The purpose of this study is to facilitate understanding related to the near death experience for nurses. The research method used in this study was a qualitative research method, phenomenological approach. The participants were three persons; two males and one female. One was confirmed dead by a medical doctor came to life 30 minutes later. Another was unconscious for 9 days, which means social death. The last one experienced near death from drowning. The data was collected using in-depth interviews four times respectively form March 5, 1998 to June 10, 2001 and analyzed using Giorgi`s phenomenological approach in qualitative methods. The results of this study shows that the meaning of near death experience involved `flashed scenes from his/her whole life`, `suffering`, `deviation`, `ambivalence about death`, `resuscitation` and `maturity`. Further research is needed to provide nurses with wholistic care for persons experiencing near death. As 2% of the dead come to life again, it is quite reasonable that the dead are left at a room temperature (without being frozen) for 2 or 4 days and carefully watched 24 hours by the mourning family members before the final burial in the Korean traditional funeral ceremony held at home. I f one can have a new life from near death experience, this experience serves as an excellent chance for the person concerned to make a new decision for a more meaningful life and enforce positive attitudes.