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.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21263 |
Date | January 1998 |
Creators | Sasson, Vanessa Rebecca. |
Contributors | Levy, Barry (advisor), Hayes, Richard (advisor) |
Publisher | McGill University |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Format | application/pdf |
Coverage | Master of Arts (Faculty of Religious Studies.) |
Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
Relation | alephsysno: 001659101, proquestno: MQ50570, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds