The View of Death in the Chinese Culture

The View of Death in the Chinese Culture

In the view of the Chinese common man, life on earth is but a temporary stop on his journey to death and other reincarnations. Since death is viewed as inexorable and inherent in the human condition, the Chinese accepts it with composure. It was a common custom in China, especially in rural areas, for people to have a coffin ready in their houses as a preparation for death that may come ten or twenty years in the future. Well-to-do people used to build their own tombs long before they felt they were approaching death. This composure should not be construed as absence of sadness and regret. The Chinese believe that, in spite of its seamy side, life is still better than death which is shrouded in mystery. Death, for Chinese, does not mean total disappearance. Only the corporeal frame is disintegrated, and the spirit survives and perpetuates itself in a series of reincarnations. The belief of the survival of the soul forms the spiritual basis for ancestor worship while the feeling of gratitude ant affection for one's ancestors forms its moral foundation. Among the Chinese, the honest man is born amidst traditions and rites; as an adolescent, he seeks to improve himself through culture; and in maturity, he aims at wisdom through following the spiritual path. This pattern is not an abstract ideal but a way of life, which often leads to an attitude of tolerance and detachment. The bulk of the Chinese people lived for centuries in this environment of ancestral beliefs and religious doctrines.

Confucianism is more of a religious and social philosophy than a religion in the accepted meaning of the word. It has no church, no clergy, and no Bible. It advocates a code of social behavior that ...

... middle of paper ...

...nfluence on the daily life of the Chinese people. The recollection of the ancestors, the fear of offending them or soiling their reputations, coupled with the desire to please them, are sources of inspiration, which guide the actions of the descendants. Even for a hardened sinner, to lack respect for the ancestors is the worst offense imaginable. Here is how the intimate thought of the master should be interpreted. Respectful of tradition and of rituals, he did not wish to explain himself fully on this subject. But such should be his thought. The cult of the dead is, in his eyes, the cult of memory, based upon filial piety and the thought of the continuity of the family and of the race. It is in this spirit that still being practiced by the majority of the Oriental world, for whom it is the main religion and takes the place of all preaching revealed or supernatural.