Xi'an I just got back from a trip to china and my new wife and I went to Xi'an it was a place I will revisit in the near future again..So many things to see and experiance there. I just watched the vendors on a few mornings and loved the place. The wife and I are planing to buy a home there for our trips. Wonderful place to visit.
I had the honor of witnessing a full sky burial which included several bodies. I was a student at the time and was with a group of other students. We were all invited to witness this incredible ceremony. I was one of the only people who stayed for the whole experience. It has changed my life. It was very difficult coming home and trying to explain what I had seen to my family. I just had to give up because they could not understand that the whole ceremony was there to insure that the person returned to life in human form in there next life and what an honor it really was to be buried this way. It is good to hear that others have witnessed this experience as well at have taken it to heart instead of disgust.
fellow learning traveler
LF
Tibet I feel compelled to add that Tibet is no less part of China as Puerto Rico is for the US, Northern Ireland is for Great Britain, Basque is for Spain. Where are all the non-Westerners wearing Free Basque T-shirts, Free Northern Ireland T-shirts, Free Puerto Rico T-shirts? There are none, I dare say, maybe because non-Westerners are less presumptuous. One wonders if the animus towards China over its territorial rights over Tibet is just another remnant of Cold War political propaganda, and old fashioned Western Cultural snobbery disguised as liberal angst.
By the way, I find the Sky-Burial photos tastefully done.
This is not in Tibet I am not going to argue about weather Tibet is a part of China or not. Either way, this event took place in Sichuan province of China, and not in Tibet itself.
You can look at other entries I published later from Tibet itself, and I described the Chinese/Tibetan problem. I always referred to Tibet as Tibet and never as China, but I can tell you that every conflict has two sides, and both of them should be listened to, and it is really hard to judge without knowing the entire history of the area, which is always hard because each side tells it from its own point of view. Usually we tend to favor the weak which were occupied by the strong, and I can't tell you that I don't feel the same most of the time. But I am not going to judge either side because I just don't know enough about the conflict there.
By the way Thank you for sharing the sky burial. I think it is a great way of returning to the earth. IN the west, we are so afraid of returning to the earth that now in the US it is law to fill corpses with formaldehyde before burying them.
By the way, Tibet is NOT China.
Well written and photographed visit to Mt. Kailash I forwarded your URL to friends so that they could get to know something about Mt Kailash and the Tibetan people. Your text is very well written and the pictures capture Mount Kailash, the Tibetan People and the beauty of the Tibetan Plateau all the way down to the mountains in India. My friends enjoyed your travel documentary and were amazed that there is a place like this, so different from American way of life.
We must never forget that the Chinese government is doing everything possible to minimize and destroy the Tibetan culture, language and people. It is a reminder of governments who try to dominate other people all over the world.
I walked across the Himalayas and then the kora around Mt Kailash in 1999 with two Swiss friends. It will remain a special memory over my lifetime.
Thanks for a great travel diary.
John Shanahan
Denver, Colorado
e-mail: acorncreekco1@yahoo.com
website: www.independencepeaks.com
breathtaking, magnificent, and frightening When I first saw the pictures and read your comments I was taken back a little by the thought at first but after a few moments I saw beauty in the ritual. I wish you had been able to inform us more of how this burial fits into the culture of Tibet. I understand their is a language barrier and such, but I can see how some took this negatively. I think they were wrong to criticize you for not understanding the religious rites of the ceremony. This was a case of ignorance more than of distaste. This way of disposing of a human corpse is not, as some people think, a ritual to honour the birds of prey. The majority of Tibetans are Buddhists. Buddhism teaches rebirth. It teaches that the soul and spirit of each person just borrows the body, and they have no problem with birds of prey eating a corpse, as the soul does not really reside in it beyond death. Therefore the function of the sky burial is simply the disposal of the corpse. They do not bury the dead because the harsh Tibetan terrain makes the ground too hard to dig into, and with fuel and timber scarce, the sky burial is more practical. I understand this is a ritual that was adopted from ancient Iranians who migrated during the times of the Huns. I had heard of the ritual before, but did not know if was still practised and you should feel honored the family allowed you to partake. As for posting the pictures, I thank you for doing so. I will not judge you without any understanding of your intentions to do so. I see the eductional merits in publishing these pictures and to be honest I see nothing distasteful in the pictures. I think people are afraid of what they do not understand. The peoples of Tibet believe in a sort of circle of life. There are no traditional western burials in Tibet. There are three common burials - cremation, sky, and water. Creamations are reserved for those with stature because wood is scarce and the poor can not afford the wood. Water burials are similar to sky burials in that the bodys are cut up, but are fed to fish in a river or lake. There is nothing distasteful in these rituals, just a little frightening.
Thank you for presenting this article and for teaching us all a little more about what we do not comprehend. We must all be more willing to accept what we don't understand.
This is Great Hey, I was initially browsing for information on a sky burial, when I came across your incredible site.
I am writing to ask for further pictures that can be sent to me at lux_lisbon1@hotmail.com.
I think I can stomach them.
Keep up the great work.
thanks it helped i am in year 10 and currently writting up a presentation on sky burials (as we have been studying the text "sky burial" in english) just wanted to let u know your site was probably the most useful i could find , and with your pemission may i use some of the photos? ( i will of course state where i found the pics ect ect)
Mixed feelings about this story... I found the pictures quite distasteful to be honest. I think it is one thing to witness especially since invited and tell the story (which I did find quite mesmerizing) and another thing to take photos and publish so openly on the web.
With that said, I’d like to emphasis that I do agree with R Eldar’s saying that the Tibetans have the “right to do as they believe with their dead, and there is no reason to hide it”.
I just don’t feel very comfortable with the “need” of capturing such sensitive, private, sacred moment on film.
Controvery over the Pictures Hi, I was very very amazed to learn and see the photos of Sky Burial. I completely disagree with the people who are against of those photograhped published in a website. Because there are hundreds of people who would be interested to learn about this ritual and without any visuals, the knowledge would be incomplete.
I thank a million to the author and please keep us posted any other interesting facts you will come across during your visits in other countires. Because we do need these information. There are lots of people who might not even get a chance to go to these places to observe these things personally. Keep up the good work.....
delicacy i agree with many of the things said and would not limit the exposure, allowing for one to be mislead, as a sort of propoganda to warp one's understanding of the peace, compassion and beauty of the tibetan land and culture. cut the blog. it isn;t hard to cut. nfa.
Useless with only photos, it looks like voyeurism. If you are really interested in this form of burials, go there, feel the atmosphere and the serenity of the family. Take part in the practises around before. As to thinking that the family agreed, I don't think they allowed you to put these photos on the internet but just for your own meditation since you were there !
Amazing photos - thanks. It is quite a shocking way to farewell one's loved ones but it makes sense in Tibet for geographical reasons - the ground is frozen for much of the year.
Just to make clear Hi.
No, there was no entrance fee, and this is not a national park. This was not done for tourists, but was a real ceremony. At first, as I wrote, we looked at it from far away, but then the family invited us to join them. I find this amazing, and have a lot of respect to the religion and the ceremonies of other people. I think it is their right to do as they believe with their dead, and there is no reason to hide it. R.
be careful! yes, my name is jeff mertz and i first passed through the litang area of china in 2000, as a student of mandarin, chinese and tibetan culture i was shocked to stumble across sweedish backpackers filming this most sacred of tibetan ceremonies. Yes, it is true the tibetans are not ashamed of such practices and are very happy to share their culture with travelers. But as a traveler, and especially an amateur photographer, you should be careful about the ways you use the images of your subjects, for example, this family you claim to have "joined", do you even know their names?; do you know the name of the soul that was set free; i highly doubt it and yes you should be ashamed for such foolish presentation of things you obviously dont understand. Sorry to burst your bubble buddy, but the sky burial tourism that you so ignorantly found yourself a part of has been occuring in the Litang area for at least six years and many have been "joined" that ceremony (that is of course for the one time entance fee to the park where the sky burial sight is located; do you remember paying that?) Luckily most of them have the good karmic sense to keep those images for close and personal reasons and not attempt to make a name for themselves by posting their images on personal travel sites. I hope the attention you have recieved from this has been worth the negative karma you are accumulating, what is it you want to hear anyway, "wow rotem, you are such an accomplished traveler". Well, i will say that if you would please take this monstrosity of a blog of the web imidiately!
Jeff Mertz
Geographer/ East-West Center Fellow
jmertz@hawaii.edu
Facinating You should feel very honoured indeed. What they were doing in their belief was giving ongoing life. The body is of no use to anyone or anything if Buried or cremated. This is giving life to the birds.
I would not mind this happening to me when the time comes
Climb a Mountain Sometimes you reach the summit, and ask yourself "why did I do it?", without understanding. This breeds frustration. Sometimes you don't reach the summit without understanding why, and blame your frustration on the mountain. The wisdom is to learn that the reason for climbing is the mountain, not the summit. The way, not the end. Sometimes you reach the end you were expecting and sometimes it is different, but in the way lies your happiness.
I'm glad for you for reaching this point. Keep climbing.
Wonder, it's not about a "misunderstanding,", it's about exstortion, plan and simple. Quit making excuses. That police officer is corrupt, and you don't need a high school education to know how to exstort money from people.
anonymous
non-member comment
Wow !
I never thought that there are also rice terraces in China. I thought they only existed in the Philippines. Great photography by the way !