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Buddhist Attitudes To Death

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I. Introduction
Death and dying have always been a taboo among people. It is described as ‘The Great Unmentionable’ that people may mostly feel oppressive and dismal to care or think about overmuch. In contrast, Buddhism recognizes the importance of developing a true awareness of death. Only by understanding death, we shall be free from unnecessary attachments that cause suffering. Furthermore, we shall have a greater appreciation for life by creating compassion for other beings and making ourselves to be more responsible for our own actions on our planet. In this essay, we will look at the Buddhist attitude towards other types of view; follow by Buddhist’s own view on death and dying. The focus will be on philosophical ideas and understandings of death and dying.

II. The Buddhist Attitude
Nowadays, there are two main views that dominate the attitudes to death, namely, the traditional Christian view and the modern secular views. The traditional Christian view asserts that man an immortal soul and the reality of life after death; while the modern secular view claims to be scientific, and challenges the ‘soul’ that man perish completely at physical death like animals. Buddhist attitude to both views is that they are extreme. Buddhism deals with the first kind of view of the heresy of ‘Eternity’ …show more content…

We are repeating in the endless cycles of life and the paradoxical nature of suffering because we are so attached to the existence. Thus, the Buddha urges us to prepare for death by cleansing the mind and not being so attached to things, so that we will be able to let go and release ourselves for needing to be from needing to have. Through this we shall not suffer so much as we pass through the final stage of the present life. We shall be grateful for what we had but not clutch to it. This way we can end and leave the Saṃsāra forever, obtaining nirvana and release from the

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