Buddhist Understanding of Death and Dying and Religious Education

ABSTRACT

In Buddhism, the problem of death is always discussed in connection with life. The Buddha teaches that human can overcome death not by the physical immortality but by the mental transformation. The Buddha recognized death as an ultimate problem of life. In search of the solution, he ultimately attained Enlightenment. The solution says, for those who transform his ignorance to wisdom, there is no life and death from the beginning, even though the physical death of human being is unavoidable. Death can be overcome, when we are free from the distinction of life and death in our normal life. Such understanding of life and death emphasizes the importance of the present life based on a diachronic concept of time, which goes through the three periods of past, present and future. The interpretation of death in Buddhism opens a new path to a broader understanding of death, beyond the hereafter oriented education of Religious Studies or managing of death anxiety in educational dimension. It breaks new ground of Life Education, far different from the naive understanding of death, because death is overcome by resolute confrontation with death. Death is not a taboo in Buddhism, but its starting point as well as its endpoint. What is necessary in Death Education is the proper understanding of death and mental preparation for it, not the preparation for death itself. For death is not a matter of the future, it is important to overcome one s distinguishing mind between life and death. Buddhist hermeneutic understanding of death can contribute to Death Education which are neglected in the curriculum of modern religious and educational Studies.