response to eric Eric: That's not true. First of all, I don't think it's savage or brutal. Most importantly, the method of internment was often determined astrologically and all the rituals cost some money. Of course, cremation was more expensive in places located above the treeline since the timber had to be brought in from elsewhere, so only richer people like rich lamas (there were poor lamas too) and rich merchants could afford it. This was taken into account for the astrological calculations. You're making it sound like sky burial some kind of a last resort for people who couldn't afford anything better and that isn't so. Several rich Tibetan lamas mummified themselves as they died. How's that a better way to die than sky burial?
Lamas Believe it or not, some Tibetan Lamas willingly killed themselves by slow strangulation (or other means) when they felt death approaching. Corpses of the really famous ones were even shrunken, mummified and covered in gold plate to be worshiped as religious idols. Hah. Take that, Egypt!
Come to think of it, even Japan has mummified monks. Don't believe me? http://www.sonic.net/~anomaly/japan/dbuddha.htm
Burial in Tibet Tibetan for sky burial is jhator, (V±BO|b) which literally means "giving alms to the birds." It's about making one last compassionate act even after death, by offering one's own body to the birds. It originated because some places in Tibet are not only above the tree line, the ground is also hard and rocky. Thus making both cremation and burial impossible. Some Tibetans also practice burial, cremation, set the corpse afloat on a stream or place it under the roots or in the hollowed out trunk of a tree. I also heard these methods are named after the elements. Eg. sky burial is astrologically called "returned to the air". Similarly, "returned to earth, fire, water or wood."
Vultures are amazing I've never been to Tibet, but I saw vultures in Cuba and was amazed by how quickly they could strip a carcass. I can only imagine what it must be like to see that happening to a human body, especially when it is your loved one; I have nothing against the idea (it's a very natural way of disposing of a body) but I don't think I could have watched.
Your photos are great. I was in Tidrum and surrounding areas about 10 years ago. Not much seems to have changed! It was probably the best time of my life visiting those places. So tranquil and serene! At the time, it felt like real travelling in the sense, that there was no internet, no bus timetable and you could really go at your own pace! Thanks for uploading your pics, they remind me of good times.
great blog! Thanks for sharing. My friends will be going to Datong next month and I am passing this on to them. Thought this would help them appreciate Datong and serve as a good guide.
Thanks for sharing Thank you very much for sharing this story and the photos. The ones who post negative comments seem to forget that karma is intrinsically linked to intent - If I perform what I believe Right Action, with Right Intent, I am in no way accumulating bad karma...
culture is not your friend thanks for posting your experiences, .....and to all who are "offended", get a grip,...the comparisom to the absurd western style of burial, the whole BS "industry$$$$$" associated with death, is just another example of how brainwashed, manipulated, and totally out of touch with reality you really are,...time to upgrade your operating system's, ...."Consumer Capitalism 1.0" is a dinosaur,....ditch it, and remember, you CHOOSE to be offended......
i think it's pretty cool i think that this is a really cool way to go. i am not buddhist but i think that it's better than being buried. i have thought of what i wanted done with my body, and i think going up in a space ship, thrown out, and being burned up in the atmospere would be the best. this whole entire thing really gave me a lot to think about. maybe the united states' way of doing things isn't the best. i think that being open to other cultures is very important.
beautiful I find this practice and others like it to actually be, in my opinion, a lot less morbid than being embalmed and stuck in a casket forever or brutally burned. When I die, I want whatever organs of mine that are usable to be donated and the remainder of my dead body to be given to the earth, just as I try my very best to give to the earth now in my living body. To each his own, as obviously, each culture has different ways of dealing with the loss of a loved one, be it through embalming, cremation, mummification, sky burial, or whatever, and it is really no place of ours to judge. And for whoever up there said that giving your body to science wasn't meaningful, you're truly mistaken. What could be more meaningful than giving someone - a child perhaps (though age really should be of no relevance, I think) - another shot at life? Or perhaps helping us better understand the most detrimental diseases facing us today or in the future?
amazing pictures It's thanks to people like you that people get to see and learn from amazing and rare pictures like these. Thanks for the experiance :) By the way great pics... a little gruesome but awesome none the less....keep on napping those pics :)
A note on taking pictures of the ceremony Thanks for one of the comments here I can post this link:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,2406,0,0,1,0
It clearly says that photography banning is a Chinese law and not a Buddhist belief. The Chinese government doesn't like this ceremony to be known in the world, but the Tibetans are proud of it and see no harm in the pictures.
i am glad I have this article to support my publication of these photos.
R.
Thank you for sharing I've always been interested in the Tibetan culture, and I must admit, when I first heard about sky burials I was a little shocked. But western funerals have always been appalling to me. I think many people truly believe their loved ones are going to remain perfectly intact forever after being embalmed and placed in those elaborate (and expensive!) caskets. What a waste of money, resources, land space, and useless sentimentality. If I could be disposed of in a sky burial here in the U.S. I would, but I'll have to settle for cremation.
Thank you Like many others, I want to thank you for posting this entry, including the pictures. You had the family's permission and it is only logical that when you take pictures you will show them to others.
You shared with us your experience. That's the point of this blog. You were not trying to enlighten us to a full religious experience. To be irate over this is silly--it's like asking a life-long athiest to fully appreciate and explain a Catholic Mass to another group of people who are also not church-goers.
And to those who are up in arms because you do not have the Tibetan flag posted with this entry, like it or not, Tibet is considered a part of China. When selecting the continent, then country (where Tibet is not an option to select) and then region (where Tibet is a selection option) the flag is decided by the website, not the author.
BTW, where are your other entries? People keeop mentioning them. As a person hoping to travel that direction this year, I would have liked to have read them.
so what? Yes, it's practical. So what? Is practical always good? Culture is often the opposite of practical. Lots of things are good for nature and bad for culture and vice versa. Some cultural traditions do not deserve respect. Why should return to earth happen so quickly? What's the hurry? Even vultures can be patient, can't people slow down and wait for the circle of life to grind the bones of their relatives?
there is poetry in this Much of what is wrong with the world is a result of us humans considering ourselves apart from the environment. The very term "environment" shows this -- it's something we just live *in*, rather a thing we are *part of*. To be born, and then to die; to eat and then be eaten -- this is just a natural part of things. Once we are dead, does it matter if we are eaten by worms or by vultures? You are still part of the great cycle of life. To me it is sadder to be hermetically sealed for all eternity in a little box in a mausoleum.
WOW lol i am a year 9 student and i think that this is amazing lol. this a very good way to naturally doispose of a body. lol soz im just a bit shicked. (shocked and icked), anyeways i reckon this should happen to my mycruel girlfriend georgia payne.
Respectful and ethical journalism refrains from showing photos of a sacred burial ritual, especially of human remains.
Please remove the photos of the human remains, as this is both culturally disrespectful and against Buddhist tenets of treatment of the body after death.
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,2406,0,0,1,0
Rotem-
with all said and done, i want to know what have you learned from this experience? about yourself, your place on earth, your own life and death?
Very good post I think that you did a great job with this, and you described the experience of any tourist pretty well with this situation. I would love to bear witness to this ritual, as I respect the process of life returning to the earth as they have done it. The sky burial is such a sacred experience for families, i actually think that it is awesome that they want to share the experience with some tourists and educational inquirers. Good going.
Hi Hi! I was offered a job in Urumqi as a teacher. How is the place?Is it already a modern city? How about the standard of living?Is it costly to live there?
Im sorry for all my questions but thanks a lot if you would be taking a time to answer all my queries.
nac
non-member comment
response to eric
Eric: That's not true. First of all, I don't think it's savage or brutal. Most importantly, the method of internment was often determined astrologically and all the rituals cost some money. Of course, cremation was more expensive in places located above the treeline since the timber had to be brought in from elsewhere, so only richer people like rich lamas (there were poor lamas too) and rich merchants could afford it. This was taken into account for the astrological calculations. You're making it sound like sky burial some kind of a last resort for people who couldn't afford anything better and that isn't so. Several rich Tibetan lamas mummified themselves as they died. How's that a better way to die than sky burial?