Hospice is a newly emerging medical and welfare pattern in current society.Focused on life of human being,aimed at an ultimate transcendence over birth and death,Buddhism has its theoretical and practical systems of life-concerning,which has much in common with the modern hospice in aspects such as recognition of the process of death,achievement of carrying out hospice care,the core value of hospice and consolation of relatives and family members and so on.Therefore,Buddhism gives enlightenments to the modern hospice which is still at the beginning stage.Generally speaking,those enlightenments on hospice is useful both in theory and practice,which include the comprehensive understanding of the physiological procedure of death(mordern medical science cognition only reaches organ level),the influence of religious clergies interference(defending the life dignity and advancing the life quality of the dying to a large degree),orientation of the dying(a patient in hospice while a whole person in Buddhism),the relief of the terror of the dying,the transcendence of "care of enlightened nature"( " care of spirituality" is used in clinical application)over death,etc.Hospice is based on western culture and is better to be revised to adapt different areas,races and culture.Buddhism is one of the important components of Chinese culture.The modern transformation of the merit of Buddhism can greatly promote the establishment of the typical Chinese mode of hospice care.
