A comparative study of death metaphors in Han and Tibetan ethnic groups

An Analysis of the Latent Class and Influencing Factors of Death Anxiety Among Han Chinese and Tibetan College Students

“…In comparison, the number of Tibetan college students of a 'low death anxiety type' is about twice as high as those of a 'high death anxiety type', which shows that most Tibetan college students have a good mental perspective towards death. This result is aligned with that of previous research findings obtained by He et al (2020) and Yin et al (2020a). Whilst anxiety and fear of death are universal, the Tibetan ethnic group faces life and death in a more peaceful way owing to its Buddhist backgroundalthough faith does not eliminate fear, it can buffer it to a certain extent.…”

“…Han Chinese engage in primary defence to suppress their fear of death as their cultural worldview cannot provide them with distal defence. This makes their everyday words and deeds appear to be more repressed and explains why they treat death as a taboo subject (Yin et al, 2020). The multinomial logistic regression analysis of this study shows that the death anxiety of Han and Tibetan college students is influenced by age.…”

“…This includes preparatory meditative practices and acts of repentance, among others, aimed towards gaining inner peace. Besides, Tibetan folk proverbs and songs also contain a large number of metaphors that refer to how people’s lives are in a naturally ripe condition for death (He et al, 2020). Altogether, these optimistic and symbiotic religious concepts and measures ascribe specific meaning to existence and indirectly reduce the interpersonal and emotional impact of death.…”

“…After Buddhism was introduced into Tibet, it was integrated with the local B ön tradition, which led the concept of reincarnation adhered to by the former to be combined with the notion of eternal existence respective to the latter. By regarding the essence of one's nature as being ultimately distinct and independent from the physical body that temporarily contains and allows it to express itself at the level of relative reality, Tibetans can face death with a more serene and accepting attitude (He et al, 2020).…”