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Compassion in The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Tractate Mourning : a comparative study

The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Jewish Tractate Mourning are important texts about death in their respective traditions. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a manual read by the living to the deceased as the deceased journeys through the many realms of the after-life. It is an abstract, philosophical text. The Tractate Mourning on the other hand, is a highly empirical and pragmatic text that guides the living through their loss. It is concerned only with the living left behind and offers no guidance to the deceased. Despite this profound difference however, this thesis has as its objective to show that both traditions, as evidenced through these texts, share an underlying emotion: compassion. Through the concern shown to the deceased as he or she stumbles through the often terrifying realms of the after-life in the Tibetan tradition, and through the precise and detailed instructions given to the living in the Jewish tradition as the mourners are guided through their grief, both texts exhibit profound compassion.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21263
Date January 1998
CreatorsSasson, Vanessa Rebecca.
ContributorsLevy, Barry (advisor), Hayes, Richard (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Faculty of Religious Studies.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001659101, proquestno: MQ50570, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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