Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Buddhism and Its Cultures

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Zen Wisdom on Death

Posted on June 5, 2026May 7, 2026 by Dharma Documentaries
A look at death from the Zen perspective and how to integrate its insights into your life.

Zen Wisdom on Death

This is a look at dying and death from a Zen perspective, which asks the basic question, not Why do we die? but Who dies? If we see the answer to that we may also get a glimpse at the non-self nature of existence in the first place.

The film looks first at how three Zen masters: Ikkyu, Ryokan and Hakuin met their ends, and especially what their final words (Jisei) were. It also looks into the differences between western concepts of death, and eastern ones.

We then get a small guided meditation on how to incorparte death into our lives, and some final words by great Zen masters as they lay dying.

The presentation is very well done, with lots of well-drawn slides, and an interesting narrative. The narrator also integrates his own experience of his father dying, showing how ancient wisdom can help in present circumstances.

if the video does not appear on the page, try reloading the page; and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of screenshots click here

 

TAGS:
Dharma, Ch'an, Death, Monastics, Zen

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Search for:

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/7WF

Donations

This site has taken more than fifteen years and 1,000s of hours to build, and has more than a thousand documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Women

Other Websites

for my other websites please see my
LINKTREE

Sponsorship

 hosting sponsored by exabytes.my 

Random Posts

  • Yungang Grottoes 03, The Twin Caves
  • A Monk’s Life (Thailand)
  • Siem Reap, Cambodia (Expoza)
  • The Chinese Emperor’s Secret Garden
  • Ajahn Punnadhammo, 07 Burmese Buddhism
  • The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life
  • Todaiji Temple in Japan
  • Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
  • The Road to Shangri-la
  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun

Recent Posts

  • Zen Wisdom on Death
  • A Day in the Life of Anandagiri Forest Monastery
  • Becoming Who I Was
  • Dragon on a Tightrope
  • Buddhism, Bhutan and Me
  • Bhutan, So Close to the Sky
  • Song of the Water Spirits
  • The Genie in the Light Bulb
  • The Mark of Empire 11, Champa
  • The Mark of Empire 10, Anuradhapura

Related Posts:

  • A Certain Kind of Death
  • NatGeo's Inside the Living Body
  • The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life
  • Overview of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
  • Fourteen Days in May
  • Path to Enlightenment, 4/4
  • Green - Death of The Forests
  • HUMAN, Volume Two
© 2026 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme