What are the Tibetan sky, earth, water and fire burials?

Should be sky burial, water burial, cremation and earth burial , these are Tibetan funeral customs.

Tibetan burial customs

1, cremation From the Tibetan traditional sense, cremation is also a more noble way of burial. The specific way is to pour ghee on the firewood, and then the body cremated, convergence of ashes into a wooden box or pot, buried in the home downstairs or the top of the mountain, the net. The tomb looks like a tower. There are also pick up the ashes to the top of the mountain, the wind or scattered in the river. And highly respected living Buddha, Lama after the cremation. Ashes into the gold or silver tower. Some of the ashes into the tower, but also into some of the classic books, Buddha, Dharma, gold and silver treasures. This kind of pagoda for people to worship is generally called spirit pagoda or spirit bone pagoda.

2, sky burial Tibetan more common burial customs, also known as "bird burial". Used for general farmers and herdsmen and ordinary people. Tibetan Buddhist believers believe that the sky burials send a kind of ascension to "heaven" wishes. Every region has a sky burial site, or sky burial ground, and there are specialists (sky burial masters) engaged in this business. After a person's death, the body is rolled up, the head is bent over the knees in a seated position, wrapped in a white Tibetan quilt, and placed on an earthen platform to the right behind the door, where a lama is invited to recite the sutra of transcendence. Choose an auspicious day by the corpse carrier will carry the body to the sky burial platform, the first point "Sang" smoke caused by the vultures, the lama chanting finished, by the sky undertaker to deal with the body. Then, a group of vultures should fly to the sound, scrambling to peck, to eat the most auspicious, indicating that the deceased has no sins, the soul has peacefully ascended to heaven. If not eaten clean, the remaining parts should be picked up and incinerated, while reciting the sutra for transcendence. Tibetans believe that the vultures on the hills around the sky burial platform, in addition to eating human corpses, do not harm any small animals, is a "god bird". The sky burial ceremony is usually held in the early morning. The family of the deceased has to bring the body to the sky burial platform before dawn, and the sky burial ceremony begins when the sun rises. It is best not to watch it without permission.

3, water burial less economic conditions, can not afford to hire a lama's family died or the deceased is a widow, young children, generally with water burial. Water burial, the body will be back to the river branch, into the river. There are also places with white cloth or blanket will be wrapped and bundled up the body, and then fell on the boulder abandoned in the river, in order to worship the "river god".

4, earth burial For the Tibetan people, is the most inferior burial. Generally suffer from leprosy, smallpox, charcoal and other infectious diseases, as well as robbers, murderers after death with earth burial. Earth burial probably has two meanings: one is, to eradicate the epidemic plague, and the second is, to punish their sins, the meaning of hell.

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