How To Series
Planning for Later Life and End of Life from A Buddhist Perspective
Thursdays, 7:00pm–9:00pm
When suddenly one day one of your loved ones dies and you don’t know what to do to help, you’ll feel so confused, so lost. This made me think that knowing how to help others at the time of death is such important education to have. By providing the right support, the right environment, you can help your loved one die peacefully, with virtuous thoughts, and thus have a good rebirth. — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Venerable Drimay Gudmundsson and Judy Weitzner will lead the first How To Series on preparing you and your loved ones for likely care issues to arise in later life and at the end of one’s own life.
Bring loved ones, friends and strangers — it's never too early to make plans regarding our aging process and end of life. Judy Weitzner will introduce the practical aspects of being prepared in later life and at the end of one's life. You will have an opportunity to reflect on your personal care plans and execute basic documents during this class — The Durable Power of Attorney for Finances and the Advance Medical Care Directive. By clearly outlining your wishes, you share the gift of providing peaceful minds to loved ones and caregivers. Venerable Drimay will introduce specific Dharma advice given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in his book, How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life's Final Challenge without Fear. Methods include:
You are encouraged to attend all 3 sessions to get the most out of the program, but if you cannot, that's okay — just drop by. Suggested donation: $25–$45 per session or $60–$120 for all three sessions
Your generous donations are essential for the continuation of programs like this. No one turned away due to lack of funds — please contact us to make arrangements. |
Venerable Losang Drimay has a B.A. in Asian Studies and has traveled extensively in Asia, but actually met her Tibetan lamas here in the United States. She has been studying, practicing and working with centers in the FPMT since 1984, receiving hundreds of hours of classroom instruction from the many qualified lamas and senior teachers that frequent our Dharma centers.
From 2001 to 2012, Ven. Drimay served as resident teacher at our center, also living and serving at Land of Medicine Buddha for part of that time. Since 2012, she is full-time at Land of Medicine Buddha, continuing to lead regular meditations and classes, as well as picking up some other duties. Judy Weitzner met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in 1969. One time Lama said to her, “It makes my heart break to see how old people are treated in America. If you can, do something about it.” The last 40 years she has been working in the field of aging trying to realize his vision. She has tried to integrate Buddhist teachings into all of her work.
Lately, Judy has been leading discussion groups on end-of-life issues, helping families and individuals with care-planning, and recording oral histories. She has developed curriculum for older adult classes, taught and lectured on aging issues. |
Our ability to continue offering these teachings is dependent on the generosity of donors. If you find this online content useful and you are not already attending the teachings in person, any donation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your kind support.
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Resources
- Toolkit for Health Care Advance Planning — American Bar Association
- End-of-life Planning — Compassion & Choices
- Durable Power of Attorney (California)
- Advance Health Care Directive — State of California
- Five Wishes — Aging with Dignity
- Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) — California Department of Public Health
- Dharma Will — Amitabha Hospice
- The Big Book of Everything — Erik A. Dewey
- Regrets of the Dying — Bronnie Ware
- How to Help Your Loved Ones Enjoy Death and Go Happily to Their Next Rebirth — A Handbook by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Buddhist practices — FPMT