Frank Ostaseski: Surrendering to Death

“Stay close and do nothing.” Frank Ostaseski shares from his deep personal experience walking along so many people in the dying process about what it means to surrender to death. He draws parallels between dharma practice and dying. He tells stories about people he sat with and their families during his years working with the Zen Hospice Project. He considers “acceptance,” which is typically the final stage in Kubler-Ross’s model, to be the beginning of a process of transformation, of surrender. He encourages us to prepare for our deaths now, to resource ourselves, so that we may be a refuge to ourselves and others. So that we may be “the one calm person in the room” when the death bell tolls.