Educational Applications of Buddhist Meditations on Death

Abstract

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is applied in various fields such as medicine, cognitive science, business, and education. The mindfulness of Buddhism is at the center of MBSR, and this means that Buddhist meditation has a great effect on modern society. For Buddhist meditations on death, the Aṅguttara Nikāya suggests mindfulness of death (maraṇasati), referring to ten methods of mindfulness and meditation on impurity (asubhānupassin), which are expounded in the Dīgha Nikāya. In this article, I explore two meditations on death that could have a positive effect if applied to an area of education like MBSR. Through numerous experiments, terror management theory (TMT) has proved that many positive psychological changes occur when human beings contemplate death. TMT argues that when mortality salience is triggered, psychological changes occur, such as considering internal values, such as the meaning of life and happiness, or increasing the frequency of carrying out good deeds for others, rather than focusing on external values (e.g., wealth, fame, and appearance). The educational application of Buddhist meditations on death is used in the same context and has a similar purpose to TMT. In addition, I discuss that meditations on death also have the effect of cultivating “the power of acceptance for death”, which is gained by everyone, including those who practice and their loved ones. For educational applications of meditations on death, the mindfulness of death is related to death and temporality, and meditation on impurity can be applied by using death-related images. Moreover, based on the duration of a session and the training time per session, I note that these methods can be applied only to meditation or mixed with the content of death-related education, for example, the meaning of death, the process of dying, near-death experiences, and grief education.

1. Introduction

Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is applied not only in the fields of medicine, cognitive science, and affective neuroscience, but also in the areas of business, primary and secondary education, leadership, and law. The effectiveness of MBSR has been demonstrated across academic boundaries and its scope of application is continuing to expand (Kabat-Zinn 2011, p. 284). MBSR is a type of meditation-based psychological education program that utilizes Buddhist mindfulness. This demonstrates that Buddhist meditation, which was developed about 2600 years ago, has shown a great effect not only in the past but also in modern society.

However, the purpose of MBSR is different from that of Buddhist mindfulness. MBSR is aimed at alleviating common forms of suffering and promoting well-being (Grossman and Van Dam 2011, pp. 219–20). The purpose of Buddhist mindfulness is to reach nirvana.1 Although MBSR benefits modern society by utilizing the mindfulness of Buddhism, it is clear that is has large differences from the goals of Buddhism. Nevertheless, it is also true that MBSR benefits modern people. In this paper, I discuss Buddhist meditations on death that could have a positive effect if applied to an area of education, like MBSR.

Early Buddhist texts outline ten methods of mindfulness2; among these is “mindfulness of death” (maraṇasati), which is the theme of death. The Dīgha-Nikāya also has a “meditation on impurity” (asubhānupassin) with the theme of death. In this article, I explore two Buddhist meditations on death—mindfulness of death and meditation on impurity—which could have a positive effect if applied to modern types of education, like MBSR. As MBSR shows, the practice of Buddhist meditation has the potential to have a positive effect on humans. In particular, among death-themed meditations, mindfulness of death is considered to be of great value in Buddhist texts. In the Paṭhamamaraṇasati Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha says, “Mindfulness of death developed and made much is very beneficial and ends in deathlessness. Bhikkhus, do develop mindfulness of death.” (Bodhi 2012, p. 876).

Does contemplating death benefit human life or not? Numerous experiments have used terror management theory (TMT) to prove that many positive psychological changes occur when humans think about death. In TMT, the state of death entering the world of consciousness is called “mortality salience” (MS). When MS is triggered, it is said that psychological changes occur, such as an increase in the performance of good deeds for others, an emphasis on peace with others, and a focus on internal values, such as meaning of life and meaning of happiness, instead of external values, such as money, fame, and wealth (Vail et al. 2012, pp. 305–18).3 Due to this, proponents of TMT argue that thinking about death can lead to a true and positive orientation to life (Jonas et al. 2002, pp. 1346–349).

I support the ideas of TMT and propose that the purpose of the educational application of Buddhist meditation on death is to emphasize values such as love, tolerance for others, and the pursuit of true meaning of life and happiness, rather than the pursuit of success, money, home, and appearance. Another goal of the application of meditation on death is to develop the power to accept that death can affect anyone, including those who practice meditation or their loved ones (Moon 2019, p. 8). Meditation on impurity or mindfulness of death is a practice of experiencing death when we are living, which gives us the opportunity to become familiar with death. I think that familiarity can provide the foundation for cultivating the power of acceptance. Also, it is possible that if one fails to accept the death of oneself or one’s loved ones, one may have excessive anxiety or depression, but increased acceptance of death can reduce anxiety and depression. In addition, mindfulness of death, in particular, connects death with time and is an effective method to help one realize that the rest of one’s days are limited, which enhances the ability to appreciate the preciousness of moments of life.

In this article, I agree with TMT’s argument that contemplating death can have a positive effect and argue that Buddhist meditation on death is a good tool for bringing the awareness of death closer, which can have a positive effect on human psychology. In the sections below, I examine two representative Buddhist meditations on death through early Buddhist texts and explore how each can be applied to the area of modern education.

2. Mindfulness (Sati) and Mindfulness of Death (Maraṇasati)

Before looking at the mindfulness of death, we must examine mindfulness. The method of practicing mindfulness is presented in Nikāyas, where the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya describes how to practice “fourfold mindfulness” of the body (kāya), feelings (vedanā), thoughts (citta), and ideas (dhamma).4

Mindfulness is the translation of the Pāli sati, and sati is derived from the root √smṛ, which means “memory”. In the early Pāli texts, it usually means “memory”, “recollection”, “being aware of”, and “calling to mind” (Davids 1910, p. 322.). In terms of etymology, sati is a “memory”, and in more detail, this memory refers to a state of holding onto the present moment of memory or a state of focusing on the flowing present, rather than the memory of the past. In other words, sati means “a state of not [missing] what you are remembering” by carefully focusing on the objects that you encounter in a particular moment.

The concrete method of sati practice is expounded systematically in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya. In the “Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta”, “sati” means mindfulness, and “paṭṭhān” is the noun form of the verb “upa-sthāṇa”. “Upa” is a prefix for “close to” or “forward”, and “sthāṇa” is a noun form of the verb “sthā”, meaning “stand” or “put”. “Paṭṭhāna” means “to stand nearby” or “put forward”, and Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa is also translated to “setting-up of mindfulness” (Davids 1910, pp. 324–27). The Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya describes, in detail, how to practice mindfulness through four objects (the body, feelings, thoughts, and dharma), and by looking at it, we can learn the system of mindfulness.

In this sutta, first, the mindfulness of the body is described, and the mindfulness of the body is practiced through the observation of breathing, inhalation, and exhalation, as well as walking, sitting, or lying. Next, after presenting the mindfulness method of 32 body components, such as various organs, blood, pus, and hair of the body, the sutta describes the mindfulness of the “four primary elements of the body”: earth, water, heat, and air. In the last part, the mindfulness of body, the Buddha says that it is necessary to practice mindfulness by observing the gradual decay of the body in the cemetery (Davids and Carpenter 1976, pp. 290–98). This is a type of Buddhist death meditation called “meditation on impurity” (asubhānupassin), which is discussed in detail in the next chapter. Additionally, Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR program includes “body scans” and “breathing meditations”, which are part of the mindfulness of the body.

Second, regarding the mindfulness of feelings, the Buddha says that mindfulness should be practiced through the awareness of pleasant feelings, painful feelings, and feelings that are neither pleasant nor painful. Also, it is explained that one should observe the feelings that occur internally (within oneself) or the feelings that occur externally (caused by others) and practice mindfulness in such a way as to be aware of the feelings that appear and disappear (Davids and Carpenter 1976, pp. 298–99).

Third, regarding the mindfulness of thoughts, the Buddha says that the mind must be observed. Particularly, awareness of the greedy mind and the mind freed from greed, or awareness of the angry mind and the mind freed from anger, or awareness of a dull mind and an intelligent mind, or awareness of a liberated and unliberated mind should be considered. Taking such states of mind as examples, it is explained that the mindfulness of thought should be practiced in a way that “there is a (greedy, angry, foolish, free) mind” (Davids and Carpenter 1976, pp. 299–300).

Fourth, regarding the mindfulness of ideas, mindfulness should be practiced by observing “five hindrances” (kāma-cchanda),5 “five aggregates” (pañca-khandhā),6 “six internal senses” (saṭ-āyatana),7 and the “four noble truths” (cattāri ariya-saccāni).8 Thus, in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya, meditation on mindfulness is systematically categorized into four categories: body, feelings, thoughts, and ideas.

Based on the mindfulness of the four objects above, the purposes of Buddhist meditation are to renounce worldly desires and to reach nirvana. On the other hand, the purposes of MBSR are to relieve suffering of the body and the mind and promote well-being, rather than reaching nirvana. Therefore, there are fundamental differences between MBSR’s mindfulness and Buddhist mindfulness. Also, the practice of MBSR does not include mindfulness of the four objects of Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta. In the dharma of the four objects, there are essential Buddhist doctrines to reach nirvana, such as the “four noble truths” (cattāri ariya-saccāni) and the “eightfold correct path” (ariya-aṭṭhāṅgika-magga). The practices used in MBSR are body scanning, mindful movements (stretching and walking), and mindfulness of breath (Feldman and Kuyken 2011, pp. 148–52; Bush 2011, pp. 189–90). The practices correspond to the body, feelings, and thoughts of Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta’s four objects (the body, feelings, thoughts, and dharma) and do not include the dharma (Moon 2016, p. 69). Thus, there are major differences between Buddhist mindfulness and MBSR in terms of methods, as well as purposes, of practice.

Based on the contents of mindfulness described above, mindfulness of death, which is one of the ten kinds of mindfulness, is simply a type of meditation that uses the object of mindfulness as “death”. As mentioned above, the basic meaning of sati is “memory”, which means “remembering the present moment” rather than remembering the past. Therefore, in the same context as the meaning of mindfulness, the mindfulness of death means “a state of remembering the thought of death”.

The mindfulness of death is described in the Paṭhamamaraṇasati Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, and the commentary on its contents is found in Buddhaghoṣa’s Visuddhimagga.9 In the Paṭhamamaraṇasati Sutta of Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha emphasizes the importance of cultivating mindfulness of death and asks the disciples how they are developing mindfulness of death. Several disciples answer the Buddha’s question. First, a disciple says, “If I live just a night and a day, I would attend to the dispensation of The Blessed One, and that would be much done by me. I attend to mindfulness of death in this manner.”10 Another disciple then says, “If I live until I partake my meal of morsel food… I attend to mindfulness of death in this manner”, and other disciples continue to say, “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food …” or “If I live until I breathe in and breathe out …”. As such, the disciples mentioned different “time units” and said that they developed mindfulness of death.11

In the Paṭhamamaraṇasati Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha says, among those attitudes of developing mindfulness of death, “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food …” and “If I live until I breathe in and breathe out …” are the right attitudes of mindfulness. Specifically, the Buddha stresses that it is necessary to practice mindfulness of death with “the mind that puts death very close to the inner side”. From that point of view, the key to mindfulness of death is to connect death with “temporality”, such as the phrases “If I live just a night and a day”, “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food”, “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food”, and “If I live until I breathe in and breathe out” (Moon 2019, p. 7) demonstrate.

In general, death is not a topic that we often think about in life. We do not think of death as an event that may or may not come one day, but the attitude and awareness that death will surely come is the basic attitude of mindfulness of death.

Furthermore, in the process of practicing meditation for mindfulness of death, it is important to connect death with temporality. Therefore, if we apply the idea of mindfulness of death to the area of education, “temporality of death” and “practicing of meditation” must be present. In particular, as the term “mindfulness” implies, the mindfulness of death is within the realm of meditation, which is centered on experience, rather than theory, and shows the possibility of having a more direct effect on human psychology in educational applications. Details on the educational application of mindfulness of death are discussed in Section 4.

3. Meditation on Impurity (Asubhānupassin)

Along with mindfulness of death, early Buddhist “meditation on impurity” is included in the mindfulness of the body part of the fourfold mindfulness in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya.12 In the mindfulness of the body part of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta, there are meditations on the impurities of organs and components of the body13 and the “Observation on the corpse of nine stages”. This observation on the corpse is called “meditation on impurity” (asubhānupassin). Meditation on impurity is a type of meditation that visualizes the process of a gradual decaying dead body of a human being. The detailed contents of meditation on impurity by the Dīgha Nikāya are as follows:

(1) Bhikkhus, just as if he had seen a body abandoned in the cemetery, dead for one, two, or three days, swollen, turning black and blue, and decomposed, applies that perception to this very body (of his own), reflecting, ‘This body, too, is even so constituted, is of even such a nature, has not got beyond that (fate)’. … Thus bhikkhus, does continue to regard the body.

(2) Bhikkhus, just as if he had seen a body abandoned in the cemetery pecked by crows, ravens, or vultures, gnawed by dogs or jackals or by various small creatures, applies that perception to this very body (of his own), reflecting, ‘This body, too, is even so constituted, is of such a nature, has not got beyond that (fate).’ …

(3) Bhikkhus, just as if he had seen a body abandoned in the cemetery [reduced to] a chain of bones hanging together by tendons, with flesh and blood yet about it, … or (4) ‘stripped of flesh but yet spotted with blood’ … or (5) ‘cleaned of both flesh and blood’ … or (6) ‘reduced to bare bones, loosed from tendons, scattered here and there, so that the bones of a hand lie in one direction, in another the bones of a foot, in another those of a leg, in another a thigh bone, in another the pelvis, in another the spinal vertebrae, in another the skull’, applies that perception to this very body (of his own) reflecting, ‘This body, too, is even so constituted, is of such a nature, has not got beyond that (fate).’

(7) Bhikkhus, just as if he had seen a body abandoned in the cemetery, [reduced to] white bones the colour of a sea-shell … or (8) ‘to a mere heap of bones a year old’ … or (9) ‘to rotten powder’, this perception does he apply to this very body (of his own) reflecting, ‘This body too is even so constituted, is of such a nature, has not got beyond that (fate).’

14

As quoted, meditation on impurity is the practice of “imagining” the process of a corpse decaying into bones after death. The contents of the meditation are summarized as follows: (1) (a body abandoned in the cemetery) “swollen, turning black and blue, and decomposed”, (2) “pecked by crows, ravens, or vultures, gnawed by dogs or jackals or by various small creatures”, (3) “a chain of bones hanging together by tendons, with flesh and blood yet about it”, (4) “stripped of flesh but yet spotted with blood”, (5) “cleaned of both flesh and blood”, (6) “bare bones, loosed from tendons, scattered here and there”, (7) “white bones the color of a sea-shell”, (8) “to a mere heap of bones a year old”, and (9) “to rotten powder of bone”. In the Dīgha Nikāya, it is recommended that the person who is practicing the meditation on impurity should closely observe the process of bodily decay in these nine steps and then embrace the thought that “‘this body, too, is even so constituted, is of even such a nature, has not got beyond that fate. Do continue to regard the body.”

The descriptions of the decaying process of the body may have been actually preached in front of the cemetery by the Buddha, but they are likely to have been based on empirically shared appearances of the time. In other words, they are most likely based on memories of observations in the cemetery. However, importantly, in the meditation on impurity “vivid images of scenes after death” are used.

As meditation on impurity observes the dead bodies of others, the reminder of one’s own death is similar to mindfulness of death. On the other hand, in the Visuddhimagga, an early Buddhist commentary, Buddhaghoṣa said about meditation on impurity, “…by seeing its (images of impurity) advantages and by perceiving it as a treasure and so come to love it, he anchors his mind upon that object…Quite secluded from sense desires, secluded from unprofitable things he enters upon and dwells in the first jhāna…”15 (Ñāṇamoli 2010, p. 172). Therefore, the original purpose of meditation on impurity is to abandon sense desires and carry out meditation to enforce that the human body is “impure”. Also, the Majjhima Nikāya notes, “Rahula, develop meditation on foulness (impurity), for when you develop meditation on foulness, any lust will be abandoned”16 (Nanarnoli and Bodhi 1995, p. 531). Thus, the purpose of meditation on impurity is to abandon sensory desires for the body, such as sexual desire.

Regarding the original purpose of the practice of meditation on impurity and the possibility of inducing aversion (vivid observation of the dead body’s decay), it may not be suitable for application within the area of modern education. However, I believe that the practice of meditation on impurity can be used educationally through the “euphemism” of death-related images. Furthermore, meditation on impurity has two important benefits: “reminding individuals of death-related images” and “practicing meditation”. Therefore, meditation on impurity can be used as a type of “teaching material” that can lead to positive psychological change by inducing “mortality salience”,17 similar to the mindfulness of death. Details on the educational application of meditation on impurity are discussed in Section 5.

4. Educational Application of Mindfulness of Death

The purpose of applying mindfulness of death is to induce “mortality salience” (activation of thoughts on death in consciousness). As stated in the introduction, thinking about one’s own death will bring positive psychological changes, such as inducing the consideration of internal values (e.g., genuine meaning of life and happiness) and awakening the value of life’s moments. Therefore, it is necessary to think about death in order to bring about positive changes, and mindfulness of death can be a tool to think about death.

As we saw in Section 2, the key to mindfulness of death is to meditate on a number of “time units connected with one’s own death”, using phrases such as “If I live just a night and a day…”, “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food …”, or “If I live until I breathe in and breathe out …”.18 Therefore, the first condition for applying the mindfulness of death to education is to remind the learners to “connect[ing] death with temporality”. However, I recommend that the unit of time until death is set as “after a day” or “after inhaling and exhaling” since, depending on the subject of education, it may be more appropriate to use a “euphemistic expression”, such as “I will live a short time”. Teaching young children, the mentally ill, or the terminally ill to think “I will die after inhaling and exhaling” can cause unintended side effects. This is due to the fact that in mindfulness of death, it is important to “remind[ing] death in connection with time”, so depending on the subjects of education, it may be appropriate to use a euphemism, for example, “If I live a few months … “, or “If I live in a while …”.19

Next, the second condition for applying the mindfulness of death is to use the “posture for meditation.” In many cases, the posture for meditation is “sitting meditation”, with the head, neck, and back straight, the legs crossed, and sitting on the floor. However, Kabat-Zinn notes, “it is not necessary to meditate sitting on the floor or in a cross-legged posture. Most sit on straight-backed chairs. Ultimately it is not what you are sitting on that matters in meditation but the sincerity of your effort” (Kabat-Zinn 2005, p. 62). I agree with Kabat- Zinn, as sitting on the floor with two legs crossed and keeping the entire spine and head in a straight line is difficult for many people to practice for a long time, and practicing meditation may be possible in various spaces, such as classrooms, auditoriums, and the outdoors. The use of the cross-legged posture is decided freely according to individual abilities and places, and then the shoulders are relaxed, keeping the spine and neck straight, breathing slowly, and practicing in the mind that death will come closer with time using phrases such as “I will die after a while”, or “Death will soon come to me”. These recommendations can serve as a basic framework for the educational use of mindfulness of death.

If mindfulness of death is used in education, it may be beneficial to only practice mindfulness of death throughout the training period. However, from my point of view, if each training session is more than one hour long and the entire session is more than two months long, it would be more effective to not only meditate, but to educate by mixing the contents related to death and meditation. Educational content based on mindfulness of death will be made up of general death education curricula. For example, there is a study of death education program for human service undergraduates. The program’s curriculum includes the definition of death, the process of dying, euthanasia, death and religion, the process of grief, and suicide (McClatchey and King 2015, pp. 352–53). The results of the study showed that compared to the control group of students who did not receive death education, the experimental group of students who received death education showed a reduced level of fear and anxiety about death (McClatchey and King 2015, pp. 355–58).

Another reference is the opinions of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). The ADEC argues that the curriculum for death-related education should include the definition of death and information about the process of dying, suicide prevention, war and terrorism, and the afterlife. (Balk 2007, pp. 339–42). Two related studies showed that a curriculum that combines meditation on death and death education can be used to teach the definition of death, the process of dying, the afterlife, and suicide. In addition, there is an impressive online resource for meditation on dying, which is made up of an E-learning system in the Tergar.20 Practical instructions for the “six bardos” (dying stages of Tibetan Buddhism) are broken down in the Tergar. The Tergar’s educational content is taught by the Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and could be a useful resource for organizing the curriculum of death-related education.

Moreover, Mindfulness of Death Based Death Education (MDBDE), which is conducted for Korean adolescents, is another example of how mindfulness of death has been applied to death education. Since the MDBDE is applied only to adolescents, there is a limited aspect of sample selection, so it may or may not be appropriate for other age groups, such as college students and the elderly. Nevertheless, the MDBDE is an example that shows the effects of mindfulness of death education. The educational content used in the MDBDE includes information about the process of dying, the definition of death, near-death experiences, death in religion and philosophy, suicide, and the meaning of life. Some of the MDBDE’s teaching guidelines are shown in

Table 1. Example of Mindfulness of Death Based Death Education curriculum.

Session 3
Training Time	Contents
10 min	Practicing mindfulness of death: 1. Instruct students to correct their posture—to straighten their waist and back and to breathe in and out slowly. 2. Instruct them to repetitively meditate on the sentence, “If I live a few months, how would I live in the future”. 3. (About 4 min later) Repeatedly give verbal instructions, “If I live a few months, how would I live in the future”, for each two breaths and exhaled breaths.
30 min	Five Stages of Dying (by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross) Stage 1: Denial and Isolation Stage 2: Anger Stage 3: Bargaining Stage 4: Depression Stage 5: Acceptance - “Acceptance” is important for death and other hardships in life(Details omitted)
5 min	Practicing mindfulness of death: Instruct in the same way as in the introduction

(Moon 2016, p. 108).

After completing the MDBDE, students in the experimental group exhibited more positive attitudes toward life and developed an acceptive attitude of death (Moon 2016, p. 118). As can be seen in Table 1, in MDBDE, mindfulness of death is placed at the beginning and end of the session and is designed to be orally guided by the teacher to keep the participants focused by using guided MBSR meditation. If the training sessions are numerous and the training time is long for each session, various death-related educational contents, such as the definition of death, the death of religion, and philosophy, euthanasia, and death in literature and film may be utilized. Importantly, mindfulness of death must be practiced once or twice per session, and if the education time is short, it could be beneficial to only practice mindfulness of death without educational content.

Given this discussion, what effects would educational application of mindfulness of death have? I think that using mindfulness of death, meditating on one’s own death in connection with time, helps one to realize that their lifetime is limited and brings awareness that moments of life are precious. In fact, time and death are very closely related, because approaching death means that the given time is running out (Martens and Schmeichel 2011, p. 504). According to TMT, contemplation of death causes a limited-time perspective (Vail et al. 2012, p. 317). In particular, mindfulness of death can be a tool that gives awareness that life is limited. In addition, as seen in MDBDE research, the educational application of mindfulness of death can increase the acceptance of death. In the next chapter, I continue to discuss the educational application of meditation on impurity, another type of Buddhist meditation on death.

5. Educational Application of Meditation on Impurity

As we saw in Section 3, the method of meditation on impurity involves reminding one about corpse decay after death, with “vivid images of death” through stages such as “(a body abandoned in the cemetery) swollen, turning black and blue, and decomposed”, “pecked by crows, gnawed by jackals, by various small creatures”, “a chain of bones hanging together by tendons, with flesh and blood yet about it”, “stripped of flesh but yet spotted with blood”, “cleaned of both flesh and blood”, → “bare bones, scattered here and there”, “white bones the color of a sea-shell”, “to a mere heap of bones a year old”, and “to rotten powder of bone”. The purpose of meditation on impurity is to remind oneself that after death, one will be like the above images of death.

It is difficult to find studies that have shown the effect of applying meditation on impurity to education. However, it is possible to extract important elements of meditation on impurity for educational use. The important elements of meditation on impurity are “reminding one of the images of death” and “meditation”. Normally, the general education curricula lacks experiential elements such as meditation. Also, in education, “teaching material” includes tangible objects such as books and videos, but intangible things such as “meditation” can also be included. Meditation is not an external materiality but rather immateriality, such as a particular experience or feeling that takes place internally through oneself. The immaterial “meditation on impurity” as a teaching material that includes posture, breathing, and the objects of the mind (images of death) can have effects on the human psychology. In particular, imagining and reminding oneself of death are methods for meditation on impurity, which leads the unconscious state of death closer to consciousness. According to TMT’s argument that considering death can have a positive effect, in this respect, meditation on impurity can be seen as a valuable teaching material to bring death closer in terms of experiential and practical aspects.

As mentioned above, the method of meditation on impurity involves visualizing the process of decay of the corpse. However, if the content of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya is applied to children, adolescents, the terminally ill, and the feeble-minded, there may be a possibility of negative side effects. Therefore, if just two aspects of meditation on impurity—“reminding oneself of death-related images” and “meditating”—are applied to students using “euphemistic death images”, it can be used as appropriate teaching material.

In addition, to apply meditation on impurity, rather than using graphic decaying images of the body’s flesh, blood, tendons, and bone decay, it would be more appropriate to modify the images and let the student remind themselves of the death images in a step-by-step manner. For example, we can use images in the following order: “the image of laying in the hospital waiting for death”, “the image of being surrounded by medical staff and family immediately after death”, “the image of the body laying in the coffin”, and then “the image of the coffin being put into the cemetery”. Since funeral procedures vary among countries and cultures, it is not possible to accurately determine the processes after death, but the images of death can be applied in the structure of just before death (laying in a hospital or home), immediately after death, dealing with the body after death, and then having a funeral (burial or cremation). The use of such “euphemistic images” can also prevent negative side effects, such as inducing excessive aversion.

When applying meditation on impurity to education, it is important to select death-related images and to meditate (remembering the death images in the mind) using the same method of meditation as that used for mindfulness of death that we saw in previous chapter. Whether sitting on the floor or in a chair, the spine and neck should be kept straight and one should breathe slowly. In the mind, one should remind themselves of images of death in a series of stages, as mentioned above. Meditation on impurity seems to be very similar to that of mindfulness of death, but one important difference is that mindfulness of death uses sentences that relate death and time, such as “I will die after a while”, while meditation on impurity uses “images of death”.

In the same way as mindfulness of death, the application of meditation on impurity to education may also be mixed with death-related educational content. Meditation may also be used, depending on the length or duration of the session. As discussed in Section 4, the content of education can include the definition of death and information about the process of dying, euthanasia, death and religion, death and philosophy, and near-death experiences.

On one hand, the images of meditation on impurity are only related to one’s own death; on the other hand, images of others, such as family and friends, can be applied too. It would be possible to change the protagonist’s image “just before death, immediately after death, having a funeral” to the image of a particular person. What kind of educational effects can we expect if we meditate on the images of others’ deaths? The death education curriculum proposed by Lani Leary includes death and loss, the theoretical perspectives of grief, strategies for helping the dying and bereaved, and bereaved families (Leary 1997, p. 171). The Association for Death Education and Counseling also emphasizes the need for grief education (Balk 2007, p. 115). Grief education is used for the bereaved who have lost their loved ones. While the death of oneself is the most important problem in life, the death of loved ones, such as family, friends, and pets, is also an important psychological issue. Thus, through meditation on impurity, reminding loved ones of death images “before” they leave gives them a chance to think seriously about their death. In addition, I presume that meditation on impurity with others is a kind of “pre-grief education” that can increase the capacity for the acceptance of loved ones’ deaths, along with the awareness of the value of the loved ones around us.

In fact, the purpose of the application of meditation on impurity discussed in this article is the same as that of mindfulness of death, that is, to bring death closer. Then, what is the main difference between meditation on impurity and mindfulness of death? The difference is in the content of meditation: mindfulness of death relates death to time and meditation on impurity relates death to images. However, the detailed effects of the two meditations are currently difficult to determine. If empirical studies are conducted on both practices in the future, detailed effects will be revealed.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, I discussed the possibility that Buddhist meditations on death could have positive effects if applied to an area of modern education, like MBSR. In TMT, death is activated in consciousness, a state called “mortality salience”, and when it is induced, human beings place more importance on internal values, such as the meaning of life, happiness, and tolerance of others, rather than on external values, such as success, wealth, honor, and appearance. The educational applications of Buddhist meditations on death are also in the same context as the positive psychological change in TMT.

The Paṭhamamaraṇasati Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya’s mindfulness of death is practiced in the form of “If I live until I chew and partake one morsel of food…”, or “If I live until I breathe in and breathe out…”. Mindfulness of death connects death with temporality to make us aware of mortality and to awaken us to the limited time span of life. This process helps one to realize the importance of moments of life and the effect of cultivating the power of acceptance of death.

Meditation on impurity, described in detail in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāṇa Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya, is a method of reminding the body of decay after death in several stages and practicing it with the mind so that “This body too is even so constituted, is of such a nature, has not got beyond that fate”. However, when the meditation is applied to education, the use of the body’s decaying images may cause excessive aversion. As a solution, I discussed that the stages of just before death, immediately after death, dealing with the body after death, and having a funeral can be used through euphemisms. In addition, meditation on impurity is traditionally a type of meditation that involves the use of images of the death of oneself, but if the images of another person, like a loved one, are used, it can bring about the effect of reminding oneself of the death of another person, which also can be applied to grief education.

Also, when it comes to the educational use of meditation on death, if mindfulness of death is connected to death and temporality and meditation on impurity is connected to death and images in the framework of meditation using posture and breathing, the details of the content could be determined by modifying the Nikāyas or by using euphemisms. In addition, depending on the duration of the session and the training time allocated to each session, it could be applied simply by meditation alone or by mixing it with the contents of death-related curricula, such as the meaning of death, the stages of dying, near-death experiences, and grief education.

As mentioned in Section 5, there is little difference in the application of meditation on impurity and the mindfulness of death; both types of meditation have the purpose of rethinking the meaning of life and happiness and increasing acceptance of death due to the induction of mortality salience. If further empirical research is carried out later, the differential details of each type will be revealed.

The “pre-experience” of death, which will surely come to anyone through death and temporality, death images, and meditation, will give us a chance to reflect on our lives and provide an opportunity to rethink the purpose and meaning of being. Furthermore, the periodical practice of Buddhist meditations on death will allow us to become familiar with death, and being familiar with it will enhance our power to embrace death. Ultimately, embracing death will eliminate negative ideas associated with death.