A Study on the Death Attitudes of Buddhist Chaplains

• Main Authors: Yen-ni Liao, 廖燕妮(釋蓮恩)
• Other Authors: Yung-yu Shih
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/g8n5pv

碩士 === 南華大學 === 生死學研究所 === 99 === 　　The aim of this research is to inquire about the death attitudes of the Buddhist Chaplains. And hopefully through this study we could gain an in-depth understanding of the Buddhist Chaplains'' conception of death and how it influences their meaning and attitudes of life. Five qualified Buddhist Chaplains were invited to take part in this formal study. Throughout this qualitative research, semi-structured interviews were used for the collection of data, and the content of the interviews was analyzed through open-coding. The main findings of the study was as follows: 1、The subjects'' views of death are: death is a natural process of life; life is a ceaseless cycles of rebirths; death could be regarded as an opportunity; through rebirth to the pure land one could temperory stop rebirth; and "real death " does not exist. 2、The influence on the meaning of life from the subjects'' conception of death are: to cherish life; to cherish relationship; living on the presence; not to haggle about gains and loss and improving one''s virtues. 3、The influence on the goals of life from the subjects'' conception of death are: developing one''s compassion and practice the path of bodhisattva; learning in a broader aspects; purifying one''s mind; improving inter-personal relationship; and the main path to the end of life and death is to practice the Dharma. 4、The influence on the death attitudes of the subject from their conception of death are: positive death''s attitudes; decreasing the fear of death; better preparation of death; developing a after-life goal; transcending life and death. 5、The difference between before clinical service and after clinical service of the Buddhist Chaplains are : extreme suffering of life, care for the dying , wholesome life leads to good death, spiritual development, selfless compassion。 6、Life and death revelations derived from clinical experience are: death is "returning home", philosophy of life and death might not derive from social education, life is impermanence, contemplation on life and death, the meaning of suffering。 　　 　　Finally, based on the results of this study, the researcher proposes suggestions in life education, life and death education, methods in preparation of death, a comparison on the conceptions of death from the perceptives of different religions, and further-on research.