The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

SERVANTS OF PEACE 361sacred understanding? Without it, what is life worth? Andwithout it, how can we die well?It is crucial now that an enlightened vision of death anddying should be introduced throughout the world at all levelsof education. Children should not be "protected" from death,but introduced, while young, to the true nature of death andwhat they can learn from it. Why not introduce this vision, inits simplest forms, to all age groups? Knowledge about death,about how to help the dying, and about the spiritual nature ofdeath and dying should be made available to all levels of society;it should be taught, in depth and with real imagination, inschools and colleges and universities of all kinds; and especiallyand most important, it should be available in teachinghospitals to nurses and doctors who will look after the dyingand who have so much responsibility toward them.How can you be a truly effective doctor when you do nothave at least some understanding of the truth about death, orhow really to care spiritually for your dying patient? How canyou be a truly effective nurse if you have not begun to faceyour own fear of dying and have nothing to say to those whoare dying when they ask you for guidance and wisdom? Iknow many well-meaning doctors and nurses, people of themost sincere openness to new ideas and new approaches. Ipray that this book will give them the courage and thestrength they will need to help their institutions absorb thelessons of the teachings and adapt to them. Isn't it time nowthat the medical profession should understand that the searchfor the truth about life and death and the practice of healingare inseparable? What I hope from this book is that it willhelp inspire everywhere a debate about what exactly can bedone for the dying, and the best conditions for doing it. Aspiritual and practical revolution in the training of doctors andnurses, in the vision of hospital care, and in the actual treatmentof the dying is urgently needed, and I hope this bookwill make a humble contribution to it.I have expressed again and again my admiration for thepioneering work that is being done in the hospice movement.In it at last we see the dying being treated with the dignitythey deserve. I would like here to make a deep plea to all thegovernments of the world that they should encourage the creationof hospices and fund them as generously as possible.It is my intention to make this book the foundation ofseveral different kinds of training programs. These would befor people of all kinds of backgrounds and professions, and