"Huston Smith, religious studies scholar and bestselling author of The World’s Religions (originally titled The Religions of Man) and Why Religion Matters, as well as Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, which Smith co-wrote with Philip Novak, is in hospice, according to his official website, HustonSmith.net:
His condition is very weak. He is in hospice care, awake briefly, unable to read, recognizes family and a few others with whom he has been close and whom he sees frequently.
Smith was born in China in 1919. (His parents were missionaries there.) His professorial career would take him to the University of Denver, Washington University, MIT, and Syracuse, with his final post being Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Over his life, Smith befriended the Dalai Lama and Thomas Merton, was involved with psychedelic experiments led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), made Music of Tibet — a historic first recording (in 1967) of the Gyuto Multiphonic Choir, and took up personal study of Zen, Vedanta, and Sufism. He considers himself, ultimately, to be a practicing Christian.
Read Barry Boyce’s Shambhala Sun feature on Smith, “Fifty Years on the Razor’s Edge,” here.
