Funeral & Burial Reform; Buddhist combined funeral ritual; Ecofriendly natural burial; Master Sheng Yen
摘要
With the growing environmental-consciousness during the last ten to twenty years, local governments have been promoting eco-friendly natural burial, which has gradually been accepted by the public. For thousands of years, placing the dead body into the ground has been the dominant burial practice in Chinese society. To change the long-held burial customs is not an easy task and the crucial part is to set up proper funeral and burial perception. Although the revision of government policy will definitely play a promoting role, the advocacy of the government alone still has its limitations. It also depends on religious groups and civil society organizations to help promote and publicize.
The purpose of this study is first to explore the reasons and opportunities for the great conversion of Taiwan funeral and burial culture from conventional burial to ecofriendly natural burial, secondly to examine the shifts in the funeral management policy of Taiwan during the last hundred years, thirdly to look at the funeral and burial perception proposed by Master Sheng Yen and further discuss the process and contributions of his two social movements for funeral and burial reform: Buddhist combined funeral ritual and ecofriendly natural burial.
