Good Life, Good Death [Paperback]

“Gelek Rimpoche is… one of the most revered and accessible teachers of Buddhism in the West… His straight talk is infused with humor.”— Los Angeles Times
 
“Gelek Rimpoche constantly shows wisdom, gentleness, depth, rascality, humor, spaciousness, and the spiritual side to everyday life.”— Ram Dass
 
“Gelek's book is lighthearted and down-to-earth.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer
 
“His teachings are helpful to all.”—Denver Post
 
“Insightful…Gelek is a felicitous writer, especially gifted with analogy. Readers will cheer about this fresh voice.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Gelek Rimpoche's wisdom on life, death and reincarnation will focus your energies on the importance of coming to terms with your negative emotions. It will also help you travel well through life by practicing patience.”—Spirituality & Health
 
“Gelek Rimpoche’s mix of astute psychological insight, extraordinary intellect, and great compassion—plus his delightful wit—make him a wonderful, wise spiritual friend and guide.”—Tara Bennett-Goleman, author of Emotional Alchemy, and Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
 
“Gelek Rimpoche is a heartfelt, tender teacher with a vast analytic mind.”—Allen Ginsberg
 
“Gelek Rimpoche…is a great teacher.”—Robert A.F. Thurman, professor of Religion, Columbia University
 
“No clichés here.  Just straight talk infused with humor, humility and a well-seasoned wisdom born of a broad classical training and worldly experience.  His lineage is impeccable and true. His simple words speak to the jewel in our hearts.”—Richard Gere
 
“Gelek Rimpoche is one of the wisest, most cheerful people I know. He is a beautiful and gracious spirit who carries the great wisdom of Tibet. We are fortunate to have him teaching in the West.”—Jack Kornfield, bestselling author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
 
“Gelek Rimpoche’s teaching is concise and soulful; here, tradition is saved only to strengthen the daily path of liberation. Answering Allen Ginsberg’s query, Rimpoche once observed that poetry is compassion. We may learn from Rimpoche’s writings that compassion is also poetry.”—Francesco Clemente
 
“Gelek Rimpoche is one of the great originals alive today—luminous in his wisdom, compassionate in his unstinting care and support, and a very funny man to boot.
He is the Buddha nature in a warm and whimsical package.”—Jean Houston, Ph.D.
 
“Probably the best available teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. He combines a complete grasp of the teachings of this tradition with an openness and kindness that has endeared him to all those fortunate enough to have come to know him.”—Philip Glass
 
“Gelek Rimpoche is a brilliant scholar of Tibetan Buddhism. Educated in Tibet’s largest monastery—Drepung—he fled to India in 1959, and in the decades since, has become one of the most important and insightful teachers of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.”
—Melvyn C. Goldstein, John Reynolds Harkness Professor and Chair of Anthropology, and Director, Center for Research on Tibet, Case Western Reserve University
 
“Gelek Rimpoche was trained by the greatest teachers of the last generation of Buddhist masters in Tibet. He has brought their teachings to America, where he is passing on their wisdom to a new generation, with eloquence, wit, and insight.”
—Donald Lopez, Carl W. Belser Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, University of Michigan
 

 

Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? How do we get there? Many have asked these questions, and many have attempted to answer them. But there is another question Good Life, Good Death asks us to contemplate: how does the idea of life after death affect how we live our lives? Gelek Rimpoche tells stories of the mystical Tibet he lived in, as well as the contemporary America he is now a citizen of, and shares the wisdom of the great masters. He asks us to open our minds and see if we can entertain a bigger picture of life after life, even for a moment. He makes the connection between powerful emotions such as anger, obsession, jealousy and pride, and our past as well as our future.