• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.40
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• pp.155-185
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to compare death the Korean Buddhist understanding of death with that of Daesoon Jinrihoe. Various concepts, including reincarnation (輪廻), myeongbu (冥府, 'the postmortem offices' or 'afterworld') and the Ten Kings (十王) of the afterworld are used to explain views on death in both religions. However, these concepts differ not only in their content and categorization, but also in terms of the meaning they occupy within the doctrines of each religion. In other words, although many similarities can be found between Buddhism and Daesoon Jinrihoe's concept of reincarnation, at the same time, differences between them can also be pointed out. The differences include the period of time between one's death and reincarnation and also the importance of reliance upon other people or divine powers during the reincarnation process. With regard to ideas involving myŏngbu, there are far more differences than similarities. Both Buddhism and Daesoon Jinrihoe shares a similar notion of an afterlife judgment presided over by the Ten Kings. However, many differences can be found when it comes to Daesoon Jinrihoe other view of myŏngbu, known as 'myeongbu gongsa (the Reordering Works of Myeongbu).' These works are considered to be of great doctrinal importance in Daesoon Jinrihoe. Therefore, the concepts of reincarnation and myeongbu that appear in both traditions should not be considered identical and need to be redefined accordingly in comparative contexts. In other words, the concepts of reincarnation, myeongbu, and the Ten Kings as they appear in the Daesoon Thought should first be differentiated from their counterparts found in Buddhism and then be redefined in the context of the new and independent system of thought in which they exist. These concepts should then be applied to broader theoretical discourse on religion.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.130
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• pp.161-186
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• 2014

Recently, the social concerns on well dying come to the fore as important discourse on dignity of human death, which detonation by the problem of euthanasia. Well dying means 'good death' the meaning of a word, and it means 'prepared death', 'decented death' 'beautiful death' by extention of sematic context like this as a general rule. In this paper the writter have considered that how the view of Buddhism's death contribute to the discourse on well dying, which regarding death as the starting point, death conquest as the finishing point of the theory. The Buddhism's discourse on the attitude interpretation conquest process of death contributed to formation of abundant discourse on well dying, especially the view of Buddhism is able to contribute to conquest of death anxiety and death education, that death conquest interpret to spiritual psychological phenomenon not physical physiological eternal life (or immortality) and conquer death through enlightenment on reality of things by spiritual psychological change.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2013

Koreans' traditional view on death has been much influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and shamanism since ancient times. Confucianism emphasizes the importance of the real life in this world and highly praises doing good deeds for the family and the community. It also praises people who are enlightened by education and self-discipline. Confucian scholars admit that death cannot be understood by rational thinking although it is unavoidable as a cosmic order. Taoism sees life as the same entity as death; Both are two different aspects of the same cosmos or the wholeness. However, the disciples of Taoism became much interested in a long life and well being that may be achieved by harmonizing with the cosmic order. Buddhism thinks that death and life are an "illusion". It says that people can be enlightened by recognizing the fact that "Nothing is born and nothing is dying in this world. Everything is the product of your mind occupied with false belief." However, secular Buddhists believe in the afterlife and metempsychosis of the soul. This belief is sometimes connected with the view of the traditional shamanism. Shamanism dichotomizes the world between "this world" and "that world". After death, the person's soul travels to "that world", where it may influence life of people who reside in "this world". And shamans who are spiritual beings living in "this world" mediate souls and living people. In conclusion, there are various views and beliefs regarding death, which are influenced by a number of religions and philosophies. They should be seriously considered when making a medical decision regarding the end of patients' life.

• Survey Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.95-121
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to measure Koreans' views on the life and death and to illuminate the structural relationship between their subscales. The subscales are composed of afterlife views, death anxiety, death concern, will of suicide inhibition. Data drawn from Korean General Social Survey(KGSS) collected in 2009 were analyzed. The findings show that favorable attitude towards afterlife has positive relationship with favorable attitude towards returning to this life. The favorable attitude towards returning to the present life has positive relationship with death anxiety while it has negative relationship with will of suicide inhibition. The favorable attitude towards afterlife has positive relationship with death concern and will of suicide inhibition. Social support and happiness have negative impact on death concern while they are positively associated with will of suicide inhibition. These findings indicate that all subscales of views on life and death are significantly related to themselves and are also correlated with socio-demographic factors, which means that we have to comprehensively look inside the views on the life and death in order to understand the increasing suicide among Koreans. Further studies need approaching Koreans' views on the life and death by using more validated tools to capture their holistics picture.