| Summary: | 碩士 === 南華大學 === 生死學研究所 === 93 === ABSTRACT
This paper (thesis) investigates Buddhist Chanting Assistance and its effects on the family members of the deceased through testimonies of five people/families who experienced or received Buddhist Chanting Assistance and the ameliorating effects on their suffering.
From the research to the testimonies, Buddhist Chanting Assistance carries out the effect of “transmit”, “support”, “surmount”, “changes”, “maintenance” and “transform” and all of that appears not only perpendicular but also mutual influence to each other. We than prove that Buddhist Chanting Assistance have a significant effect on the amelioration of suffering and changes in emotional states.
We develop the following concepts to show how Buddhist Chanting Assistance affects suffering and emotional pain:
1. Buddhist Chanting Assistance allows those surviving to believe that there is existence after death, which allows the survivors to make the connection between the change between life and death. This means that the hope of the surviving is supported by the concepts that “death is not an eternal end”, “separation is transient”, and “reunion will happen in the future.”
2. Buddhist Chanting Assistance use readings from sutras as a means to assist the surviving family members. In the process of the last rite ceremonies and the passing to the next life, the surviving family member’s pain of the “death of the relative” becomes the thought that “the relative is headed to a good place in his next life.”
3. Through the unselfish efforts of people performing Buddhist Chanting Assistance, these ceremonies have been historically supported by society.
4. The power of the Buddhist Chanting Assistance, combined with that of Buddha offers the families “stability”, “shift of mind”, and “the comfort of assuring the death been rescued”(such could be obtained by the peaceful appearance of the dead body or by their own dreams). Thus, the support and the comfort to the bereavement enhance.
5. The process of the Buddhist Chanting Assistance, including the recitation of sutras and the return of the blessings, also serves as a means of learning and adapting to society. The surviving family members are able to participate in such ceremonies. At the termination of said ceremonies, the effects continue to assist the surviving family members in amelioration of suffering, and are a means of providing peace. The Buddhist Chanting Assistance provide the surviving family members a bridge from “a world where death” to “a world where there Buddhist pure land”.
The one receiving the Buddhist Chanting Assistance not only gains relief from suffering, but also from the change between life and death.
Therefore, for the people performing the last rite, even though death must occur, they are able to transcend above their mortality, and through the amelioration of such suffering, such people are allowed to mature, and life in general becomes more expansive for such people. At the same time, with the amelioration of suffering, the surviving members are able to let go of desires of the existence of the deceased, and are able to begin recovery.
This investigation allows for the verification that religion can ameliorate suffering in death.
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