Transforming Death Anxiety through Meaning-Centered Contemplation: A Philosophical Dialogue between Buddhist Nianfo Practice, Logotherapy, and Neurophenomenology
Hsin-Yuan Liu, Hsuan-Pin Chen
International Journal of Philosophy and Theology August 13, 2026 DOI: 10.15640/jpt.v13p2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Anxiety Buddhism |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that meaning-centered contemplation, exemplified by Buddhist Nianfo practice, can reframe death anxiety and support existential orientation by reshaping self-referential patterns and loosening mortality-related rumination, thereby contributing to spiritual care. |
Abstract
This paper addresses the contemporary crisis of existential vacuum by examining how death anxiety may be reinterpreted through meaning-centered contemplation. Drawing on Ken Wilber’s Three Eyes of Knowing, the study brings Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, transpersonal psychology, Buddhist Nianfo practice, and selected insights from cognitive neuroscience into philosophical dialogue. Nianfo is interpreted here as a meaning- centered contemplative practice. Within this framework, Nianfo provides a religious and contemplative structure through which practitioners may reorient selfhood, mortality, and ultimate concern. The discussion of the Default Mode Network and prior beliefs is used as a limited neurophenomenological lens, rather than as empirical validation of Buddhist doctrine or a reduction of religious practice to neural mechanisms. From this perspective, contemplative practice may be understood as reshaping self-referential patterns, loosening rigid mortality-related rumination, and supporting a more stable existential orientation. By placing Buddhist Nianfo, logotherapy, and neuroscience in dialogue, this paper argues that meaning-centered contemplation, grounded in vow and action (Yuan-Xing), can contribute to contemporary spiritual care. It offers an epistemological model in which psychological resilience, religious aspiration, and preparation for death are held together while philosophical, theological, and empirical modes of knowing remain distinct.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- The Brain's Default Mode Network Annual Review of Neuroscience May 4, 2015
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- Meditation leads to reduced default mode network activity beyond an active task Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience April 22, 2015