Taiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies

Origin

nShakyamuni Buddha left the home-life to attain enlightenment, preaching the ways of ending suffering and finding and the dharma of transcending life and death.

nReceiving increasing attention since the 1970s, hospice/palliative care attends to the spiritual needs of terminally ill patients, tackling with the avoidable issue of death and highlighting the importance of spiritual care.

nIn 1995, the Palliative Ward at National Taiwan University Hospital was founded. During the period from 1998 to 2006, the NTUH Palliative Ward, as entrusted by Buddhist Lotus Hospice Care Foundation and Yi-Ju Sanctuary Hospice Care Association, has endeavored to develop an indigenous spiritual care model for terminal cancer patients and to train clinical Buddhist chaplains who, upon graduation, were referred to palliative wards throughout Taiwan, providing frontline spiritual cares for numerous terminal patients.

nTaiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies is founded in response to the needs of clinical Buddhist chaplains to sustain ongoing training and professional growth.

Dear Members:

    Summer is here. Upon its invitation, trees are singing with flourishing branches and luxuriant leaves, and flowers blooming in radiant shapes and splendid colors. Streams flow with merry vitality, and birds chirp with melodious grace, infusing everything with vibrant life. Every living creature is a tiny but complete universe, blessed with the potential to attain Buddhahood as one’s original self is replete with Buddha nature springing from joyous responses to dharma. I wish you all replete with dharma joy.

    Time flies. Eight months have passed since the founding of TACBS. During this period, progress in the operation and development of our association continues to be made as we complete one task and move on to challenge another.

    The first task is the confirmation of our association’s emblem. As introduced in the first issue of TACBS Bulletin, our emblem is composed of a stethoscope and a string of prayer beads to signify the unification of clinical medicine and Buddhism. Both symbols interweave into the guiding gesture of Amitabhah Buddha in the Trinity of Western Paradise. The Chinese and English names of the association encircle the emblem with one at the bottom spreading like a lotus and the other on the top shining like a guarding halo. In an effort to simulate the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the TACBS emblem endeavors to convey the association’s missions of training clinical Buddhist chaplains and fostering spiritual cares and related researches indigenous to the culture of Taiwan.

    After the emblem came the English name of the association. Dedicating to an emerging field that requires extensive and active researches to win academic recognition, our association builds its core around the training of professional clinical Buddhist chaplains. Therefore, upon its founding, the association first considered to coin the term “clinical Buddhology” for its English name. “Buddhology,” however, is a word absent in virtually all major English dictionaries. We then opted for the much more familiar “Buddhist” and had the English name of our association translated as “Taiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Study.” Later, thanks to the suggestion from Master Hui-Min, the singular “Study” was expanded into the plural “Studies.” Hence the formal English name: Taiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies. TACBS strives to gather palliative care team members interested in studying Buddha dharma to work with clinical Buddhist chaplains for spiritual care and life education. The association is also established to facilitate ongoing academic and research exchanges between clinical Buddhist chaplains and experts in palliative care and other related fields. Moreover, members from monasteries, meditation centers, and other Buddhist and spiritual care organizations are warmly welcomed to explore with us the benefits of Buddhist wisdom in hospice/palliative care and to further cement our faith in Buddha dharma by understanding and practicing its clinical applications.

Dear TACBS Members:

    Time has flied by so fast; without any notice, plume flowers are beginning to blossom, signaling the coming of a new season. I wish you all a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year.

    The Taiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies (TACBS) is founded in response to the growing demands for spiritual guidance for terminally ill patients in hospice/palliative care and their families. In the nascence of its development, our association concentrates initially on training clinical Buddhist chaplains and fostering spiritual cares and related researches indigenous to the culture of Taiwan. Nearly two decades ago, many terminal cancer patients committed suicide in the face of unbearable physical and mental sufferings while some were deprived of dignity as they begged on their knees for anything that would stop the pain. Though the situations have been improved with the introduction of hospice/palliative care, many terminally ill patients remain deeply tormented by the mental and spiritual unrests accompanied by the anguish of imminent death. These spiritual unrests are caused by as well as causing loss of self-respect, self-abandonment, attachment (e.g., reluctance, worries, ties and regrets), fear of death, and unfulfilled wishes. Of these spiritual unrests, fear of death is the most prominent in terms of clinical manifestation, and attachment and unfulfilled wishes the most deterrent to a good death.

    Hospice/palliative care aims at promoting all-encompassing services caring the body, mind, and spirit of every patient. However, the quality of early hospice/palliative care in Taiwan was crippled by the serious scarcity of professionally-trained spiritual caretakers and the virtual absence of spiritual care in the education system and academic community. Consequently, entrusted by Buddhist Lotus Hospice Care Foundation and Yi-Ju Sanctuary Hospice Care Association, the Palliative Ward at National Taiwan University Hospital started in 1997 to commence researches geared to develop an indigenous spiritual care model for terminal cancer patients. Results of the researches were applied in 2000 to the training of clinical Buddhist chaplains who, upon graduation were referred to palliative wards, home cares, and joint palliative care teams throughout Taiwan. Up to this date, clinical Buddhist chaplains can be seen in the forefront providing spiritual cares for terminal cancer patients in nearly 30 hospitals island-wide.  Thanks to their unique religious and spiritual learning background, clinical Buddhist chaplains are able to better interact with terminal patients in reflecting on life and death and practicing dharma, greatly reducing the patients’ anguish and fear, helping them fulfill the purpose of life in the limited time left, and guiding them on their journey to a peaceful death. And it is a genuine blessing that this revolutionary training program has achieved results highly recognized by all the host hospitals.

    Development of clinical Buddhist chaplaincy requires multi-dimensional considerations. The professional role of clinical Buddhist chaplains in hospice/palliative care, for example, needs to be clearly defined. Also essential are the development of core knowledge and clinical guidelines for an indigenous spiritual care integrating Buddhism and medicine, the establishment of formal credential programs for clinical Buddhist chaplains, the implementation of clinical training performance assessment, the development of clinical dharma practice and evaluation of its benefits, and the promotion of life-and-death studies and education to patients’ families, members of medical teams, and the general public through the practice of clinical Buddhist palliative care. All these are key factors affecting the quality of palliative cares and social education. Taiwan Association of Clinical Buddhist Studies (TACBS) was accordingly founded in 2007 with the goal of “integrating medical researches and Buddhist studies to promote the development of clinical Buddhist spiritual care, hospice/palliative care, and life education.” In order to realize the goal, TACBS has its efforts centered around the following missions: (1). Blending Buddhism into medical researches to develop an indigenous model of spiritual care and to enhance the quality of caring for terminal patients; (2). Planning and hosting research activities and education programs related to clinical Buddhist spiritual and palliative care; (3). Incorporating hospice/palliative care and life education as integral components of health promotion activities and courses; and (4). Assisting in the professional education of clinical Buddhist chaplains and facilitating ongoing developments and researches.