All cultures have their own views on the subject of death and dying, no one culture’s follows the same methods as another. A reason for this is religion; there are so many diverse religions in the world enabling distinct values and customs towards death. Taiwan is no exception to this; religion within the country is made up of a variety of different religious beliefs and practices, as a result of their multicultural history. Compared to countries with a large immigrant population, the majority of people living in Taiwan are either Aborigines or Han Chinese (Tan, 2003)
Even with their small ethnical groups in the country, the number of different religions is overwhelming; there are 26 officially recognized religions within Taiwan ("Taiwan yearbook 2006," 2006). Taiwan has an estimated population of twenty-three million people living in an area approximately 13,000 square miles ("International religious freedom," 2006). Meaning that within a very small country there is a great deal of religious diversity. This paper will look at religion within Taiwan more specifically examining ancestor worship compared to Christianity, by looking at the different burial customs and belief system. There are no universal guidelines to address issues such as death. Cultures have formed their own meaning behind death and have produced rituals to normalize the process in order to create a social script around death.
In an April 2006 survey conducted by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Religious Affairs Section reported that the majority religion of the country was Buddhism, which encompasses around one-third of the Taiwanese population at 35%. The second largest religious group within Taiwan are the Taoist, which make up another one-third of the popula...
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I arrived at the Hsi Lai Temple in the city of Hacienda Heights around 3:00 p.m. on March 7, 2014. Although I am Chinese, I have never been to this temple before because my family does not practice Buddhism. This is my first time collecting data about the His Lai Temple. This method is referred to as participant-observation which is, “the anthropological method of collecting data by living with another people, learning their language, and understanding their culture” (Arenson and Miller-Thayer 521). The temple is built on a hill top. After driving up the long hill into the parking lot, I found that before entering the temple, I walked up many stairs. In the brochure For Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple, it said that the name Hsi Lai stands for “coming to the West”. The temple, which was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, signifies the dedication of Taiwan’s largest Buddhist organizations called the Fo Guang Shan. It took ten years to build the temple and was completed in 1988. This $30 million Temple on 15 acres of land was financed by donations from Buddhist devotees from around the worlds.
“In most human society's death is an extremely important cultural and social phenomenon, sometimes more important than birth” (Ohnuki-Tierney, Angrosino, & Daar et al. 1994). In the United States of America, when a body dies it is cherished, mourned over, and given respect by the ones that knew the person. It is sent to the morgue and from there the family decides how the body should be buried or cremated based on...
“The whole character of Chinese popular religion flows in the direction of plethora of rituals and obligations without much discernable doctrinal underpinning” (Corduan, 2012, p.410). The Chinese popular religion has gravitated away the gods of Buddha and Daoism and captured the philosophy of luck and materialism (Corduan, 2012), while it “is less concerned with philosophical issues and
Since I grew in traditional chinese family, so I don’t know much about religions. In my family, we don’t go to church or temple. In my family, we do have some special customs that we follow during holidays,
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For the Torres Strait Islanders, death is something that is not taken lightly. The people of this indigenous community do not fear death; however, the death of friends and family members brings extreme grief, just as it does with any other society. In some ways the Torres Strait Islander’s death ceremonies are no different than ours, they mainly consist of a burial and a mourning period. Although there are some similarities, there are many more differences.
Buddhism is a beautifully complex religion that since its widespread introduction to Japanese culture by the end of the seventh century has made enormous impacts and direct influences on the government and cultural practices of society (Hoffmann 36). The Japanese death poetry composed by Zen monks and haiku poets, compiled by Albert Hoffmann, is an excellent literary explication of the Japanese attitude towards death. This attitude is most notably derived from Buddhism, the main religion of the Japanese people. Even Japanese citizens who are not literal Buddhists still embrace the philosophies that have now become instilled in the cultural history of Japan due to such a heavy Buddhist influence on government and education throughout the centuries.
There are numerous cultures in this planet today; however the Jewish view of death makes this culture unique from the rest. Jewish death and mourning rites have two basic principles: kevod ha-met, respectful treatment of the dead, and kevod he-chai, consideration for the feelings of the living. These two principles are highly regarded by the Jewish community (Kolatch 7-8).
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Molloy, Michael. Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print
The five Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto have some similarities when it comes to the their beliefs on death. Hinduism and Buddhism both believe in karma and reincarnation, while Daoism and Shintoism revolve their beliefs around nature. Confucianism chooses not to focus on things we do not know, so their beliefs on death are limited. In deciphering the different beliefs on death associated with each religion, it is important to understand the different belief systems and their origins. While some religions merged the views of the other religions, some came from the views of an originating founder. Each religion has their own view on life after death and whether or not their followers should be concerned
The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.
Makeham, John, Hsiau, & A-chin, eds. (2005). Cultural, Ethnic, and Political Nationalism in Contemporary Taiwan: Bentuhua. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.