Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Lucky day inquiry - Celestial burial is a way of offering sacrifices in Tibet. What's the mystery?

Celestial burial is a way of offering sacrifices in Tibet. What's the mystery?

The mystery is that it doesn't allow others to see it. Because of this custom, we have a feeling of watching "horror movies". It is precisely because of this that celestial burial can become one of the reasons for our "terror sacrifice" in China. Moreover, Tibetans believe that vultures on the mountains around the celestial burial platform do not harm any small animals except eating corpses, and are "god birds". Celestial burial ceremonies are usually held in the early morning. Before dawn, the family of the deceased will send the body to the celestial burial platform. The sun rose slowly and the celestial burial ceremony began.

Generally speaking, most of the dead are sent to the celestial burial platform on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It will be considered unlucky not to go to the celestial burial platform on Sunday. The time is usually chosen between four and eight in the morning before the sun rises. When the burial custom began, there is no specific and exact record. At present, there are several theories: one says that Tibet is frozen soil for most of the year, and because there are few trees, it is difficult to dig and bury, so it adopts the form of celestial burial according to local conditions.

Another more credible statement is that celestial burial conforms to Buddhist teachings. In Buddhism, "giving" is the principle that believers follow, and the highest realm of giving is to lay down one's life. There is a touching story of "giving my life to feed the tiger" in Buddhist scriptures. Regarding celestial burial, Tibetan Buddhism believes that lighting mulberry smoke is paving a colorful road, respectfully inviting Daku to board the celestial burial platform, offering her body as a sacrifice to the gods, praying to redeem the sins of the deceased while she is alive, and asking the gods to take her soul to heaven.

The Tibetan people have lived and multiplied on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for a long time and have a simple materialistic consciousness of the universe and the world. Tibetan ancestors regarded human beings as a form of matter. Accurately speaking, human beings are also regarded as matter, which can be transformed and evolved. It is this simple materialistic consciousness that helps Tibetans understand and treat death calmly in the depths of their souls.