Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Educational Applications of Buddhist Meditations on Death

Bibliographic Data

ID4531335
AuthorsHyungong Moon (0000-0002-0790-3785, Dongguk University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue6
Pages269
Publication date2020-05-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel11060269
OpenAlexW3028938074
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited10

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is applied in various fields such as medicine, cognitive science, business, and education. The mindfulness of Buddhism is at the center of MBSR, and this means that Buddhist meditation has a great effect on modern society. For Buddhist meditations on death, the Aṅguttara Nikāya suggests mindfulness of death (maraṇasati), referring to ten methods of mindfulness and meditation on impurity (asubhānupassin), which are expounded in the Dīgha Nikāya. In this article, I explore two meditations on death that could have a positive effect if applied to an area of education like MBSR. Through numerous experiments, terror management theory (TMT) has proved that many positive psychological changes occur when human beings contemplate death. TMT argues that when mortality salience is triggered, psychological changes occur, such as considering internal values, such as the meaning of life and happiness, or increasing the frequency of carrying out good deeds for others, rather than focusing on external values (e.g., wealth, fame, and appearance). The educational application of Buddhist meditations on death is used in the same context and has a similar purpose to TMT. In addition, I discuss that meditations on death also have the effect of cultivating "the power of acceptance for death", which is gained by everyone, including those who practice and their loved ones. For educational applications of meditations on death, the mindfulness of death is related to death and temporality, and meditation on impurity can be applied by using death-related images. Moreover, based on the duration of a session and the training time per session, I note that these methods can be applied only to meditation or mixed with the content of death-related education, for example, the meaning of death, the process of dying, near-death experiences, and grief education

Buddhism · Happiness · Meditation · Mindfulness · Mortality salience · Psychotherapist · Terror management theory · Theology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology

  • Death recollection moderates stress-influenced depression in Thai boarding school students

    Open Access•Justin DeMaranville, Tinakon Wongpakaran et al.•BMC Psychology•2025

  • Facing finitude

    Open Access•Gábor Király, Alexandra Köves•Ecological Economics•2022

  • Lessons from Master Hongyi's Experiences with Impermanence for Death Education

    Open Access•Fazhao Shi•Religions•2024

  • The Scrooge Effect

    Open Access•Eva Jonas, Jeff Schimel et al.•Personality and Social Psychology…•2002

  • When Death is Good for Life

    Open Access•Kenneth E Vail, Jacob Juhl et al.•Personality and Social Psychology…•2012

  • Compassion in the landscape of suffering

    Christina Feldman, Willem Kuyken•Contemporary Buddhism•2011

  • Mindfulness in higher education

    Mirabai Bush•Contemporary Buddhism•2011

  • The Impact of Death Education on Fear of Death and Death Anxiety Among Human Services Students

    Open Access•Irene Searles Mcclatchey, Steve King•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•2015

  • Evidence That Thinking About Death Relates to Time-Estimation Behavior

    Andy Martens, Brandon J Schmeichel•Death Studies•2011

  • Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps

    Open Access•Jon Kabat‐zinn, Jon Kabat-Zinn•Contemporary Buddhism•2011

  • Mindfulness of Death as a Tool for Mortality Salience Induction with Reference to Terror Management Theory

    Open Access•Hyun Gong Moon, Hyungong Moon•Religions•2019

  • A Life in Balance

    Open Access•Jacob•Religions•2018

Unique citing works3
Citations per year0,75
Citation span2022 - 2025 (4)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 3

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae