Welcome to our collective study of the Five Remembrances. This space is designed as a growing resource library to support your reflection and practice—not a list of assignments, but a collection of 'entry points' into the practice of wakefulness. We invite you to explore the materials below at your own pace, choosing the medium(s)—be it a book, a poem, a talk, or a film—that feels most accessible and speaks most clearly to your heart in this moment. May these resources support us all in meeting impermanence with grace and presence.
Articles:
Buddhism’s “Five Remembrances” Are Wake-Up Calls for Us All - Koun Franz - Lion's Roar
Sun in a Sunless Place - Rima Vesely-Flad - Tricycle
The 5 Remembrances: A Buddhist Reminder to Live Fully - Caitlin McColl - Elephant Journal
The Five Remembrances - Pamela Ayo Yetunde - Lion's Roar
Books:
The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde - Rima Vesely-Flad, Ph.D.
Waves Into Water: Reflecting on the Five Remembrances - Rashani Rea and Friends
When Things Fall Apart: Heart advice for difficult times - Pema Chodron
Dharma Talks:
The Five Remembrances - Vinny Ferraro
The Five Remembrances - The Truth and Nothing But the Truth - Dharma Talk from Devin Berry - Chicago Meditation Group
The Five Remembrances – Talk 1 – I Am of the Nature to Grow Old - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
The Five Remembrances – Talk 2 – I Am of the Nature to Have Ill Health - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
The Five Remembrances – Talk 3 – The Sixth Remembrance – Caring - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
The Five Remembrances – Talk 4 – I am of the Nature to Die - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
The Five Remembrances – Talk 5 – All That is Dear to Me and Everyone I Love Are of the Nature to Change - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
The Five Remembrances – Talk 6 – My Actions Are My Only True Belongings - Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
Podcast Interviews:
The Buddhist Buzzkill That Could Radically Alter Your Year (and your life) - 10% Happier Podcast interview with Vinny Ferraro
Poetry:
Don't Go Back to Sleep - Rumi
The Five Remembrances - Trudy Johnston
Other Written Texts:
Finding Peace in a Changing World - Reflection from Robert Waldinger
Walk for Peace Dharma Offering - Sachin Gautam
Articles:
Help When Your Heart Breaks - Joan Halifax - Lion's Roar
Impermanence is Buddha Nature - Norman Fischer - Lion's Roar
Navigating Change: The Five Remembrances in Everyday Life - Marc Lesser - Lion's Roar
You Are Already Dying - Joan Halifax - Lion's Roar
Books:
A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis
Advice for the Dying (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death - Sallie Tisdale
Alive Until You're Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch - Susan Moon
Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care - Ed. Koshin Paley Ellison & Matt Weingast
Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief - Joanne Cacciatore
Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death - Joan Halifax
Between Two Kingdoms - A Memoir of a Life Interrupted - Suleika Jaouad
Death: The End of Self-Improvement - Joan Tollifson
Fear - Thich Nhat Hanh
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully - Frank Ostaseski
Grace and Grit - Ken Wilber
The Grieving Body - How the Stress of Loss can be an Opportunity for Healing - Mary-Frances O'Connor
The Grieving Brain - The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss - Mary-Frances O'Connor
Grieving Is Loving: Compassionate Words for Bearing the Unbearable - Joanne Cacciatore
How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers - Toni Bernhard
How to Face Death Without Fear - Lama Zopa Rinpoche
How We Live Is How We Die - Pema Chodron
No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom For Life - Thich Nhat Hanh
Suffering Buddha: The Zen Way Beyond Health and Illness - Robert Epstein with Stacy Taylor
Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living with Chronic Illness - Julianne Lepp & Florence Caplow
touching two worlds: a guide for finding hope in the landscape of loss - Sherry Walling
Turning Towards Grief: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Appreciation - James Crews
The Unfolding - Poems - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanthani
Zen and the Art of Illness - Ronna Fay Jevne
Dharma Talks:
Discovering the Reality of the Five Remembrances - Dharma Talk by Dr. Wendy Dainin Lau, Upaya
Love and Grief - Dharma Talk by Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Everyday Zen
Film/Television:
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)
Dying for Sex (2024) - Limited Series on Hulu
Ghostlight (2024)
The Taste of Things (2024)
We Live in Time (2024)
Music:
Glitter - Patrick Droney
Podcast Interviews:
A Compassionate Space for Death - Mindrolling Podcast Ep.507 Roshi Joan Halifax & Raghu Markus
Grateful for Grief - Interview with Stephen Colbert on All There Is with Anderson Cooper
How Death Teaches Us to Live - Podcast Interview - What Now? On the threshold of life, death, and grief.
Loss, Yearning, Transcendence - Interview with Nick Cave - On Being
Poems:
Blessing for the Brokenhearted - Jan Richardson
Farewell Letter - David Whyte
For Grief - John O'Donohue
Funeral Blues - W.H. Auden
The Gate - Marie Howe
How To Belong Be Alone - Pádraig Ó Tuama
If You Knew - Ellen Bass
In Blackwater Woods - Mary Oliver
On the Death of the Beloved - John O’Donohue
Remember - Christina Rossetti
Separation - W. S. Merwin
Talking to Grief - Denise Levertov
The Thing Is - Ellen Bass
The Well of Grief - David Whyte
The Window by Rumi
Token Loss - Kay Ryan
When Death Comes - Mary Oliver
Other Written Texts:
The Accident: Kindness and Impermanence - Essay by Zoketsu Norman Fischer
To Philosophize is to Learn to die - Michel de Montaigne
When Blossoms Fall - A Zen Guide for Death & Dying - SF Zen Center
Zen Sickness - Zen Master Hakuin
Video Clips:
A Compassionate Space for Death - Mindrolling Podcast Ep.507 Roshi Joan Halifax & Raghu Markus
Grateful for Grief - Interview with Stephen Colbert on All There Is with Anderson Cooper
I Hope This Grief Stays with Me - Interview with Andrew Garfield on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Molly is Taught the Process of Dying - Clip from TV Show Dying for Sex
Understanding Impermanence - Buddhism Podcast
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