Making Friends with Death and Dying: Monthly Support Group

First Monday of every month from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. EST

About the Sessions

Suggested Donation $10

Confidentiality Statement: We value confidentiality and sharing. This group will not be recorded. We respect your privacy.

During these support group sessions, there will be a short opening talk, a 15-minute meditation practice session (no previous mediation experience is necessary), and an open forum to discuss personal experiences with old age, sickness, death, grief, or bereavement. Sessions may include Tonglen for those who have died and a question and answer period.

Chaplain Alley’s dharma talk will include reading from Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality by Judith L. Lief

Please join us. All are welcome!

Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/makingfriendswithdeath

Confidentiality Statement: We value confidentiality and sharing. This group will not be recorded. We respect your privacy.

Texts Used During Sessions

Recommended Reading Material (not required):

Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality by Judith L. Lief

Navigating Grief and Loss: 25 Practices to Keeping Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others by Kimberly Brown

How to Live When a Loved One Dies by Thich That Hanh 

Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition by Andrew Holecek

Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook by Tulku Thondup

The Heart of Tibetan Buddhism: Advice for Life, Death & Enlightenment byKhenpo Sherab Sangpo

About the Teachers

Chaplain Alley Smith is a Buddhist Minister of Religion (Upadhyaya) in the Shambhala Lineage. She also holds 10 precepts in Korean Zen Buddhism. Alley is a US military war veteran. During her career, Alley served with the military funeral honors Honor Guard. She specializes in teaching Buddhism, spiritual care, mortuary affairs and as a funeral clergy. Alley has been a student of Shambhala Buddhism and Zen since 1999. [email protected]

Chaplain Billy Goldner is a Buddhist Minister in the Shambhala Lineage (Upadhyaya). He is graduating from the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at Upaya Zen Center, and is currently serving as a Chaplain intern in hospitals in Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Billy has been a student of Shambhala since 2014 and has been offering meditation instruction since 2017. [email protected]