Heroes and Saints

The present volume makes a unique contribution to the study of dying in ancient cultures by focusing on what happens in the critical moments before death.Employing a wide range of literary sources, the essays in this volume focus exclusively on the moment of death and practices associated with the transitionfrom this world to the next. Five of the essays deal with Asian religions, primarily Buddhism in India, Tibet, China, and Japan. The other five essaysdeal with the moment of death in the West, old Norse-Icelandic, Old English, and the Judeo-Christian tradition. The authors explore the many ways in whichthe good death was envisioned. Remarkable parallels emerge between the good death in religious texts and in heroic sagas . Despite the diversityof cultures, time periods and religious traditions represented in these essays, this volume vividly illustrates the fundamental human need to see in theinevitable moment of death a possibility of choice and a promise of hope.