This is an important topic in thanatology. Many Eastern and Western religions and philosophies have already given clear answers to this question, with different opinions. Thanatology should make objective and fair judgments on various answers from a scientific perspective. Of course, how to deal with death is probably a religious and philosophical issue after all. Although Eastern and Western philosophies and religions have different attitudes towards death, the essence of trying to resist death and relieve death anxiety in a way that they believe is effective out of human instinct to survive is the same. The strategies used to deal with death generally fall into two categories: optimism and fideism. The optimistic view of death mostly believes that it is an irreversible natural law that people must die. People should face up to this reality, do not need to be afraid of death, and do not need to waste their efforts thinking about the issue of death. They should focus all their attention on the real value of life. create. The Chinese Confucian and Taoist views on death fall into this category. Confucianism views death from the perspective of rational pragmatism. Confucius’ famous saying, “If you don’t know life, how can you know death?” Confucianism expresses the fundamental attitude towards death. Death, in the eyes of Confucians, is not something to worry about. What people should consider is how to live a correct life, seek truth and benevolence, govern the country and bring peace to the world, make meritorious deeds, establish moral integrity, and establish good reputations, and defeat death with an immortal spirit that will set an example for thousands of years. This view of death is still recognized by many people. The views on death of the Western philosophers Epicurus, Spinoza and others are quite close to Confucianism. Epicurus believed that there is no need to consider the issue of death. Spinoza said: A free man rarely thinks about death, and his wisdom It lies in not thinking about death but thinking about life. Zhuangzi, a Taoist, started from naturalism and gained a deeper insight into life and death. He advocated "integrating life and death" and integrating personal life into nature to achieve "life without joy and death without disaster" in order to preserve the true meaning of life. For the value of life. Although the optimistic view of death can support some philosophers and wise men to show a detached and free attitude in the face of death, it still reveals a kind of sadness that is helpless in the reality of death and settles for the second best. Although Confucianism does not worry about death but "mourns death", it is a manifestation of the failed emotion of being unable to change the tragedy of death. Zhuangzi's Qi life and death pursues eternal freedom by "being one with the Tao", which actually contains elements of fideism. Even so, when Zhuangzi reflects on the value of life, he cannot but ignore people's "its form, its heart" "Yiran" death end means "great sorrow". As for the optimistic view of death held by most living beings and the attitude towards life that only focuses on the present and does not consider death, it often leads to hedonism and indulgence, becoming the source of many ugly phenomena and the spiritual support of evildoers, not to mention that it still cannot be transformed from Fundamentally relieve death anxiety. The fideistic view of death mostly comes from devout belief in a certain religion and the spiritual comfort of overcoming death. For example, those who believe in Christianity, Islam and other theistic religions believe that although the body dies, the soul does not die. As long as you live according to the laws of the gods and repent of your sins, you will receive divine grace after death, and your soul will live forever in heaven and enjoy "eternal happiness." Taoists believe that through practice they can achieve immortality or immortality in the heaven or fairyland. Many Chinese people at least believe that they will become ghosts after death, not that they will die once and for all. Religion's theories of happiness in the afterlife and immortality do indeed provide religious believers with an antidote that is enough to get rid of death anxiety. Its practical function has been affirmed by Schopenhauer, Malinowski and others. . Jung, the master of psychology, said in his article "Modern Man Exploring the Mysteries of the Soul": In the opinion of a psychotherapy doctor,...believing in the religious theory of the afterlife is the most consistent with mental health. When I live in a house that I know will collapse in two weeks, all my vital physiological functions are undermined by this notion. But, on the contrary, if I feel safe, I can live there normally and comfortably. Therefore, from the perspective of psychotherapy, it is best for people to regard death as just a transition, just a part of the life process, and its scope and persistence are beyond the realm of our understanding. Of course, the belief in religious immortality also has serious flaws: it does not comfort the increasing number of people who do not believe in religion; theological doctrines cannot withstand the test of modern rationality, and it is difficult to determine whether immortality is truly eternal after death. Confirmation is logically easy to falsify. Moreover, placing the hope of eternal life entirely on the gift of God and the next life is too negative and is suspected of being "spiritual opium." As for the immortality pursued by Taoism, it is even more difficult for most people to believe it due to the lack of successful examples. As a type of religion, Buddhism's view of death also belongs to the category of fideism on the surface. Of course, it also has the antidote to the belief in eternal life of other religions. If we investigate further, we can find that the Buddhist view of death is unique and has the strengths of both optimism and fideism, while avoiding the disadvantages of both. There are roughly three levels of Buddhist attitudes towards death: first, facing death squarely and fearing death. Among various schools of thought, Buddhism is famous for talking about death. The "Noble Truth of Suffering", the first of the "Four Noble Truths" in the Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine, reveals that death is the most profound pain in life and describes how painful it is. For example, it is said that people "live alone and die alone, and go and come alone." [1] People are extremely lonely and miserable during life and death.

When you die, your body and mind are separated, and the pain is like "a turtle coming out of its shell"; when you die, you will never leave this world, you will never leave the world you love, and you will never leave all the happiness in the world, and you can't take away anything you love. "If you have karma to carry you with you," not only do you grieve, but your relatives and family members also grieve and grieve, as described in a stanza in "The Sutra on Impermanence": Parents and wives, brothers and their families, looking at the separation between life and death, why don't you sigh! The "Infinite Life Sutra" describes when people die, "Some fathers cry for their sons, some sons cry for their fathers, and brothers and couples cry for each other. After death and life, they care about each other again and again, and the sorrow and love are bound together, and there is no solution." This is what Buddhism says. The purpose of "Exposing the Suffering of Death" is to teach people to face the reality of death, to calmly reflect on the value and meaning of life from the perspective of ultimate value, to transform the instinctive fear of death into a rational fear, and to inspire a strong will to defeat death through fear. This is quite similar to the attitude of Heidegger, the Western existentialist philosopher who "goes to death first" and transcends existence, which is endorsed by thanatology. Heidegger said: Whoever looks at the future of mankind with the greatest pessimism truly holds the key to improving the future of mankind in his own hands. According to this, Buddhism is undoubtedly worthy of being the champion of pessimistically looking at the future of human beings (referring to death and afterlife). Of course, it is also the most likely to truly grasp the key to improving the future of mankind and transcending death. Chinese Buddhists often say: "On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month of life, preparations should be made as early as possible." This attitude is obviously smarter and more positive than not considering death. If you don’t even dare to admit the sad reality of death, dare not face it, pretend to cover it up, or ignore it out of pragmatism and force yourself to be optimistic, then how can you make efforts to transcend death? According to the standpoint of Buddhism and existentialism, " If we don’t know life, how can we know death?” It should be reversed: “If we don’t know death, how can we know life?” If we don’t know and do not examine the reality of death and the truth of death with wisdom, how can we determine the meaning of life? How can we unravel the mystery of life! Second, rely on self-reliance. , rely on wisdom to truly transcend death. This is the fundamental stance of Buddhism towards death. According to Buddhism, defeating death and obtaining eternal happiness and peace - Nirvana is the goal and the highest value of life. It is often said in Buddhist books: "Life and death are important matters." If you do not solve the fundamental problem of your own existence, "die with the animals and throw yourself into darkness" ("Zhong Agama·Arrow Metaphor Sutra"), it is tantamount to "human cow", which is in vain. Live this life. The Buddhists are confident that people have the ability and wisdom to defeat death and achieve nirvana, that "all living beings have Buddha nature" and that "the treasures of one's own mind are full of everything". It depends on whether goodness is good at digging and developing. To transcend life and death, you do not need to rely on the gifts of gods, but rely entirely on yourself. You must use reason to truthfully observe the reality of the universe and life, and adjust your mind to correspond to the reality. The Buddha and countless Buddhist disciples have opened up a way to escape from death through spiritual practice. As long as they are willing to practice according to his successful experience, everyone can defeat death quickly or slowly and reach the Nirvana state of eternal happiness and self-purification. Third, the end of death lies in the end of life. From the perspective of Buddhism, the key to ending death and transcending death is to "end life" - to understand the truth of real life and live this life well. Because death comes from life, life is the foundation of death, and it is also the foundation that transcends death. The victory over death depends entirely on this body. "The human body is rare" and is extremely precious. It must be cherished and cherished. Never waste it in vain. Your life should be meaningful and valuable. In particular, you should strive to create a life that transcends death and achieves nirvana. ultimate value. From the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Causes and Conditions to Zen Buddhism and Tantric Dharma, observing the reality of life as it really is is the core content of Buddhism, and understanding one's own mind as it is is the key to life and death. Born from conditions, it is empty and has no self-nature. It has nowhere to come from and nowhere to go. There is no physical birth ("no birth"). If there is no birth, there will be no death. If there is no birth, there will be no death. If there is no birth and no death, there will be nirvana. "Buddha sings about no life" has become a summary of the Buddhist view of life and death. Nirvana is in the world. It is the "unborn" nature of the world and life. It is not on the far shore, not on the island of heaven, or in other lives and future lives. It can only be realized by observing real life as it is, and realized by practicing according to the Dharma. The "Za Agama Sutra" records that Brahmans claim that they practice hard in order to pursue eternal happiness in heaven after death. Buddhists call the happiness they pursue "untimely happiness" (happiness after death), and Buddhists Practice with "the joy of present Dharma" (enjoy happiness in the present), and have obtained the joy of present Dharma. The so-called practice is ultimately guided by wisdom and leads a good life. First of all, refrain from doing any evil, practice good deeds, live a good material and ethical life, be a good person, and gain happiness in this life and even the happiness in the future; secondly, practice concentration and wisdom, purify your mind, and cut off all troubles, in order to That is, life transcends birth and death. The highest one walks the Mahayana path, aspires to save all sentient beings from going to Nirvana, practices the Six Perfections and Four Predictions in social life, and makes sincere sacrifices. In the unremitting activities of "benefiting all living beings and solemnizing the land", he tends to transcend life and death without ever "Nirvana without abiding" to enjoy exclusive happiness. In modern times, Master Taixu and others called this "Buddhism of Life" and "Buddhism of the Human World" based on developed life. In fact, it is the consistent theme of Buddhism. From the perspective of Buddhist teachings and practice, although Buddhism starts from attaching importance to death and fearing death, its ultimate goal is to create value and develop potential in real life. It is not so much rebirth as rebirth. The tragedy of death becomes the driving force for defeating death in Buddhism, and it becomes something to be thankful for when viewed with the wisdom of Buddhism.

Since a person who practices the Mahayana Bodhisattva path has understood the true nature of lifelessness, realized the eternal Dharma body, and is immersed in the endless compassion and selfless devotion to save all living beings and benefit all living beings, he will not be obsessed with thinking about the physical body. They are willing to come back to the human world countless times to suffer death. Going in and out of life and death is just a game to them, so there is no need to be afraid and anxious! Even if they cannot reach this state, as long as they agree with the Buddhist teachings, in their own hearts Once you have sown the seeds of Bodhi, practiced Buddhism to some extent, have the backbone of your life, and have the confidence to transcend death, even if you only believe in the six paths of reincarnation, your death anxiety will be greatly reduced, and your life will be more meaningful. It is more moral, at least not as unbridled and evil as hedonists and money worshipers. From the perspective of thanatology, the Buddhist view of death, which faces death squarely, is based on life, and aims to obtain real evidence beyond life and death, is undoubtedly better than other schools and is worthy of development and promotion.

--------------------------[1] "Buddha Speaks of Infinite Life Sutra" Volume 1