Bruno's Score.
Buddy Marterre
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management September 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2018.11.013 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | A composer and cognitive musicologist named Bruno |
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Christian mysticism Taoism Tibetan buddhism Dying Interconnectivity Music Nondualism Spirituality |
| Key findings | Bruno, whose spirituality spanned Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, Christian mysticism, and other traditions, had an exceptionally graceful dying process and death. |
Abstract
Many of our experiences in hospice and palliative care medicine are challenging. We support dying patients and their families as they struggle with the transition from life to death and continue to support those in mourning. Many times, in America, it is difficult to even appreciate a glimmer of spiritual grace as our patients die. We easily remain stuck in the material and distance ourselves from the spiritual. Some exits are quite graceful, however. I present the case of an exceptional person, who enjoyed an exceptional life and had an exceptionally graceful dying process and death, in hopes that his story may encourage other healers as much as he inspired me. Bruno was a composer and cognitive musicologist, whose art forms of light and music simultaneously move and challenge virtually all the people and other artists he interfaced with and taught, including his talented wife and family, his friends, his acquaintances, his students, his colleagues, and his deans. He embodied theories as diverse as mathematical strange loops, continually paradoxical/recursive illusory art, contrapuntal fugues, and artificial intelligence. Bruno's spirituality was uncommonly profound. It spanned and interconnected many eclectic faith traditions, theologies, and philosophies, including Taoism, Greek mythology, distributed cognition, mathematics, and Tibetan Buddhism. It resonated strongly with Zen and Christian mysticism. Some of Bruno's being and transformation to nonbeing was obvious; some of it was inscrutable.
Comparable studies
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| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Integrating Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy and a Buddhism-Inspired Aversion/Attachment Model of Client Suffering: The Cases of "Beth" and "Amy" Two psychotherapy clients, "Beth" and "Amy" | 2016 | Case study | n = 2 |
| The DSC Triangle Model of Buddhist Palliative Care: Doctrine, Spiritual Pillar, and Community at Wat Kham Pramong Five care-team informants and five terminal cancer patients at Wat Kham Pramong, Sakon... | 2026 | Qualitative case study | n = 10 |
| Model Implementasi Spiritual Mindfulness untuk Penguatan Mental Health Remaja di Sekolah Islam Adolescents in two Islamic high schools in Gresik, Indonesia | 2026 | Qualitative multiple case study | |
| “Science” in Huayan Buddhism: The Apologetic Discourse of Zhong Maosen (b. 1973) | 2026 | Case study | |
| IMPACTS OF MINDFULNESS ON CONCENTRATION: A SELF-REPORT OF A 20-DAY PRACTICE OF MEDITATIVE WALKING A single practitioner | 2025 | Case study | n = 1 |