What I Don't Know about Death: Reflections on Buddhism and Mortality

A Buddhist scholar reflects on life, death, and the ways we blind ourselves to the inevitable as he confronts his own mortality.In the winter of 2020 a renowned scholar of Asian religions, lifelong meditator, and novelist accustomed to vigorous health received a terminal diagnosis. By summer his cancer had run its course. In the short time in between, C. W. &;Sandy&; Huntington faced his own impending death, leading him to reconsider the teachings and practices, as well as philosophy and literature, he had spent a lifetime pursuing. In this, his last book, you&;ll join Sandy as he traverses the gap between knowledge and true wisdom. &;Sandy Huntington urges his readers to face up to life&;s fragility as well as its many gifts. Written with elegance and verve, What I Don&;t Know about Death is a deep meditation on what it means both to wake up to and to let go of life. Drawing on his lifelong engagement with Buddhism, Huntington remains a consummate teacher who demands intellectual honesty, humility, and compassion from his readers no less than from himself. This book is an intellectual and spiritual offering to Huntington&;s students, past and future.&;&;Leora Batnitzky, Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies and professor of religion, Princeton University &;What I Don&;t Know about Death is a deeply personal, intellectually rigorous, and philosophically profound exploration of death, and in particular of Sandy&;s own death, which he faced with exemplary grace, honesty, and clarity as he wrote this book. This is a gift of remarkable beauty that can open our hearts and minds to this most difficult topic. Read it and weep, with tears of grief, gratitude, and illumination.&;&;Jay L. Garfield, Smith College and the Harvard Divinity School