How to Be Sick (24 page)

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Authors: Toni Bernhard,Sylvia Boorstein

BOOK: How to Be Sick
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N
 
Nakagawa, Soen
 
Neem Karoli Baba
 
Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche
 
O
 
Old Path White Clouds
(Hanh)
 
Only Dance There Is, The
(Ram Dass)
 
Opening heart to suffering
 
Opera
 
Orr, Mary
 
P
 
Palin, Sarah
 
Past, regrets about
 
Paticca-samuppada
(“wheel of suffering” )
 
Patient endurance (
khanti
)
 
Poetry of Zen Buddhism
 
Practices
 
accepting things as they are
 
acting on generosity immediately
 
“am I sure?”
 
appreciating that one had enjoyed activities for years
 
blaming oneself for one’s illness, not
 
breathing in suffering/breathing out kindness, etc. (
tonglen
)
 
“broken-glass”
 
caregiver burnout, handling
 
disappointment of failed treatments, coping with
 
dismissive treatment from medical professional, handling
 
“don’t-know mind”
 
“drop it”
 
equanimity
 
family and friends, handling problems with
 
“half-smile”
 
“inquiry,” Byron Katie’s
 
“let go a little”
 
loneliness, coping with
 
loving-kindness phrases
 
mindfulness of the present moment
 
only thing true for sure in present moment
 
opening heart to suffering
 
opposite action in response to negative impulse
 
patient endurance
 
physical symptoms or medical problems, coping with
 
“putting head in lap of the Buddha”
 
“sky-gazing”
 
stroking arm with hand of other arm
 
sublime states, directing at one’s self
 
suffering present in lives of all beings
 
sympathetic joy, cultivating,
 
“there is sickness here, but I am not sick”
 
uncertainty about future, handling
 
“weather”
 
wheel of suffering/four sublime states, combining
 
“who am I?”
 
“why not me?”
 
wise action and inaction
 
wise speech
 
Present Moment Wonderful Moment
(Hanh)
 
R
 
Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)
 
Rodriguez, Richard
 
Rumi
 
Rusty (dog)
 
Ryokan
 
S
 
Saint James, Susan
 
Salzberg, Sharon
 
Sangha
(community)
 
Seeking the Heart of Wisdom
(Goldstein and Kornfield)
 
Sekida, Katsuki
 
Self, lack of fixed (
anatta
). See
anatta
(no-fixed-self)
 
Selfless Persons
(Collins)
 
Setcho Juken
 
Seung Sahn
 
Seven points of mind training
 
Shocking the mind (Zen Buddhism)
 
Silence, noble
 
“Sky-gazing” practice
 
Sleeplessness
 
Solitude
 
Speech, wise
 
Noble silence
 
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
 
Still Forest Pool, A
(Chah)
 
Stricken
(Munson)
 
Stroking arm with hand of other arm
 
Sublime states, four (
brahma viharas
)
 
practicing by combining with wheel of suffering
 
Suffering
 
present in lives of all beings
 
See also
Opening heart to suffering;
Dukkha
 
Suzuki, Shunryu
 
Sympathetic joy (
mudita
)
 
T
 
Tanha
(desire/aversion).
See
Desire; Aversion
 
Ten perfections (
paramis
)
 
Teresa, Mother
 
Thoreau, Henry David
 
Thoughts
 
Katie’s inquiry questioning validity of
 
Three marks of existence
 
Tibetan Buddhism
 
Tillich, Paul
 
Tonglen
(“sending and taking”)
 
Travis, John
 
Treatments
 
Trungpa, Chögyam
 
Twain, Mark
 
Tyler, Brad (son-in-law)
 
Tyler, Malia (granddaughter)
 
Tyler, Mara (daughter)
 
U
 
Uncertainty and unpredictability
 
Unwise action
 
Upekkha
(equanimity).
See
Equanimity (
upekkha
)
 
V
 
Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka
(Hart)
 
W
 
Weather Man, The
(motion picture)
 
“Weather” practice
 
What the Buddha Taught
(Rahula)
 
Wheel of suffering (
paticca-samuppada
)
 
When the Iron Eagle Flies
(Khema)
 
“Who am I?” practice
 
“Why not me?”
 
Working in the face of illness
 
Y
 
Yamada, Koun
 
Year to Live, A
(Levine)
 
Z
 
Zen Buddhism
 
About the Author
 
TONI BERNHARD fell ill on a trip to Paris in 2001 with what doctors initially diagnosed as an acute viral infection. She has not recovered.
 
In 1982, she’d received a J.D. from the School of Law at the University of California, Davis, and immediately joined the faculty where she stayed until chronic illness forced her to retire. During her twenty-two years on the faculty, she served for six years as Dean of Students.
In 1992, she began to study and practice Buddhism. Before becoming ill, she attended many meditation retreats and led a meditation group in Davis with her husband.
She lives in Davis with her husband, Tony, and their hound dog, Rusty.
Toni can be found online at
www.howtobesick.com
.
About Wisdom
 
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WISDOM PUBLICATIONS, a nonprofit publisher, and to browse our other books dedicated to skillful living, visit our website at
www.wisdompubs.org
.
 
You may request a copy of our catalog online or by writing to this address:
Wisdom Publications
199 Elm Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144 USA
Telephone: 617-776-7416
Fax: 617-776-7841
Email: [email protected]
www.wisdompubs.org
 
 
Wisdom is a nonprofit, charitable 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).
 
Wisdom Publications
199 Elm Street
Somerville MA 02144 USA
www.wisdompubs.org
 
© 2010 by Toni Bernhard
 
All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bernhard, Toni.
How to be sick : a Buddhist-inspired guide for the chronically ill and their care-
givers / Toni Bernhard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-0-861-71926-6
1. Religious life—Buddhism. 2. Chronically ill—Religious life. 3. Caregivers—
Religious life. 4. Chronic diseases—Religious aspects—Buddhism. I. Title.
BQ5400.B46 2010
294.3’4442—dc22
2010025648
 
 
 
“To Know the Dark” copyright © 1985 by Wendell Berry from
The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry
, 1957-1982. Author photo by TJ.
 
Wisdom Publications’ books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
 
 
This book was produced with environmental mindfulness. We have elected to print this title on 30% PCW recycled paper. As a result, we have saved the following resources: 18 trees, 6 million BTUs of energy, 1,678 lbs. of greenhouse gases, 8,082 gallons of water, and 491 lbs. of solid waste. For more information, please visit our website,
www.wisdompubs.org
. This paper is also FSC certified. For more information, please visit
www.fscus.org
.

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