Zen experince, world-renowned Zen-Buddhist teacher Kapleau clearly and concisely explains the often avoided subject of death and dying as it relates to each of us.
372 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Philip Kapleau
36 books67 followersA teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Soto and Rinzai schools.
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December 15, 2025
AN AMERICAN ZEN TEACHER GIVES A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES
Philip Kapleau (19
12-2004) was an American Zen Buddhist teacher, who established the Rochester Zen Center in New York, which uses both Soto and Rinzai practices and traditions.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1989 book, “Anyone researching the literature on death and dying confronts a prodigious array of books and articles… This vast literary output obviously feeds a deep human need: the need for answers to the perennial questions ‘Where did I come from when I was born and where will I go when I die? What meaning has my life, my death?’… Why yet another book on death and dying? And how does this one differ from the rest?… most of these [other books] lack a spiritual dimension---a religious attitude toward life and death---and practical guidance in what may be called the art and religion of dying.” (Pg. xvii)
He continues, “A religious orientation to dying involves, among other things, an understanding and deep acceptance of causation and the continuity of life. It also implies a recognition of the value of rites of passage---funeral services which, when conducted with passion and conviction, help facilitate the smooth transition from this life to future cycles of existence. Many people feel that funerals today … fail to acknowledge the reality of death, loss, and grief… A religion of dying need not involve dogmas or creeds or moral absolutes; like the air we breathe, it is inseparable from life. Long ago the ‘Egyptian Book of the Dead’ [and] ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ … provided such practical guidance. But these ancient texts have the disadvantage of presenting arcane data couched in terms too esoteric or quaint for modern readers.” (Pg. xviii)
He states, “Consider a burning candle: its life is also its death; death and life constantly interact. Just as one cannot experience true joy without having suffered great pain, so life is impossible without death, for they are a single process. Death is life in another form. To live with life just as it is and to die with death just as it is---how many can do this?” (Pg. 7)
He suggests, “To die artfully is to die thinking of nothing, wishing for nothing, wanting to understand nothing, clinging to nothing---just fading away like clouds in the sky. That is the acme of artful dying; such an accomplishment, though, presupposes considerable spiritual insight. To be able to die thinking of nothing implies that, through meditation and other spiritual practices, you have gained control over your wayward thoughts and a high degree of mastery over your emotions. To die wishing for nothing assumes you have realized that fundamentally you are whole and complete and therefore lack nothing. To die wanting to understand nothing means you have perceived that all things, including your thoughts, feelings and perceptions, are impermanent, arising when certain causes and conditions bring them into being and passing away with the emergence of new causal factors. To die clinging to nothing means you have realized that nothing is really ours, neither body nor mind nor life itself---and that therefore death is a letting go of that which we never really owned in the first place.” (Pg. 99)
He suggests, “If an individual wants to take his own life for purely unselfish reasons---that is, he doesn’t want to impose an intolerable financial and emotional burden on his family and friends because of his irreversible illness---certainly the karmic consequences of putting an end to his life would be diminished. As regards … other reasons … for destroying one’s life, it’s hard to believe they do not involve a strong element of ego: 'I can’t live the way I want to, so I’m going to kill myself.’” (Pg. 129)
But he adds, “Buddhism is emphatic in its opposition to suicide, chiefly because it holds that only with a human body can one become enlightened…” (Pg. 131) He continues, “Buddhism holds that because death is not the end, suffering does not cease thereupon, but continues until the karma that created the suffering has played itself out; thus, it is pointless to kill oneself---or aid another to do so---in order to escape.” (Pg. 135)
He argues, “Your mind state at the time you draw your last breath is crucial, for upon this hinges the subsequent direction and embodiment of the life force. Only with a disciplined and spiritually prepared mind can you hope to resist the pull of old patterns of craving and clinging as your final energies are slipping away. The impulses of thought, feeling, and perception all gather together in this last breath with great potency and can thwart the attainment of a higher level of consciousness and even enlightenment itself." (Pg. 140)
He asserts, “[A dead, or even a cremated person] is not dead as we ordinarily understand that term. Her consciousness, or ‘psychic energy,’ continues to reverberate… Zen master Hakuun Yasutani points out… that a person in the after-death state does have consciousness but not in what we ordinarily think of consciousness in the ‘alive’ state. And he or she also has sensory awareness of a kind not available to us so-called ‘alive’ human beings. This means that the entity can ‘hear’ the Heart of Perfect Wisdom and the other elements of the funeral service, but in a way that cannot be equated with ordinary hearing.” (Pg. 184-185)
He says, “The process from death to rebirth is said to take place in … usually 49 days…. Presumably the time of rebirth is determined by, among other factors, the attraction of the being to the parents with whom it has a karmic affinity.” (Pg. 256)
He acknowledges, “To the ordinary modern Westerner… rebirth, which is commonly misunderstood to be synonymous with reincarnation, is perceived as no more than a superstitious fantasy, something to be relegated to the domain of the channeler, spiritualist, and New Ager… Rebirth is NOT the goal. The ultimate ‘goal’… of a person with an aspiration to awakening is not rebirth---and with it the inevitable pains and sufferings attendant upon a body---but the unconditioned state or pure consciousness. What the true aspirant seeks is release from the pain and frustrations of numberless lives, from the endless cycle of rebirths, both for himself and for all beings… what propels us again and again into rebirth is the desire, the craving, the will for another body, coupled with the tightly held notion of oneself as a discrete entity. Rebirth, then, is the inevitable consequence of our not having attained full awakening and total integration in this lifetime. At the same time rebirth is another opportunity for awakening, assuming of course that one incarnates as a human being again. Remember, it is only throuth a human body that we can come to enlightenment---this is why human life is so precious.” (Pg. 264-265)
He continues, "Reincarnation implies an independent, migrating soul substance that embodies itself in a new form. The teaching of rebirth, or the continuity of life... repudiates such a notion… While there is no thread of continuity tangible to the senses, there is nonetheless a stream of continuity which can be called neither different nor identical… Thus there is no self that is reborn; there is an ongoing continuity of ‘again-becoming.' In each moment of life the individual is born and dies, yet he continues. The same is true of the moment of death.” (Pg. 266-267)
Perhaps surprisingly, he adds, “Nevertheless, there are numerous case histories of people who have remembered one or more of their previous lives. One of the most convincing, thorough, and meticulously researched books on this subject is Ian Stevenson’s ‘Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation.’ … In most of the cases reported by Stevenson, however, it was the child’s determination to see the family or her past, and her unwavering stance about the facts of that existence, that finally forced the parents to ascertain whether or not what she said was true. Another point is that there were usually a great many witnesses to the truth of the statements these children made… their stories proved amazingly accurate when verified. Any discrepancies in their accounts are recorded, and often these involve such minor things as mispronounced names or the statement that a house was green instead of blue.” (Pg. 278-279)
He concludes, “The most profound mysteries of life and death are within our grasp. If we understand that life holds the secret of death, just as death embodies the secret of life, we can live with greater peace in our hearts and greater love for all living beings.” (Pg. 300)
This is a very interesting interpretation of these issues by a respected modern Zen teacher.
Philip Kapleau (19
12-2004) was an American Zen Buddhist teacher, who established the Rochester Zen Center in New York, which uses both Soto and Rinzai practices and traditions.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1989 book, “Anyone researching the literature on death and dying confronts a prodigious array of books and articles… This vast literary output obviously feeds a deep human need: the need for answers to the perennial questions ‘Where did I come from when I was born and where will I go when I die? What meaning has my life, my death?’… Why yet another book on death and dying? And how does this one differ from the rest?… most of these [other books] lack a spiritual dimension---a religious attitude toward life and death---and practical guidance in what may be called the art and religion of dying.” (Pg. xvii)
He continues, “A religious orientation to dying involves, among other things, an understanding and deep acceptance of causation and the continuity of life. It also implies a recognition of the value of rites of passage---funeral services which, when conducted with passion and conviction, help facilitate the smooth transition from this life to future cycles of existence. Many people feel that funerals today … fail to acknowledge the reality of death, loss, and grief… A religion of dying need not involve dogmas or creeds or moral absolutes; like the air we breathe, it is inseparable from life. Long ago the ‘Egyptian Book of the Dead’ [and] ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ … provided such practical guidance. But these ancient texts have the disadvantage of presenting arcane data couched in terms too esoteric or quaint for modern readers.” (Pg. xviii)
He states, “Consider a burning candle: its life is also its death; death and life constantly interact. Just as one cannot experience true joy without having suffered great pain, so life is impossible without death, for they are a single process. Death is life in another form. To live with life just as it is and to die with death just as it is---how many can do this?” (Pg. 7)
He suggests, “To die artfully is to die thinking of nothing, wishing for nothing, wanting to understand nothing, clinging to nothing---just fading away like clouds in the sky. That is the acme of artful dying; such an accomplishment, though, presupposes considerable spiritual insight. To be able to die thinking of nothing implies that, through meditation and other spiritual practices, you have gained control over your wayward thoughts and a high degree of mastery over your emotions. To die wishing for nothing assumes you have realized that fundamentally you are whole and complete and therefore lack nothing. To die wanting to understand nothing means you have perceived that all things, including your thoughts, feelings and perceptions, are impermanent, arising when certain causes and conditions bring them into being and passing away with the emergence of new causal factors. To die clinging to nothing means you have realized that nothing is really ours, neither body nor mind nor life itself---and that therefore death is a letting go of that which we never really owned in the first place.” (Pg. 99)
He suggests, “If an individual wants to take his own life for purely unselfish reasons---that is, he doesn’t want to impose an intolerable financial and emotional burden on his family and friends because of his irreversible illness---certainly the karmic consequences of putting an end to his life would be diminished. As regards … other reasons … for destroying one’s life, it’s hard to believe they do not involve a strong element of ego: 'I can’t live the way I want to, so I’m going to kill myself.’” (Pg. 129)
But he adds, “Buddhism is emphatic in its opposition to suicide, chiefly because it holds that only with a human body can one become enlightened…” (Pg. 131) He continues, “Buddhism holds that because death is not the end, suffering does not cease thereupon, but continues until the karma that created the suffering has played itself out; thus, it is pointless to kill oneself---or aid another to do so---in order to escape.” (Pg. 135)
He argues, “Your mind state at the time you draw your last breath is crucial, for upon this hinges the subsequent direction and embodiment of the life force. Only with a disciplined and spiritually prepared mind can you hope to resist the pull of old patterns of craving and clinging as your final energies are slipping away. The impulses of thought, feeling, and perception all gather together in this last breath with great potency and can thwart the attainment of a higher level of consciousness and even enlightenment itself." (Pg. 140)
He asserts, “[A dead, or even a cremated person] is not dead as we ordinarily understand that term. Her consciousness, or ‘psychic energy,’ continues to reverberate… Zen master Hakuun Yasutani points out… that a person in the after-death state does have consciousness but not in what we ordinarily think of consciousness in the ‘alive’ state. And he or she also has sensory awareness of a kind not available to us so-called ‘alive’ human beings. This means that the entity can ‘hear’ the Heart of Perfect Wisdom and the other elements of the funeral service, but in a way that cannot be equated with ordinary hearing.” (Pg. 184-185)
He says, “The process from death to rebirth is said to take place in … usually 49 days…. Presumably the time of rebirth is determined by, among other factors, the attraction of the being to the parents with whom it has a karmic affinity.” (Pg. 256)
He acknowledges, “To the ordinary modern Westerner… rebirth, which is commonly misunderstood to be synonymous with reincarnation, is perceived as no more than a superstitious fantasy, something to be relegated to the domain of the channeler, spiritualist, and New Ager… Rebirth is NOT the goal. The ultimate ‘goal’… of a person with an aspiration to awakening is not rebirth---and with it the inevitable pains and sufferings attendant upon a body---but the unconditioned state or pure consciousness. What the true aspirant seeks is release from the pain and frustrations of numberless lives, from the endless cycle of rebirths, both for himself and for all beings… what propels us again and again into rebirth is the desire, the craving, the will for another body, coupled with the tightly held notion of oneself as a discrete entity. Rebirth, then, is the inevitable consequence of our not having attained full awakening and total integration in this lifetime. At the same time rebirth is another opportunity for awakening, assuming of course that one incarnates as a human being again. Remember, it is only throuth a human body that we can come to enlightenment---this is why human life is so precious.” (Pg. 264-265)
He continues, "Reincarnation implies an independent, migrating soul substance that embodies itself in a new form. The teaching of rebirth, or the continuity of life... repudiates such a notion… While there is no thread of continuity tangible to the senses, there is nonetheless a stream of continuity which can be called neither different nor identical… Thus there is no self that is reborn; there is an ongoing continuity of ‘again-becoming.' In each moment of life the individual is born and dies, yet he continues. The same is true of the moment of death.” (Pg. 266-267)
Perhaps surprisingly, he adds, “Nevertheless, there are numerous case histories of people who have remembered one or more of their previous lives. One of the most convincing, thorough, and meticulously researched books on this subject is Ian Stevenson’s ‘Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation.’ … In most of the cases reported by Stevenson, however, it was the child’s determination to see the family or her past, and her unwavering stance about the facts of that existence, that finally forced the parents to ascertain whether or not what she said was true. Another point is that there were usually a great many witnesses to the truth of the statements these children made… their stories proved amazingly accurate when verified. Any discrepancies in their accounts are recorded, and often these involve such minor things as mispronounced names or the statement that a house was green instead of blue.” (Pg. 278-279)
He concludes, “The most profound mysteries of life and death are within our grasp. If we understand that life holds the secret of death, just as death embodies the secret of life, we can live with greater peace in our hearts and greater love for all living beings.” (Pg. 300)
This is a very interesting interpretation of these issues by a respected modern Zen teacher.
October 1, 2025
I keep trying to part with this book but each skim sends it back into my shelves. It’s not depressing like you would think but it’s inspirational and I plan on finishing it slowly but surely I feel like four to five is a fair rating. I’ve skipped around but in whole, I’ve pretty much conquered the entire book. I do plan to go back and read it through consecutively.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews