But we can’t just leave
these bodies around and wait for nature or God to run its
course. It breeds disease. We all know that.
So we bury the bodies. That way we are not
witness to the maggots and worms slowly feeding off the
bodies of our deceased family or friends.
Others cremate the bodies.
Probably a more clinical way of ‘returning it to God.’
In Tibet however, cremation and Stupa burials
– a form of mummifying – are reserved for the
high lamas who are being honoured in death.
Sky burial is the usual way of disposing of the bodies of
commoners.
In sky burials the corpse is offered to
the vultures and this donation of human flesh to the vultures
is considered virtuous because it saves the lives of small
living animals that the vultures might otherwise capture
for food.
After death, the deceased will be left untouched
for three days.
The sky burial usually begins before dawn on the fourth
day when Lamas lead a ritual procession to the charnel ground,
chanting to guide the soul.
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It seems that there are two distinct ways
in which the body is offered.
Some prefer cutting the body up into pieces
While others simply cut the
body open.
Then the vultures are invited.
To feast on the body.
Until they have had their fill
and only bones and cartilage remain.
But the Tibetans believe that
the entire body has to be consumed to ensure ascent of the
soul, so the bones and cartilage is crushed and mixed with
roasted barley flour.
Then this is offered to the
vultures.
Until nothing remains.
While Communist China outlawed
this practice in the 1960s, it was legalized again in the
1980s and is still being practiced today.
