We are so pleased to share Wisdom Publication’s new release, How to Live and Die: The Transformative Power of Meditating on Impermanence by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  In this overview of one of the most important practices in Tibetan Buddhism—meditating on death and impermanence—Rinpoche shows us how this practice can free us from fear, deepen our wisdom, and transform the way we live.  Wisdom is very kindly offering a 20% discount to FPMT students through October 31! Please use code  fpmt-hld20 at checkout when ordering your copy of Rinpoche’s new book! 

Please enjoy this excerpt from How to Live and Die:

A complete education about death is the most important education we can have. What death is, how we die, what minds we need at death, and what happens after death—only by knowing about death and rebirth can we actually fully understand what life is and so learn how to live fully.

In the West, such questions are generally not studied. What happens at the very beginning of this life and at the end are like two big black holes; there is no clarity. Even if there are some scientific explanations, these are based on hypotheses, not on personal experience. It seems that if scientists cannot verify something with their instruments, it doesn’t exist for them. They can explain how, at death, the cells break down and the brain stops functioning, but they cannot go beyond that, and they can never address the real question of what happens to us at death.

While Buddhism might not talk about molecular structures or details such as that, on another level it has the whole answer, the complete education on life, death, and rebirth, especially when we study the subtle explanations given in the Vajrayana, the tantric teachings, which explain about the gross, subtle, and very subtle bodies and minds.

Suddenly, without any warning, death is there facing us. Life is gone, and there is nothing we can do about it. Our time to meditate, to develop our mind, has run out. Now, for the first time, we are facing the reality of life, and no matter how much fear we have, there is no time to do anything to remedy it.

When that happens, there is so much regret. When we die, it is said that we see our whole life clearly, like watching a documentary with everything we have ever done vividly played back to us—all the mistakes, all the selfishness, all the harm we have done to others. I have often heard that when people go through this, they die overwhelmed with great terror and regret. Even for somebody who rejects reincarnation, there is still great fear that something terrible is about to happen.

For worldly people, success has nothing to do with the mind. Their definition of success is being wealthy and famous. To have properties in many countries, to be able to make millions or billions of dollars in business; that is the definition of a successful life. Whoever can make the most money is regarded as the most successful—regardless of how stressful or berserk the life of that millionaire or billionaire actually is.

In fact, their inner life could be extremely unhappy, fragmented into pieces, with so much depression, sadness, dissatisfaction, and discontentment. Their life could be full of suffering—worse, even, than the poorest beggar, whose mind might be quite peaceful, with neither reputation nor wealth that could be lost. This happens because, relying on external things for happiness, their strong attachment has caused them to harm others (and themselves) to get what they want. They have no idea that true happiness only comes from developing a good heart.

Working solely for the comforts of this life is not what being a human is all about. Even animals do this. This is something even worms, rats, or ants can do, so the billionaire is no better than the worm in this. If we only work for material comfort, we will die with such regret. We need to go beyond this. We need to at least try to obtain a better rebirth. Then we will be able to die without fear, having the potential to continue to develop our Dharma practice in our next life.

Until we can fully understand our own life—how it is impermanent and how death is inevitable—it is very difficult to fully appreciate the unique opportunity we now have with this perfect human rebirth. Without that appreciation, the rest of the path to enlightenment will make little sense. That is why I say that understanding impermanence and death is the most important education we can have.

The teachings on impermanence and death come very early on in the Tibetan Buddhist system of study and practice known as lamrim, which means “graduated path.” The lamrim was first explained by the great master Atisha in his Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. In the lamrim, the entire teachings of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha are divided into a step-by-step approach, set up to lead us from where we are now all the way to enlightenment.

In traditional texts, such as Lama Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo) and Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, we see that after discussing how to rely on the spiritual teacher, the lamrim begins with explaining the value and rarity of this precious human life, with its eight freedoms and ten richnesses, followed by an extensive exploration of the reality of impermanence and death. These first steps on the path show us how we need to seize this life firmly and make the most of it.

Excerpted from How to Live and Die: The Transformative Power of Meditating on Impermanence by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Wisdom Publications, 2025. Don’t forget to use code fpmt-hld20 at checkout by October 31 to receive a 20% discount! 

You can access and utilize more of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s precious advice on death, dying, and impermanence. 

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.