Chanting a loved one’s final goodbye.

My friend Roger lost his older brother Gary recently.  It was sudden — Gary didn’t feel good, went into the hospital, was released, and died within two weeks’ time.

Nobody knew, but perhaps Gary himself.

When Gary’s family got the word he was so ill on that final night, they rushed to his side and chanted Buddhist prayers to him.  As a long-time believer, I’m sure those sounds filled the sterile white hospital room with beauty and love, and I somehow take peace from thinking that he was escorted into the night with the chants from his beloveds.