生死是人生不可避免的事。春秋戰國時期,喪禮是孔門教育,也是周代貴族教育不可缺少的一環,可是到了近代,受到物質科學的影響,否定了死後還有靈魂的存在,以致讓國人對於死亡因陌生而產生恐懼,也抱持著敬而遠之的態度,並視爲人生的一大禁忌,能不接觸就盡量避免。在各種學術殿堂談論生命教育(冠、婚、喪、祭)時,其中有關喪禮的論述明顯的偏少。從歷史文化傳承的角度來說,台灣的社會與教育對於死亡的認知顯然發生了偏差。目前對死亡後的處理大都仍由傳統殯葬業者與地方仕紳或土公等人主持,陳陳相因的結果,就無法發展出合乎現代需求的優質喪葬禮俗。因此喪葬禮俗文化亟需有前瞻性的觀念,也必須再行改革,使喪禮儀式能適情適理,以傳統的禮俗做爲基礎,破除舊有的迷失,符合現代社會生活狀況,塑造出合宜的喪禮儀式。爲達到這個目標,就應該從小開始灌輸正確的生死觀念正式生死大事,不怕接觸的喪禮,也不要繼續囿於舊有的劣質喪葬習俗,違背善良風俗者必須導正,也必須認清喪禮的社會價值,讓喪家取得原有的自主權。唯有如此,方才可能出現合於現代需求的喪禮文化。
Death is inevitable. Since 770 B. C., the ritual of funeral had been an important part of the education of the Confucianism and the Chou Dynasty. But due to the influence of recent mater science, which denies the existence of spirit beings of afterlife, people are afraid to talk about the death. Furthermore, in the academic works, there are few research about death. Now the arrands of death are mostly arranged by the traditional undertakers, local famous people, or the tu-gong, thus, thus, it is difficult to develop a good funeral ritual for modern Taiwansce society. So the funeral culture needs an forthword perspective to be more reasonable. In order to reach this gool, it is necessary to develop a good concept about funeral ritual for the society and express the social value of the funeral clearly.