莊子生死觀在臨終關懷上之現代意義

The Modern Meaning of Chuang Tzu's Perspective of Death as a Matter of Thanatology Concern

黃雅淳(Ya-Chun Huang)

《興大中文學報》 17期 (2005/06) Pp. 427-447

摘要

「千古艱難為一死」，每個具有正常壽命的人，都必然地會在生命的某一時刻先歷經到喪親或喪友之痛，然後則體驗到自己面對死亡時的恐懼不安。既然人人皆會死，無論是正常老死或是患病罹禍而早夭，因此每個人都遲早會面臨一段或長或短的臨終期，也必然要經歷或深或淺之臨終前的痛苦。由此可知，臨終關懷絕不僅僅是對臨終者最終生命時光的醫療照護，其本質應該是廣義的對大眾（本質上皆為臨終者）的死亡教育。其目的是幫助人們如何獲得對自我人生的積極評價，以及對死亡及死之後的體認，由此使臨終者能以個人生命意義的完成、人生觀的建立和靈魂的安頓來消解對死亡的焦慮、恐懼和痛苦。
本文以莊子的生死觀為題，將莊子對生死問題的探索放在臨終者及家屬可能面對的歷程中加以分析，以彰顯莊子的生死智慧在現今臨終關懷上的意義與價值。其目的亦是期望我們能夠學到更多有關生命最終階段的一切憂慮、恐懼與希望。廣義上，我們皆為臨終者，當我們親臨死亡或面對至親的死亡時能不逃避，在生命的最終關頭，仍能將此一外在生命（即身體）逐漸衰弱腐敗的負面過程，往深一層地視為是內在生命（即精神）繼續成長不休且更能深化的積極正面的人生階段。如此，面對死亡，自可無懼而安詳。

關鍵字

莊子 ； 道家生死觀 ； 臨終關懷 ； 生死學

並列摘要

”Death has always been the most difficult matter.” Everyone who has ordinary longevity must experience the grief of losing family members or friends at a point of time, and then experience the fear of one's own death. Everyone is going to die, either when one is too old or becomes ill or has a disaster when still young. Sooner or later, one has to deal with a longer or shorter thanatological period of time, and also experience some degree of pain while dying. Therefore, thanatological concern is not only the medical care for the person who is dying in the last minute of life, but essentially should be death education for everyone (who is eventually dying naturally) in a broader sense. The purpose of death education is to help people attain a positive evaluation of their life, and how to understand death and what follows after death. In this way, the dying person can complete the meaning of his personal life, build his own perspective of life, and can rest his soul in peace. From the above, one can dissolve the anxiety fear, and pain which are caused by death.
The theme of this article is Chuang Tzu's perspective on death. This article analyzes Chuang Tzu's discussion of the issue of death, and relates it to the consideration of the process that a dying person and one's family might deal with. Through this analysis, this article is written in order to clearly show the meanings and values of Chuang Tzu's wisdom regarding death which can contribute to the thanatological concerns of today. The purpose is to expect that we can learn more about the anxiety, fear, and hope in the last period of one's life. In a broader sense, all of us are dying. We all must deal with our own death or that of our family members. If we do not try to escape in the last critical moments, and consider the negative process of physical decay more deeply, we can turn that process into an inner life (spiritual) growth and consider it to be another deep, positive stage of life. As a result, when we face death, we won't fear but feel peaceful instead.

並列關鍵字

Chuang Tzu ； philosophical Taoism's perspective of death ； thanatological concern ； thanatology studies of death and dying

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