Tibetan funeral customs

 

Tibetan funeral customs

 

When it comes to Tibetan funeral customs, people always talk about sky burials that surprise the world. Sky burial is the most common funeral custom in Tibetan areas. The simplest way to put it is to "send the corpse to the cemetery to feed the eagles." That is to say, the body of the deceased is eaten by vultures.

When the wise man Agudengba and the caravan leader Lacuo chatted about sky burial with Tibetan Buddhist characteristics, Agudengba said: In fact, there are many Tibetan burial methods, and not all of them adopt sky burial.

Agudemba said:

There are five Tibetan burial methods, namely sky burial, water burial, cremation, earth burial and tower burial. The most common is funeral culture, which is a complex of multiple idiosyncratic cultures in human-created social activities related to death. Its content involves physical objects, beliefs, psychology, ethics, morals, and art, and has been extended to form Such as hospice care, will culture, death education, death concept, funeral customs, funeral culture, burial culture, sacrificial culture, funeral economy, funeral technology and other related activities.

Agudengba told Lacuo about the Tibetan tree burial custom:

In some areas of Tibet, you can see various small boxes hanging on the trees on the banks of the intersection of three rivers. These boxes are tied along the trunks, ranging from 50 cm to 80 cm in length, with different shapes, but They were all sealed. Some have 4 or 5 small wooden boxes hanging on a tree, while others only have 1 or 2, which look like beehives built by beekeepers. This is tree burial.

Earlier funerals used wooden boxes, but now some use plastic boxes or buckets instead, and some even use a strong cloth bag tied to the treetops.

If a child under the age of 13 dies, the family will put the child's body in a fetal curled-up position, put it in a birch bark barrel or a small wooden box, and the lama will hang it in the dense woods at the confluence of the two rivers on a day chosen by the lama.

The location of the tree burial is very strict. First, it is at a T-junction or crossroads. Secondly, it is at the intersection of two or more rivers. Thirdly, the selected tree must grow on the grass dam in the center of the intersection or the intersection of two rivers. The tree must Strong and tall, with lush branches and leaves.

If the child mortality rate is high at home, people hang wooden boxes at high places. After the death of a baby girl, they usually hang it at the bottom of the tree. Some cremate the body and put it in a clay jar before hanging it on a cedar tree.

This approach may seem unacceptable, but to the locals, it symbolizes the deep love for the deceased and the hope of family prosperity. They believe that tree burial can help the dead child always have someone to accompany him. The river is the mother's milk, flowing continuously into the child's heart, just like returning to the mother's arms. It can be reincarnated and ascend to heaven as soon as possible, and it can also prevent the next child from encountering mishaps.

Lacuo said to Agudengba:

Water burial is a custom in India and Bangladesh, and it should be the same in Tibet.

Agudemba said:

Tibetans do have the custom of water burial.

Water burial is actually an older burial method in the world, which involves throwing the body of the deceased into rivers, lakes and seas. In Tibetan areas, the concept of water burial has many similar views to the ancient Bon religion. For example, throwing the corpse into the water to feed the fish is a sacrifice to the river god. In the legendary story about the cannibalism of the river god, it is required to throw boys and girls into the river regularly every year to prevent the river from flooding. This is the same example of offering sacrifices to the river god.

The formation of water burial was mainly due to religious factors. Later, the descendants of Buddhism had some similarities with the sect's theories, so they preserved them.

In some Tibetan areas, people who die from infectious diseases are buried in water. Oxen are used to carry the corpse to the riverside, where the lama chants sutras and beats drums to save the soul.

The water burial platform is usually located on a high bank by the river or on the bushes in front of the water burial platform. After a person dies, he is moved to the high bank by the river, and then the body is thrown into the river for water burial.

Water burials include whole corpses and dismembered corpses. Some bundle the corpse into a ball, put it into a wooden basin and other objects and throw it into the river. Some break the corpse into pieces and throw it into the river. Amidst the lama's prayers, the body was cut into pieces and then thrown into the roaring river. The fish then swarmed and gathered in front of the water burial platform to grab food.

Agudengba said to Lacuo:

In addition to sky burials, water burials, and tree burials, Tibetans also have a funeral culture called pagoda burials. Pagoda burial means placing the remains of eminent monks and living Buddhas in a pagoda.

A long time ago, after the death of an eminent monk and living Buddha, his body was first cremated and then buried in a pagoda. Pagoda burial is one of the funeral customs of Tibetans in China. It is the most noble, highest treatment and highest standard burial style among Tibetans. It is also called pagoda burial.

When eminent monks or living Buddhas pass away, the internal organs of the body are taken out through the mouth or anus, treated with spices, and then enshrined in a gold, silver, copper, wood or clay pagoda according to their status.

It is said that after Sakyamuni passed away, his disciples cremated Sakyamuni's body and formed many bright, colorful and unbreakable five-color beads, called relics. It is called "Rensai" in Tibetan, which means something that lasts forever. And they were buried in the "Eight Great Spirit Pagodas" for worship.

Since Buddhist believers worship Sakyamuni Buddha and cannot worship his true body, they turn to the pagodas where the Buddha's remains are buried to show their piety and belief. Such pagodas are called "spiritual bone pagodas". Commonly known as "Buddha".

From the end of the 10th century to the beginning of the 11th century, the remains of Guge King Yixiwo and Milarepa's teachers Marpa and Tsongkhapa, as well as Gongga King Yichel, were all buried in this way.

Buddhist believers regard the stupa as the stupa where the Buddha is located. Later, King Asoka established the Buddha and built 84,000 stupas, which became a prosperous place.

In the 1790s, after the death of the fifth Dalai Lama, the construction of the "Ling Pagoda Hall" and Buddhist hall in the Potala Palace in Lhasa began. The hall is divided into three floors, and the walls are painted with murals of the deceased's activities during his lifetime. The "spiritual pagoda" consists of a "tower base", a "tower bottle" and a "tower top". Made of red hardwood, covered with gold sheets and inlaid with pearls and jade, it is extremely luxurious and gorgeous. Later, the pagoda halls of the 7th to 13th Dalai Lama were successively built next to this pagoda hall, with varying sizes.

The pagoda hall of the 13th Dalai Lama, built in 1936, is the latest pagoda burial building in Tibet.

Agudengba sighed:

According to Tibetan Buddhism's pagoda burial custom, only high-ranking living Buddhas who have passed away are eligible for pagoda burial, while ordinary monks and even minor living Buddhas can only be cremated or buried in the sky. This has become a custom.

Lacuo was speechless and said nothing more.

Agudengba looked at the snow-capped mountain pagoda in the distance and sang a song "Lighting the Blessing" composed by the eminent monk Xindao:

 

Every time I visit a Buddhist holy place,

I will go around the tower and light lanterns to bless you.

I pray that all monks and monks will make progress in their spiritual pursuits,

Good health and achievements in Buddhist studies;

I pray that all the believers will be well and prosperous,

Pray for world peace and no disaster.

 

The disciple who was accompanying me asked me curiously,

Why do you go to the Holy Land every time?

Just light up a lamp every chance you get?

I told him that during the time of Buddha,

Ananda once asked the Buddha a question:

What was the origin of Analu’s previous life?

So that he can obtain the heavenly eye in this life?

Buddha said that he was once a thief,

He went to the temple to steal property,

When he saw the lights in front of the Buddha,

The lights will soon go out,

He then used his sword to straighten the wick of the lamp.

The lights returned to brightness.

He felt the power of the Buddha lamp.

How could I have any reason to steal?

From then on, he gave up the idea of stealing.

Gradually get rid of the original habits,

With increased blessings, you can also meet Buddha.

And he became a monk and became an Arhat,

His divine eye sees everything clearly.

 

Analu still lights up blessings,

All can achieve extraordinary results,

Not to mention lighting lamps in front of the Buddha to make offerings to people,

The merit will be infinite.

Lighting a lamp in front of the Buddha can extinguish a thousand years of darkness.

Increase immeasurable intelligence and accumulate merit.