FRANK OSTASESKI

Author of The Five Invitations

Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and visionary cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

He has accompanied over 1000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

BIOGRAPHY

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FRANK OSTASESKI is a pioneer in end of life care. In 1987, he cofounded the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America. He guided that groundbreaking work for almost 20 years establishing a longstanding model for mindful and compassionate care. In 2005, he founded the Metta Institute training countless healthcare clinicians and caregivers and building a national network of educators, advocates and guides for those facing life-threatening illness.

Frank has dedicated his life to service. It has been fusion of spiritual insight and practical social action. It manifests in caring for the homeless, serving on the early front lines AIDS epidemic, lobbying congress, teaching meditation and most daunting raising four teenagers at the same time.

He has distilled hard-won lessons from his own life journey and synthesized 30 years of being with dying into his personal brand of wisdom. He inspires and engages diverse audiences from Harvard Medical School students, to Mayo Clinic clinicians, and Wisdom 2.0 seekers. He is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. His work has been highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show featured by Bill Moyers on his PBS television series On Our Own Terms and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama.

He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

Frank is a frequent keynote speaker at universities, healthcare organizations and spiritual communities including:

  • Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  • Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI
  • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH
  • Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, CA
  • University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg Germany
  • Wisdom 2.0 Conference, San Francisco, CA
  • Sloan Kettering Medical Center, New York, NY
  • National Hospice & Palliative Care Association, Alexandria, VA
  • Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, MI
  • National Congress of the Italian Society of Palliative Care, Trieste, Italy
  • Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO
  • Long Now Seminars, San Francisco, CA
  • Upaya Zen Center, Being with Dying Program, Santa Fe, NM
  • RIGPA International, Germany, England, France, Switzerland
  • National Hospice Association, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Numerous State and Local Hospice organizations

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ACCOLADES

Jon Kabat-Zinn
Founder of MBSR and author of Full Catastrophe Living and Coming to Our Senses
“magical and compelling”

"This book is a loving, compassionate reminder that the best Frank embodies the wisdom and compassion he shares in these magical and compelling pages. You feel it instantly, because it is real, and it is really about you and your life."

Purchase the book

THE FIVE INVITATIONS

Discovering What Death
Can Teach Us About Living Fully

Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most.

Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves.

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