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The Ojo and
Death Project
Taiwan Study Tours
2nd Study Tour September 27-October 1, 2009
After
our
initial
exposure
to
the
Heart Lotus Palliative Care Unit in the Tzu Chi
general
hospital and the National Taiwan University Hospice (NTUH) both in
Taipei, we
felt the need for a much more intensive exposure to their important
work. For
Tzu Chi, we wanted to visit their original hospital and hospice as well
as
their denominational headquarters located across the island in Hualien.
In
terms of NTUH, we wanted to meet and interview the various people
behind the
hospice, especially those involved in training the monks and nuns to be
hospice
chaplains from the Taiwan
Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies
台灣臨床佛學研究協會.
On this
study tour, we also brought along a number of senior as well as younger
priests
from the Jodo Shu denomination, which included Rev.
Ryojun Sato, Professor Emeritus at Taisho University, five young
priests, and a university student of Rev. Tomatsu’s from
Toyo
University
Tzu
Chi
General
Hospital
and
the Heart Lotus Palliative
Care Unit
Taipei Branch
Hualien Branch
NEW!Silent Mentor Program
NEW!The Palliative Care Unit of the National Taiwan University Hospital
Taipei Branch
Hualien Branch
NEW!Silent Mentor Program
NEW!The Palliative Care Unit of the National Taiwan University Hospital
1st
Study
Tour
May
7-9, 2008
Engaged
Buddhism
in
Taiwan
has
recently
become a popular area of study and
scholarship but in the West and in Japan. In particular, the Tzu Chi
Buddhist denomination has created a wide variety of projects mostly in
the area of social welfare. One of their main activities is the
establishment of a large hospital in Taipei. The Tzu Chi hospital in
Taipei also has a palliative care unit in which they offer spiritual
care for the dying. It is non-sectarian, yet it has a strongly Buddhist
atmosphere as many of the staff are followers of the founder of Tzu
Chi, Bhikkhuni Shen Yen. In this way, we felt it would be very
informative for our research to see a Buddhist based hospital since in
Japan religion, and specifically Buddhism, is confined to strictly
private spaces in hospitals; and there are no hospitals established and
run by any of the major traditional Buddhist denominations in Japan.
During our trip, we also discovered the Palliative Care Unit of the
National Taiwan University Hospital, which had a fully staffed Buddhist
chaplain team drawn from the nationwide Taiwan Clinical Buddhism
Research Group. To our surprise, this high level, public facility had
in many ways a stronger spiritual care component than the private
Buddhist based Tzu Chi unit. Both of these facilities were very helpful
in understanding the possibilities for not just Buddhist spiritual care
but general spiritual care within hospital palliative care units. As
Taiwan shares the same East Asian Buddhist culture as Japan, we have
been considering whether the activities in Taiwan may be more easily
applied to Japan than other such activities in Theravada Buddhist
countries or in the West.
PSYCHOLOGY: The state of mind of the dying person is considered most crucial to their transcendence or rebirth. Therefore, the family should withhold expressions of grief that will disturb the dying and offer them encouragement. As done in the Japanese Pure Land tradition, many Chinese practice the Death Bed Ceremony (Jp. rinju gyogi) in which a monk and groups of laypeople come to chant the name of Amida Buddha for the benefit of the dying person, and sometimes it is felt that this practice may help a patient recover. Voluntary groups usually called a Help Chant Group and even audio tapes may be used to continue with the chanting of the Buddha’s name.
PHYSIOLOGY: Moving the body or causing any abrupt environmental changes is considered to disturb the dying person and their consciousness. Thus the body should not be disturbed (in some cases even not touched) or moved for at least another eight hours after it has gone cold, while chanting should continue. The part of the body where warmth lingers until the rest of the body has become cold is also called the Gate of Death in the sense that the consciousness finally leaves the body through this spot, and its relative position on the body is believed to indicate which realm the consciousness has migrated to. In general, the higher spots [on the body] indicate better realms and the lower ones indicate worse realms. In this way, it is ideal for the person to die in a sitting posture so that the consciousness may more easily leave the body from a higher place. In contrast, dying in sleep, in unconsciousness, under the influence of drugs or in other such abnormal or violent ways is dangerous to the migrating consciousness.
ORGAN DONATION: Despite this teaching, belief and practice of not disturbing the body, organ donation in Taiwan is still popular, because of the bodhisattva ideal of sacrificing oneself fro the benefit of others. It is believed that the power of a person’s intention and bodhicitta will protect and override the negative influences of disturbing the body upon death. In this way, many Taiwanese Buddhist organizations support and promote organ donation by their followers.
SPIRITUALITY: In the Pure Land tradition, there are many records of the past of people who were informed in advance about the time of their death either through meditation or a dream. Upon death, there are the recorded experiences of being welcomed by Amida Buddha and miraculous omens accompanying this event. These kinds of experiences are still recorded today from time to time. There have also been contemporary accounts of monks dying with a rainbow or Vajra body that does not decay for a long period.
BURIAL: In cases where the body is not cremated immediately, it is interred in a place chosen by a geomancy (feng shui) specialist to enhance the chances of prosperity of the living. After 8-10 years the coffin will be unearthed and then the bones will be gathered in an urn and buried for good. In cases of cremation, which is common for the monastic Sangha, cremation should not take place until 24 hours after death. People look into the ashes for relics as signs of achievement in meditation and practice. If these relics are found, they become objects of reverence and worship. Some Buddhists leave wills to have their ashes scattered into a river or the ocean so as to develop a karmic connection with the sentient beings that will feed on them.
FUNERALS: For ordinary Buddhists, the rituals and activities adopted in preparation for death are usually ones offered by professionals who may not belong to the monastic Sangha or by family members, and these are often mixed with practices of Taoist traditions. The basic principle underlying the rituals and activities related to death is the twofold purification of bad karmas and accumulation of merits. Rituals of elevation usually consist of chanting (most commonly the Amida, Heart, Diamond and Earth Treasure Sutras), prostrations and offerings of flowers, food and drink. Acts of merit may include donations to monasteries and monastics, offering a vegetarian meal at the funeral, free distribution of dharma books, releasing endangered lives to freedom, and volunteer activities for the needy.
MEMORIALS: At home or in a monastery, a “lotus seat” (akin to an ihai in Japanese Buddhism) will be established on the home altar on temple altar to represent the deceased. The family will continue to make offerings to the deceased at least on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month. After 1-3 years, the lotus seat will be removed and considered merged into the lotus seat of all ancestors, which stay permanently on the altar.
Sources:
Lin, Yutang. “Crossing the Gate of Death in Chinese Buddhist Culture”
Lee, Mei-huang. “Caring for the Dying in Chinese Buddhist Culture”
BASIC
CONCEPTS
AROUND
DEATH
IN CHINESE
BUDDHISM
While Chinese and Taiwanese Buddhism shares many
similarities with
Japanese Buddhism, it is interesting to see some of the differences
between the two regarding death. Below are some general points
regarding Chinese Buddhist practice around death which will help to
better understand the practice of Buddhist inspired hospice and
palliatice care in Taiwan.PSYCHOLOGY: The state of mind of the dying person is considered most crucial to their transcendence or rebirth. Therefore, the family should withhold expressions of grief that will disturb the dying and offer them encouragement. As done in the Japanese Pure Land tradition, many Chinese practice the Death Bed Ceremony (Jp. rinju gyogi) in which a monk and groups of laypeople come to chant the name of Amida Buddha for the benefit of the dying person, and sometimes it is felt that this practice may help a patient recover. Voluntary groups usually called a Help Chant Group and even audio tapes may be used to continue with the chanting of the Buddha’s name.
PHYSIOLOGY: Moving the body or causing any abrupt environmental changes is considered to disturb the dying person and their consciousness. Thus the body should not be disturbed (in some cases even not touched) or moved for at least another eight hours after it has gone cold, while chanting should continue. The part of the body where warmth lingers until the rest of the body has become cold is also called the Gate of Death in the sense that the consciousness finally leaves the body through this spot, and its relative position on the body is believed to indicate which realm the consciousness has migrated to. In general, the higher spots [on the body] indicate better realms and the lower ones indicate worse realms. In this way, it is ideal for the person to die in a sitting posture so that the consciousness may more easily leave the body from a higher place. In contrast, dying in sleep, in unconsciousness, under the influence of drugs or in other such abnormal or violent ways is dangerous to the migrating consciousness.
ORGAN DONATION: Despite this teaching, belief and practice of not disturbing the body, organ donation in Taiwan is still popular, because of the bodhisattva ideal of sacrificing oneself fro the benefit of others. It is believed that the power of a person’s intention and bodhicitta will protect and override the negative influences of disturbing the body upon death. In this way, many Taiwanese Buddhist organizations support and promote organ donation by their followers.
SPIRITUALITY: In the Pure Land tradition, there are many records of the past of people who were informed in advance about the time of their death either through meditation or a dream. Upon death, there are the recorded experiences of being welcomed by Amida Buddha and miraculous omens accompanying this event. These kinds of experiences are still recorded today from time to time. There have also been contemporary accounts of monks dying with a rainbow or Vajra body that does not decay for a long period.
BURIAL: In cases where the body is not cremated immediately, it is interred in a place chosen by a geomancy (feng shui) specialist to enhance the chances of prosperity of the living. After 8-10 years the coffin will be unearthed and then the bones will be gathered in an urn and buried for good. In cases of cremation, which is common for the monastic Sangha, cremation should not take place until 24 hours after death. People look into the ashes for relics as signs of achievement in meditation and practice. If these relics are found, they become objects of reverence and worship. Some Buddhists leave wills to have their ashes scattered into a river or the ocean so as to develop a karmic connection with the sentient beings that will feed on them.
FUNERALS: For ordinary Buddhists, the rituals and activities adopted in preparation for death are usually ones offered by professionals who may not belong to the monastic Sangha or by family members, and these are often mixed with practices of Taoist traditions. The basic principle underlying the rituals and activities related to death is the twofold purification of bad karmas and accumulation of merits. Rituals of elevation usually consist of chanting (most commonly the Amida, Heart, Diamond and Earth Treasure Sutras), prostrations and offerings of flowers, food and drink. Acts of merit may include donations to monasteries and monastics, offering a vegetarian meal at the funeral, free distribution of dharma books, releasing endangered lives to freedom, and volunteer activities for the needy.
MEMORIALS: At home or in a monastery, a “lotus seat” (akin to an ihai in Japanese Buddhism) will be established on the home altar on temple altar to represent the deceased. The family will continue to make offerings to the deceased at least on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month. After 1-3 years, the lotus seat will be removed and considered merged into the lotus seat of all ancestors, which stay permanently on the altar.
Sources:
Lin, Yutang. “Crossing the Gate of Death in Chinese Buddhist Culture”
Lee, Mei-huang. “Caring for the Dying in Chinese Buddhist Culture”
both
in
Living and Dying in Buddhist
Cultures. Eds. David W. Chappell & Karma Lekshe Tsomo.
Honolulu: School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, University of
Hawaii, 1997.
Copyright(c)
by
1996-2011
Jodo
Shu
Research
Institute