未知死，焉知生？韩国人活着躺进棺材

SEOUL, South Korea — Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be at your own funeral? Some South Koreans aren’t waiting to die to find out.

韩国首尔——你有没有想过参加自己的葬礼会是什么感觉?一些韩国人不想等到死后才知道。

It’s become a trend in recent years to act out a mock funeral service as a way of better appreciating life.

为了更珍惜现在的生活，模拟殡仪服务近年流行起来。

The Hyowon Healing Center in Seoul runs one such program, with financial backing from a funeral service company. After an instructional lecture and video, participants are led into a dimly lit hall decorated with chrysanthemums, where they sit, often tearfully, beside caskets and write their last testaments. Then they put on burial shrouds and lie down in the coffins.

首尔孝圆康复中心(Hyowon Healing Center)就开设了这样一个项目，并得到一家殡仪服务公司的资金支持。参与者在参加了教学讲座、观看了视频之后，被带到一个装点着菊花的昏暗大厅，他们坐在棺材旁边，常常眼泪汪汪地写下他们的最后遗嘱。然后穿上寿衣，躺进棺材。

A grim-looking man dressed in a black robe, “the Envoy from the Other World,” hammers the lids closed. The participants are left encased in utter darkness for 10 minutes — which can feel like an eternity.

一个表情严峻的男人穿着黑色长袍，扮演“来自另外一个世界的使者”，他把棺材盖上。参与者在完全的黑暗中度过10分钟——有时候感觉很久很久。

“There was not a single ray of light coming in, and how I cried in the dark, suffocating coffin!” a recent participant wrote in a blog post.

“里面没有一丝光线，我在黑暗中哭泣，棺材令人窒息!”一个参与者最近在一篇博客帖子中写道。

Jeong Yong-mun, the director of the Hyowon program, said 15,000 people had gone through mock funerals at the center since 2012. The program is free.

孝圆项目主任郑永门(音)说，自2012年以来，有1.5万人参与了该中心的模拟葬礼。该体验是免费的。

Some participants had terminal illnesses and wanted help preparing for the end; others had suicidal impulses that they wanted to dispel. Businesses send employees as part of a motivational program.

一些人患有绝症，希望参加这个项目有助于为死亡做准备;还有些人有自杀冲动，想要打消这种念头。一些企业也把这个项目作为员工激励计划的一部分。

At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour session, Mr. Jeong tells the participants: “Now, you have shed your old self. You are reborn to have a fresh start!” It takes a few minutes for them to readjust, but soon they are chatting, laughing and taking selfies with their coffins.

在两个半小时的体验即将结束时，郑永门会告诉参与者：“现在，你已经不再是以前的你了。你获得了重生，有了一个新的开始!”参加者通常会花几分钟的时间调整情绪，但很快，他们就会开始交谈、欢笑，并与他们的棺材自拍。

Mr. Jeong said he keeps an eye out for the few morbid souls who seem to feel a little too “comfortable in the coffin.” But most participants say they feel strangely refreshed afterward, gaining a new perspective on the things that matter in life, like family.

郑永门说，他会留意极少数的病态者，他们似乎觉得“在棺材里”很舒服。但是大多数参与者都表示在体验结束后，有一种奇怪的焕然一新的感觉，对生活中的重要组成部分有了新的视角，比如对家庭。

“I feel my heart pumping,” one participant wrote in a blog post, where she confessed to having thought about suicide before the mock funeral service. “I am alive!”

“我感觉到自己的心在跳，”一个参与者在一篇博客帖子中写道，她承认在体验模拟殡仪服务之前曾考虑自杀。“我还活着!”