Buddhist Reflections on Life and Death

Philosophy has been understood as the rational understanding of human beings through the issue of death or of overcoming the death. In the West, they see the soul as immortal, whereas they see the body as transient and imprisoning soul in it. In short, death signifies only "the death of the body." This is the moment from which the death or the liberation from the body takes its affirmative momentum in the tradition of western philosophy. Even though western philosophy and religion represent different forms and ideas, the starting point for them is the premise of human overcoming of the death. In the East, Confucianism understands human death from the practical and Real standpoint. According to Confucian philosophy, life and death belong to the natural process. Taoists regard death and life as the trace of all things that change naturally just like the process of day and night. Buddhism tries to understand all the sentient beings sustain their lives in the interrelationship with other beings. In Buddhism, human beings are neither complete nor determined, they based upon the concept of "life." Also, there is a formular which consists of previous life, this life, next life or life after death. Buddhism attempts to overcome the death through the metempsychosis. This process of overcoming the death through metempsychosis will be followed by ethical consciousness.