Reflections Green Funeral From the Perspective of Zhuang Zi Thought

• Main Authors: LIU,HSUEH-CHEN, 劉雪珍
• Other Authors: WU,ZHI-XUE
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24207438269378643325

碩士 === 華梵大學 === 東方人文思想研究所 === 104 === Life and death has been an important issue for most people. However, more often than not, they do not view it in a proper perspective. As a consequence they escape from death, fail to complete the course of life, and be caught in it. Chuang Tzu, in the face of this problem, offers his thoughts on life and death. He first indicates that death is unexpected. He believes that death is a consequence of life. That is, death is coexistent with life. Besides, Chuang Tzu notes that the transcendence of life and death occurs only during one’s life. Through transcendence people may be leveled up to the realm of Chi. Such kind of Chi is not physical but spiritual. He believes that only when they have understood the transcendence of life and death can they make sense of the so-called state of ‘neither living nor dying.” To further examine the views of life and death proposed by Chuang Tzu, the researcher has gained some understanding of his attitudes toward funeral practices. She has learned that his thoughts of ‘returning to Nature’ and ‘getting into Nature’ are actually echoing with the awareness on going green in today’s society. Like what he replied to his disciples, ‘seeing world as my coffin, sun and moon as jades, stars as pearls, and all creatures as sacrificial offerings grants me an elaborate funeral.’ Such reply shows clearly that the way one gets rid of artificial fetters and returns to Nature enables him to be part of Nature.