"This is an important and fundamentally original work, theoretically sophisticated and multilayered in its approach. Perspectives offered by texts and individual practitioners are well chosen and balanced. While implicitly and explicitly acknowledging "the variation of knowledge systems in Tibetanized societies" (76), the author is able to present a set of findings with implications beyond the immediate issue. For this reader it was of particular interest in regard to the study of rNam-thar, a field in which a number of significant studies have recently emerged. It demonstrates the linking of biographies and realities that allows different lineages to present different interpretations of various biographical events and processes serving different purposes. No one interested in Tibetan concepts of death, whether from a ritual, textual, or philosophical perspective, can fail to gain fresh insights from this stimulating study. Partly due to a writing style that entirely eliminates excess, this is a short work, just 130 pages of text, but it has the great merit of leaving the reader wanting more." A. C. McKay International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden