Archetypes of Death in Ancient China

This paper explores the Chinese attitudes toward death, dying, and posthumous transformation in East-Asian cultural, religious, and philosophical traditions. The study begins with looking at important tenets of common religious views and the transformation of the Western archetype after its encounter with the East. In comprehending death, we uncover the meaning of the finitude of human existence and the limits of philosophy and science. Next, it examines traditional Chinese funeral ceremonies as they closely relate to ancestor worship, to mythical beings in the Daoist pantheon, and other deities in Chinese folklore. The paper also explores the social functions of the East Asian attitudes and shamanic views regarding the dying process and the afterlife. Daoist archetypes of death combine internal and external alchemy and the belief in immortals. The core of the study compares the Confucian creative self-transformation toward sagehood with the equality of life and death in the Zhuangzi .