Graceful Exits

How Great Beings Die (Death stories of Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Zen masters)

By: Sushila Blackman - editor/compilation

Narrated by: Neil Shah, Dawn Harvey, Emily Zeller, Steven Menasche, Fred Stella

Death is a subject obscured by fear and denial. When we do think of dying, we are more often concerned with how to avoid the pain and suffering that may accompany our death than we are with really confronting the meaning of death and how to approach it. Sushila Blackman places death - and life - in a truer perspective, by telling us of others who have left this world with dignity.

Graceful Exits offers valuable guidance in the form of 108 stories recounting the ways in which Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Zen masters, both ancient and modern, have confronted their own deaths. By directly presenting the grace, clarity, and even humor with which great spiritual teachers have met the end of their days, Blackman provides inspiration and nourishment to anyone truly concerned with the fundamental issues of life and death.

©1997 Joseph K. Blackman (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Well written and translated in audio.

I enjoyed this book. It was recommended to me from a small group I have been meeting with. I was unaware of most of the stories and was moved by the authors own at the end. Recommended for those seeking true examples of living and dying.

A powerful book

if you want to motivate yourself in anyway this is that book.

This book Illustrated to me. Everyone has a purpose & it is up to me to figure what it is.

Thoughtful

Seriously researched and detailed anecdotes of how 100 enlightened Eastern beings approached—and shared—their conscious deaths, and gives approaches each of us might bring to our own death, as the author finally did.

Great little book

Would you consider the audio edition of Graceful Exits to be better than the print version?

This is a little book that relates in different voices, tales, stories and situations around dying high spiritual masters from 3 spiritual perspectives.
It has a 30 minute introduction and then numbered tales as they tell the story.
Its very nice and well made, and all the stories are numbered although not for the chapters on the online version of the library, meaning, that if you look for a specific tale, you will not find it using their chapter system of Audible. But thats ok.
The female voice of the introduction for me was a little plain. But it was fine, for the subject. The stories are very interesting and some of them quite famous, some other not that much. Its an interesting perspective on death and dying and I think it's worth the price.

Wisdom straight to your ears

I love this book. Full of wisdom and easy to understand. To hear many times.

Like Faces of Death for meditators

Would you listen to Graceful Exits again? Why?

Yes! I'll keep this book close until I die, as it is intended.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Graceful Exits?

The documented death of one of my own personal heroes, Sri Aurobindo

Which scene was your favorite?

A stereotypically practical Zen master eager to leave the physical body and thereby ceasing to be a burden in his declining health, took the advice of his faithful to NOT die yet, as it was the midst of winter, and a funeral ceremony then would be cold and uncomfortable. He agreed and suspended his death until warmer weather.

What insight do you think you’ll apply from Graceful Exits?

There is no regret in death when we are prepared for rebirth.

Any additional comments?

We all die, it is best to learn how some of the best die-ers have died.

For the Money

The price is right foe this audio! Don't know exactly what I was expecting but I found myself a wee-bit bored thruout this audio. The few about high lamas experiencing the Rainbow Light was good and is read of this before. The price is right for this one!

narration you get for $1.95

death poems by " great beings" FYI/ great beings die pretty much the same way not-so-great-beings in human form die/ that said these poems and little stories of passing are excellent/ can't say same for the mangled pronunciations of the numerous narrators/ is it so hard to find someone who knows how the various Chinese/ Japanese and Indian names should be pronounced? oh well/ you get---sometimes--what you pay for and at $1.95 i really am not complaining--well not much/

all that said there is still much to learn much to ponder here/

boring

only eastern persons, mostly Buddhist monks.going mostly all in the same way. Ì had trouble listening to the end

Amazing

Such a. Great book! Couldn’t stop listening and sharing everything I heard with my husband