Intro; Preface; Reference; Contents; Chapter 1: Introduction: Death and Dying in Comparative Philosophical Perspective; 1.1 Content; 1.2 Comparison; Reference; Part I: Death and Religion; Chapter 2: Death in Ancient Chinese Thought: What Confucians and Daoists Can Teach Us About Living and Dying Well; 2.1 The "This-Worldly" Emphasis of Classical Confucian and Daoist Thought; 2.2 Confucius; 2.3 Xunzi; 2.3.1 Xunzi's Defense of Confucianism; 2.3.2 Grief and Mourning; 2.3.3 Ambivalence and Emotional Conflict; 2.3.4 Facilitating Transition; 2.3.5 The "As If" Attitude; 2.3.6 Symbolic Realism

2.3.7 Xunzi's Contemporary Relevance2.4 Zhuangzi; 2.4.1 The Challenge of Zhuangzi's Vision; 2.4.2 Skepticism Regarding Death; 2.4.3 Accepting Death and Going Along with Change; 2.4.3.1 A World of Ceaseless Transformation; 2.4.3.2 One's Own Death; 2.4.3.3 Death of Others; 2.4.3.4 Natural Cycles of Life and Death; 2.4.3.5 The Experience of Unity; 2.4.3.6 No "Premature" Death; 2.5 Comparative Reflections: Modes of Connection; 2.6 Facing Our Deaths: Contemporary Implications; 2.6.1 The Differing Perspectives of Confucian and Daoist Thought; 2.6.2 Family Involvement; 2.6.3 Back to Nature

2.6.4 Loss of Self and Sense of Oneness2.7 Conclusion; References; Chapter 3: Secular Death; References; Chapter 4: Negotiating Advance Directives in a Navajo Context; References; Chapter 5: The Cult of Santa Muerte: Migration, Marginalization, and Medicalization; 5.1 Encountering Santa Muerte; 5.2 "Here We All Belong": Migrants and the Cult of Santa Muerte in Guadalajara; 5.3 Prayers to Death: A Trivium Analysis to a "Santa Muerte" Book of Devotions; 5.3.1 Prayers of Resistance; 5.3.2 The Grammar Stage; 5.3.3 The Logic Stage; 5.3.4 The Rhetoric Stage

5.3.5 Theological Aspects of Santa Muerte Prayers5.4 Saint Death and the Medicalization of Death; References; Part II: Medicalization and Religion; Chapter 6: Christians Encounter Death: The Tradition's Ambivalent Legacies; 6.1 A Tradition and Its Focus: The Death of Jesus; 6.2 Implications and Some Traditional Issues; 6.3 Platonism Challenged: The Dualism vs. Holism Debate; 6.4 Death as the Punishment for Sin; 6.5 What About Mourning?; 6.6 Hell vs. Progress; 6.7 A Larger Setting for Dying and Death; References; Chapter 7: A Jain Ethic for the End of Life

7.1 Jainism: An Ancient Religion of India7.2 The Soul; 7.3 Vows; 7.4 The Final Fast; 7.5 Death in Contemporary America; 7.6 The Death of Mrs. Vijay Bhade; 7.7 The Deaths of Scott Nearing and John Rehm; 7.8 Legal Debates and Personal Choices; 7.9 Gandhi, Medicine, and Death; 7.10 Conclusion; References; Chapter 8: The Ritualization of Death and Dying: The Journey from the Living Living to the Living Dead in African Religions; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 Who Are the Ndebele People of Matabo?; 8.3 The Religion and Culture of the Ndebele; 8.4 Tensions with the Medicalization of Death and Dying; 8.5 Challenges of the Hospitalisation System