Medicine and Compassion : A Tibetan Lama's Guidance for Caregivers

Rating:
Summary: Not Just For Doctors
Review: Although the message in this book is to doctors, but it can also apply to any profession, even if it is outside of medicine. Whenever you have compassion and understanding for others in whatever work you do, you will always be more successful than if you did not. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and David Shlim teach you how to do this through a book that is such an easy read.


Rating:
Summary: A remarkable book
Review: Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and David Shlim have articulated beautifully an invaluable lesson in learning how to encompass compassion into our encounters with patients. As nurses and physicians we work with great dedication and energy to help our patients move toward a healthier state of being. The process sometimes seems very easy and gratifying however, sometimes we are stuck and not sure why. This book offers practical advice to the reader of how to more effectively approach each patient with kindness, wisdom and care. Since reading the book, I have noticed subtle changes in my own approach to patients and have felt a new energy and insight.

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Summary: Providing "medicine" that can't be purchased.
Review: I've been practicing medicine for over 30 years and been a patient as well. What is it that you want in a 'healer.' Compassion. But it doesn't come in a pill bottle, nor at the end of an endoscope, nor between the scalpel and the skin. Compassion is the critical part of caring that helps people get better. For those of you who take care of patients, this book provides a perspective you won't find in print anywhere else. Would that this book was required reading in medical school, residency, and at all continuing medical education courses! Then the US might become a little healthier than the sorry state it is in now.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless Wisdom
Review: Medicine & Compassion is an important book. It should be required reading for physicians, medical students, nurses, caregivers, and hospice staff. Every family should have it on their bookshelf. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and even non-religious people will benefit from this book because the ideas are about the human condition which transcends all differences of faith. In a word, this book is a treasure.

We all grow old, get sick, and die. Impermanence, uncertainty, and sorrow permeate our very existence. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and David R. Shlim, M.D., answer the important questions of why we get sick and to how to respond with compassion and mercy, when illness or impending death are at hand. One could say that it is a manual to understanding our own nature and mortality.

The narrative tone of the book is intelligent and merciful - never sugary or overdone. I could really feel the subtle, yet vibrant life energy of the book as it conjured forgotten images and feelings. It caused me to reflect on the end of life care that I administered for my parents and brother. I was able to see what was good and what was lacking in my care for them, without feeling a sense of regret. In fact, I gained a sense of optimism for the future.

As a writer on Buddhist healing, I found this to be a perfectly cut gem. Its words and inferences reflected the light of wisdom. I found it an invaluable tool for encouraging the sick and suffering. I was especially impressed with the author's end of life guidance in the chapter "Easing the Process of Dying." As a Buddhist for more than 30 years, I've read many works on death, dying, and the bardos. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Dr. Shlim explain this subject in a way that can satisfy the average person or the spiritually advanced. Most of all, the reader will be inspired to improve their own life and mind.

I highly recommend this book. Just as an outdoorsman needs a compass, so too can this book guide one in challenging times.

Charles Atkins
Author of "Modern Buddhist Healing"