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Buddhist Funerals - Importance And Customs


By Amy Tan

Buddhist funeral rituals and traditional ceremonies are filled with religious significance for Buddhists. The rituals carried out during the Buddhist funeral are believed to liberate the deceased person's soul from the chains of life and let it find a new and better life after death where it gets closer to Moksha.

In a typical Buddhist funeral, the body of the departed is cremated and monks in the presence of the bereaved family carry out the funeral rites. When a person has passed away, Buddhist monks read verses from holy books to liberate the good energies from the soul. Meanwhile, the body is prepared and embalmed so that even if the cremation takes place after some days of the death, the body doesn't decompose. Once the body is bathed, it is put along with candles, flowers and incense in a coffin along with a photograph of the deceased person.

When the last rites are deferred to allow far away relatives to come for paying their last respects to the deceased, monks visit the residence everyday to read and chant from the Buddhist holy scripture Abhidharma.

On the occasion of the funeral, monks perform the last rites and their chief delivers a short speech in tribute to the dead person focusing on his contributions in life and comforting the aggrieved family that death is destiny. During the final religious chanting and service, the casket is wrapped in white clothing and a rite of conveying blessings and good energies to the deceased's soul, known as 'Pansakula' is done.

Just before the cremation, a close family member is requested to say a few words about the departed individual. Following the cremation, a light feast is arranged for the people gathered at the funeral.

Some differences in the specific rituals may be found in different cultures, but these are the key rituals followed during a Buddhist funeral in many countries like Tibet, Thailand, and China by the followers of the religion.

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