ENTRY Points for Reflection

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.

The Five Remembrances

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

Impermanence, Death, Grief, Loss

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
Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death - Irving Yalom
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:

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

Sonnet 64: When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd - William Shakespeare

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