The origin of the skeleton wall of Damu Temple

The origin of the skeleton wall of Damu Temple is a wall composed of a head and a skull, which is related to celestial burial and is an excellent example of studying human funeral culture.

Damu Temple was built on a low hill, and the skeleton wall was built in a locked house in the temple. It is not only a mysterious wall inlaid with more than 300 human skulls, but also a celestial burial platform. There are not only skull shells scattered on the ground, but also tools used in celestial burial. Some skeletons on the wall are painted with eyes and noses. Facing these skulls is a kind of courage to face death.

With regard to celestial burial, Tibetan Buddhism believes that the purpose of lighting mulberry smoke is to pave colorful roads, respectfully inviting Daku to the celestial burial platform, offering the corpse as a sacrifice to the gods, praying for the redemption of the deceased while he is alive, and asking the gods to take his soul to heaven. The vultures attracted by mulberry smoke on the celestial burial platform do not harm any animals except eating dead bodies. Tibetans call them god birds. It is said that this burial method is imitating Sakyamuni's behavior of giving his life to feed the tiger.

Celestial burial content

There is a corpse pool about 4 square meters in the middle of Dodoka Celestial Funeral Home, which is paved with pebbles. There is a rectangular stone 60 cm high on the north side of the pool, which is used to park the body during celestial burial. Outside the south gate of the Celestial Funeral Home, a prayer flag pole with a height of about 10 meter stands. There is a skeleton sculpture on the pole, and many faded prayer flags are hung on the top.

Send the deceased to the celestial burial platform in Dodoka, curl his body, bend his head to his knees, and make him sit in a sitting position, wrapped in white. On auspicious days, the corpse carrier will send the corpse to the celestial burial platform, light mulberry smoke to attract vultures, and then conduct an autopsy. Because vultures like to eat meat rather than bones, the celestial burial procedure adopts flashback method, and the bones are fed first.

Refer to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Damu Temple