• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

There are various understandings how to define death. In the context of medicine, death is defined as the irreversible change of the tissue according to the cessation of circulation and respiration. According to the psychologists, a person need to accept the finiteness as a human being and remain conscious that the death is not avoidable. And they say if a person doesn't regard death as unavoidable reality of life he or she will not confront the humanistic death and after all will die like animals. In philosophy, death is viewed as an unwelcome reality in the end of the journey of life. Sociologists usually understand that the society is the organization composed with living persons and human beings which construct and transmit the culture from generation to generation between the both ends of life and death. In society, the generation is changed, maintained, and developed through the phenomenon of death. Although death of human being is natural event in society, the death of a specific person brings a sense of loss, crisis, and anxiety to the communities like family, regional society, nation, and the world. In this context, death is not confined to personal dimension and it can be regarded as a social problem. It is valuable to summarize the religious perspectives on the meaning of death for the better hospice care. In shamanism, there are basic idea that although the flesh of human being disappears, soul never die. If human dies, the flesh of human being disappears but soul never disappear and come back to the origin of soul as it is called chaos. So in shamanism, it is said that shaman can solve the mortified feeling, restore the broken harmony, send the soul to comfortable space- the origin, and guarantee the blessing of descendents. Buddhists regard the death as an essential component through the cycles of life. Through this cycle, human being exits as an endlessly transmigrating being and the death is just a restoration to the original status. In Confucianism, the view on the death based on the philosophy of the "Yin and Yang" and "Five elements". In Buddhist tradition, many believers said the philosophy of "Death is the same as life". Unlike usual thoughts that a god governs "life and death" and "fortune and misfortune", Confucianists deny the governance of a god and emphasize the natural orders in which every phenomenon in the world moves according to the principle. Confucianists understand the death as a natural order with this principle. In Confucianists' belief, the essence of human being remains in their own descendent's lives after the death of ancestor, so in Confucianism there is no concept of immortality of the soul. In the history of Christianity, death has been defined generally as the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body. In the earlier days of Old Testament, the death is regarded as a disappearance of just a flesh and human never disappear and always live in the relationship with God. Later days in Old Testament, we can find the growing concern for the life after the death because of the entrance of the theodicy. In the New Testament, the death is not regarded as the normal process of the human life and regarded as the abnormal status in which death come to human because of sin as a decisive factor and it should be conquered. In fact, the most of us afraid death because not of the fear of death itself but of the sense of the emptiness and regrets. so many people often make the monument hoping to live forever. But Christian usually regard this behavior as a sinful act because human being usually think themselves as a master of their life and attempt to become immortal in this kind of trial mortal. But if we live with God, we cannot confront such a condition because we aware limits as a mortal human being and entrust everything on Him and want to live according to His guidance. Therefore, in the Christian tradition, the death is regarded as accomplishment of life, fruits of life, invitation to the eternal life, and the last stage of human growth. For human being, the death is the great step of maturation as a human in the final stage of life.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.27
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• pp.79-132
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• 2016

The view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe includes all the gods of Heaven and Earth, and the human heart is taken as the foundational key. Practitioners can realize their value according to how much they have cultivated themselves. This is regarded as the mythical use of a singularly focused mind (full dedication of one's heart). In other words, it focuses on the potentiality of humans who are able to enter a transcendental area of divinity through their self-cultivation. This view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe was established by the religious mission known as "Samgye Gongsa (the Reordering of Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity)." Samgye Gongsa indicated a new opening of the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. This new opening is a return to the original principle of Heavenly operation and also a new order for the universe. Heaven and Earth have their own underlying principle by which they operate. This act was directly initiated and manifested from Dao. Daesoonjinrihoe diagnoses that the underlying principle by which Heaven operates was damaged by human misconduct, and as a result, the human observance of that principle fell out of common usage. Therefore, Daesoonjinrihoe gives priority to the reestablishment of Dao as it existed originally and tries to bring about reconciliation between Heaven and Earth and Humanity. In short, it resolves the grievances accrued since time immemorial by correcting the order of Sindo (Divine Law). Furthermore, it shows that the Dao of Sangsaeng (mutual beneficence) was created by reordering the arrangement of Heaven and Earth so that human beings and divine beings could reach a state of perfection through self-realization. Humans not only communicate with Heaven and Earth, but also communicate with divine beings. Divine beings are transcendent living beings capable of communicating with humans through their heart-minds. In Daesoon thought, human beings are not swayed by the power of divine beings, but instead are able to control divine beings through the transcendent power of their heart-minds. Given this view, the aim of Daesoonjinrihoe lies in participating in the harmony of Heaven and Earth through the cultivation of the human heart. Also, it sees that the human heart-mind can be united with the universal Dao, and thus it is able to be united with the deities of Heaven and Earth. In order to actualize this, one does not rely on exterior rituals or magic but has to focus instead on cultivating the moral ethics of the heart-mind to reach perfection. In other words, one can reach a transcendent level in one's heart-mind through the cultivation of a singularly focused mind and be free from the contradiction of life and death and other such torments. Life and death is an inevitable process for humans. So they do not have to be happy for life and sad for death. They can rather be free from the fear of death by fulfilling the energetic zenith of the human heart-mind via training themselves to transcend their physical bodies. No aging and no death is not a pursuit of radical longevity or immortality for the physical body, but rather a pursuit of the essence of life and the realization of eternity on a spiritual level. Daesoonjinrihoe pursues the state of being unified with Dao by developing "Jeong·Gi·Sin (精·氣·神 the internal energies of essence, pneuma, and spirit)" and trying to reach the transcendent state of non-aging and radical longevity by spurring the practice of self-realization and the discovery one's own innate nature. Through the practice of human ethics, they can access the creative functions of Heaven and Earth and become one with Heavenly Dao thereby achieving harmony between temporal existence and eternity. In this way, humans transcend the life and death of their physical bodies. When "Doins (trainees of Dao)" reach the true state of unification with Dao through singularly focused cultivation, they not only realize self perfection as human beings, but also enable themselves the means to do away with all disasters and forms of suffering. They thereby attain ultimate happiness in their lives.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.263-305
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• 2009

Is it lawful to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment applied to a patient in a terminal condition or permanent unconscious condition? In Korea, there are no such laws or regulations which control affairs related to the withholding or withdrawal life-support treatment and active euthanasia as the Natural Death Act or the Death with Dignity Act in the U. S. A. And in addition there has had no precedent of Supreme Court. Recently Supreme Court has pronounced a historical judgment on a terminal care case. The court allowed the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from a patient in a permanent unconscious state. Fundamentally the court judged that the continuation of that medical treatment would infringe dignity and value of a patient as a human being. And the court required some legal grounds to consider such withdrawal or withholding of medical care lawful. The legal grounds are as follow. First, the patient is in a incurable and irreversible condition and already entered a stage of death. Second, the patient executed a directive, in advance, directing the withholding or withdrawal of life-support treatment in a incurable and irreversible condition or in a terminal condition. Otherwise, at least, the patient's will would be presumed through his/her character, view of value, philosophy, religious faith and career etc. I regard if a patient is in a incurable and irreversible condition or in a terminal condition, the medical contract between a patient and a doctor would be terminated because of the actual impossibility of achievement of it's purpose. So I think the discontinuation of life-sustaining care would be legally allowed without depending on the patient's own will.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2019

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions and "a good death" affect attitudes toward terminal care. Method : Participants included 109 ICU nurses from three university hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires, and collected data were analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, the $Scheff{\acute{e}}$ test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and a multiple regression analysis (SPSS 24.0 program). Results : Perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions and a sense of closeness (a constituent for the awareness of "a good death") were positively correlated with terminal care attitudes. The factors affecting terminal care attitudes were a clinical career in ICU (${\beta}=.20$, p =.035), a sense of closeness(${\beta}=.19$, p =.041), and the perception of a life-sustaining treatment decision (${\beta}=.22$, p =.017). This finding indicates that more than 10 years of experience in ICU, a greater sense of closeness, and a higher view of life-sustaining treatment decisions results in more positive attitudes toward terminal care. The explanatory power of these variables on terminal care attitudes was 14% (F=6.84, p < .001, Adj $R^2=.140$). Conclusion : A sense of closeness and the perception of life-sustaining treatment decisions were identified as the factors affecting terminal care attitudes. Thus, various programs must be developed to raise awareness among ICU nurses of "a good death" and perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.501-510
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of views of life and death and spiritual wellbeing of medical and non-medical university students and to compare their correlation. To this end, 95 medical students from H University and 103 non-medical students from A University were sampled for this research. The research results are as follows: For both medical and non-medical university students, negative meaning of death was found to be most high among sub-factors of views of life and death. Medical and non-medical university students differed in death anxiety and life respect will as medical students showed lower death anxiety and higher life respect will than non-medical students. As a result of analyzing the correlation between view of life and death and the sub-factors of spiritual wellbeing, religious wellbeing showed negative correlation with meaning of death, and both existential and religious wellbeing showed positive correlation with life respect will in medical university students. The results of this study are expected to be helpful in constructing differentiated contents in biomedical ethics education for medical university students who will be exposed to medical deaths.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1270-1274
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• 2004

In the Nei Ching. the interrelation of Yin and Yang within the human body. based upon a perfect balance and a perfect mutual control. The affinity of Yin and Yang to each other was held to have a decisive influence upon man's health. Perfect harmony between the two primogenial elements meant health. Disharmony or undue preponderance of one element brought disease and death. The interrelation of Yin and Yang in the Nei Ching, had the organic view of the life. The world view of the harmony and balance in Nei Ching shows a unified world view that is symmetrical and in equibrilium in unity and conflict of opposite elements instead of combining with the closely related elements, namely, it is a fact that the life principle of the theory of Yin and Yang in Nei Ching is not the object of the killing and destroying for unity and conflict of opposite elements but the life cycle and life rule for the purpose of achieving the world of harmony, coexistence, and engendering via check and balance as well as confrontation between the opposite elements. In Nei Ching, like this, in the case where all of the antagonistic elements including the antagonism between You and Me, Yin and Yang affirm and tolerate each other, the organic view of the life in which the life of You and Me and the macrocosm is able to be maintained is suggested to the human being at a whole crisis.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.398-411
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• 2001

Funeral rites relate to the last ceremonies involving the process of human beings moving from this world to the other world, becoming part of a life which remarkably reflects the world after death. They can be said to be the best culture created by the conception of death. The ceremonies of mourning, or ubiquitius folk phenomena of all the ages from the ancient times to modern times, represent the mass belief of each nation in spiritual worlds as well as the feelings of individuals facing death. In so far as their methods are concerned, the ceremonies vary in accordance with ages, nations, regions and culture. The practices of today\`s funeral rites conducted in the West have been formed and changed throughout its long history. Now that the ceremonies are a combination of complicated cultures, they serve as an important tool for inquiring into the spiritual life of the people of an age in question and the pictures of the society concerned. Therefore this paper is designed to look into the culture of shrouds showing respect for the dead in the West. With the view of examining death, and grave clothes for them, but also with the spiritual culture of human beings in relation to death represented in their pictures. I resort to literature and materials related to the shrouds of the dead which appeared in a period from the Medieval Age to the 19th century.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.255-262
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the view of life and death among ICU nurses and to analyze the problems related to end-of-life care in the current ICUs. Methods: A descriptive study design was used. The participants were 975 nurses working in the intensive care units of 16 general hospitals. Using a descriptive survey design, data were collected from August to December in 2016 and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Results: As a result of a correlation analysis of the data, Death perception had a significant positive correlation with EOL of nursing attitudes(r=.100, p=.002), and negative correlation with EOL stress care(r=-.221, p=<.001). The regression model explained for individual characteristics in the model, age(${\beta}=.126$, p<.001) and death perception(${\beta}=.182$, p<.001), Satisfaction of the EOL care(${\beta}=.173$, p<.001), Healing training needs on the EOL(${\beta}=-.144$, p<.001) were the most influential factors for EOL stress. Conclusion: Results reveal that ICU nurses have a moderate level of EOL stress, and that individual, age, death perception, Satisfaction of the EOL care, Healing traning needs on the EOL relevant in ICU nurses' EOL stress. Programs or interventions to reduce EOL stress and to should be developed taking into account these multidimensional factors.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.323-332
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the terminal care stress of nurses in intensive care units in terms of their death perception, attitude toward terminal care, and mental health. Methods: This descriptive study collected data from 118 nurses in intensive care units in one tertiary referral hospital and three general hospitals. The instruments used in the study were the Terminal Care Stress Assessment Tool, the View of Life and Death Scale, the Frommelt Attitudes toward Nursing Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD), and the Mental Health Assessment Tool. The data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: There was a significant positive correlation between terminal care stress and death perception (r=.31, p<.001). The factors significantly influencing the terminal care stress of the participants included gender (β=.33, p<.001), religion (β=.24, p=.004), and death perception (β=.35, p<.001), and the overall explanatory power was 23.1% (F=12.73, p<.001). Conclusion: To decrease terminal care stress among nurses, establishing the death perception of nurses based on value clarification about death may be necessary. Furthermore, this study suggests an intervention study examining the effect of an education program on terminal care stress among ICU nurses.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.746-759
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was designed to systematically explore and elicit information about terminally ill cancer patients' and primary family caregivers' subjectivity of death. Method: Using Q-methodology, 21 terminally ill cancer patients and 19 primary family caregivers sorted 40 statements during personal interviews. Results: The results of this study show that terminally ill cancer patients have four factors ('Attachment to life', 'Hope for heaven', 'Resignation to reality', 'Avoidance of pain') of response and primary caregivers have four factors('Dependence on religion', 'Faithfulness to reality', 'Obedience to fate', 'Agony of reality'). Comparing the subjectivities of death of terminally ill cancer patients and primary family caregivers, 'Hope for heaven' and 'Dependence on religion' reveal the similarities of their outlook. On the other hand, 'Attachment to life', 'Resignation to reality', 'Avoidance of pain', 'Faithfulness to reality', 'Obedience to fate', 'Agony of reality' reveals different aspects of their outlook. The group of terminally ill cancer patients and their families divided into four types. Type A was 'Attachment to life and Agony of reality', type B was 'Attachment to life and Obedience to fate', type C was 'Hope for heaven and Dependence on religion' and type D was 'Resignation to reality and Faithfulness to reality'. The positive group was C or 'Hope for heaven and Dependence on religion'. Conclusion: There are significant differences found in the subjective structure of death among terminally ill cancer patients and primary family caregivers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an individualized nursing intervention for terminally ill cancer patients and family caregivers.