Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Spiritually Significant Aspects Of Buddhist Funerals

By Andrei Tan

In a Buddhist funeral, the followers of the religion are particular about performing elaborate rites and rituals during the funeral proceedings. The rituals performed during the Buddhist funeral are expected to set the person's soul free from the chains of life and enable it to find a transformed and elevated life thereafter where it comes closer to Moksha.

Monks are invited to perform the ceremonies and rituals during a Buddhist funeral, which typically ends with cremation. The underlying positive energies are freed from the soul by the chanting of appropriate sutras by monks who read from the holy scriptures. To avoid any decay in case of a late cremation, the mortal remains are prepared carefully while the religious chanting is being performed. The body is washed and put to rest in a casket along with incense sticks, candles, wreaths and a photo of the departed person.

If the funeral is delayed by some days for distant relatives to bid their final goodbyes, the monks visit the dead person's residence everyday and chant sutras from the Abhidharma, an important Buddhist holy scripture.

The Buddhist monks finish the final rites on the funeral day and the head priest delivers a speech mentioning the good deeds and actions done by the deceased and consoling the bereaved family members and relatives. During the final religious chanting and ceremony, the coffin is wrapped in white cloth and a ritual of passing on blessings and good energies to the deceased's soul, referred to as 'Pansakula' is carried out.

Before the cremation, a family member or closest kin has to say something about the deceased. The Buddhist funeral ceremonies conclude with a light feast for the visitors after the funeral.

A great number of people in Thailand, Tibet, China and a few other Asian nations with a large Buddhist population follow the Buddhist funeral system with some slight alterations based on the local customs.

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