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In modern society, many people are singing the praises of material prosperity and the comfortable life. There is still, however, a long way before being totally liberated from all kinds of pains and anxieties experienced by every human being. Those pains and anxieties of men have continued to exist up until the modern day since the history of humans began. Among them, the physical and mental suffering of those who are faced with death is beyond description. It is also necessary to take care of a family that is just about to lose one of its members, so that they can overcome their suffering and come back to their daily lives. Such a service, designed to heal the anguished minds of patients on their deathbeds as well as their families, is called terminal care people in charge of terminal care consist of medical specialists, Hospice providers, social workers, and men of religion. In order to mitigate the despairs and sorrows of dying people, rehabilitative terminal care is in great demands rehabilitative care facilities and Hospice providers are gradually being reinforced.
The Pure Land Faith especially, in which one prays for rebirth to the abode of perfect bliss(極樂淨土), can be considered as true character of Mahāāna Buddhism which encourages dying people to have great hope. The Pure Land Faith as such had a great influence on Korean Buddhism. The Venerable Wonhyo, in particular, educated the mass of people and popularized Buddhism with the aid of Pure Land thought. Nevertheless, nothing much has been known about the result of his popularization of Buddhism. Regarding this problem, I looked into The Collections of Korean Man-ga, and discovered the vivid traces of Buddhism that remained in Man-ga(輓歌) funereal songs that were sung by Sangdogye when the coffin was carried away.