死亡是無法規避的生命課題，佛教證悟者是否究竟解脫，唯有當死亡降臨時，最能分辨其真偽高下。對於佛教修行者而言，死亡這個關卡，可以說是修道過程中最嚴峻的試煉。《祖堂集》是南唐保大10年（西元952年）泉州（福建省晉江縣）招慶寺靜禪師與筠禪師，彙集禪宗歷代祖師的傳記與法要編纂而成的禪宗早期燈錄。《祖堂集》揀選傳主的基準是「證悟」，其傳主都是禪宗的開悟聖者。《祖堂集》傳主的組織架構，包含三個層次：其一是佛陀的部分；其二是迦葉以下的西土二十七位祖師；其三是菩提達摩以下的東土開悟聖者。釋迦牟尼佛是佛教的開創者，西土祖師是禪宗法脈的開端，他們是禪宗證悟者的典範，在禪宗教團中，擁有神聖的地位。他們的死亡現象，是禪宗書寫死亡的準則，對於書寫後世開悟聖者的死亡，具有深遠的影響。本論文為求掌握《祖堂集》死亡書寫的開展歷程及其變化，因此先以佛陀及西土祖師為研究對象，透過死亡書寫（包含死亡現象的描述、處理後事的記載、面對死亡的反應、有關死亡的教學與討論等）、死亡書寫的體例與脈絡（包含外在的用語與體例、內在的貫串脈絡等）、死亡書寫的內在意義（包含看待死亡的觀點、面對死亡的態度）等三個面向展開論述，希望經由這些討論，能夠逐步掌握《祖堂集》死亡書寫的基本架構。並期盼未來藉由《祖堂集》所有傳主的分析，得以觀察禪宗開悟聖者如何穿越死亡的試煉，探索禪宗如何看待、面對、處理、討論與超越死亡等課題，並思考禪宗死亡書寫蘊含的深意，以及禪宗的生命觀點對於現世的啟發與教導。

Death is an essential lesson of life. Whether Buddhas are truly released can be determined at the time of death. For Buddhist practitioners, death can be said to be the most severe trial in the process of practicing Buddhism."Patriarch's Hall Collection", a collection of biographies of Zen masters and early Zen sutras, was compiled by Master Jing and Master Yun from Zhao-Qing Temple in Quanzhou, in the 10th year of Bao-Da of Southern Tang (952 A.D.). The subjects of those biographies in "Patriarch's Hall Collection" were selected through the standard of realization, and those subjects were all Zen satori saints. "Patriarch's Hall Collection" consists of three parts: one is about Buddha, another the 27 masters in the Western Land from Jia-She onward, and still another satori saints in the Eastern Land from pu-ti-da-mo onward. Shakyamuni Buddha is the initiator of Buddhism. The masters from the Western Land are the origin of Zen faction. They are the models of Zen Buddhas. In Zen Missions, they have sacred positions. The deaths of them are the principle of Zen death writing, which exerts a profound influence on writing about deaths of later satori saints.In order to keep hold of the unfolding process and the changes in the death writing in "Patriarch's Hall Collection", this article first discusses Buddha and masters from the Western Land as the research subjects, and expounds the following three aspects: death writing (including a description of death phenomena, records of funeral arrangements, reactions towards death, teaching and discussions about death, etc.), patterns and contexts of death writing (including outside diction, inside context, etc.), and inner meanings of death writing (including perspectives of viewing death, attitudes in the face of death, etc.). Hopefully, via these discussions, a basic framework of death writing in "Patriarch's Hall Collection" can be gradually grasped. Moreover, in the future, by analyzing all the subjects in "Patriarch's Hall Collection", an observation of how Zen satori saints pass the trial of death can be expected as well as an exploration of how Zen sees, faces, deals with, discusses, and transcends lessons like death, a contemplation of the profound meanings incorporated in Zen death writing, and enlightenment and teaching of Zen life viewpoints for the present world.