Death and mourning rituals

Theravada funerals - money

• very little money spent on funeral → money goes to charity so merit can be transferred to the deceased.

  • Theravada Buddhists believe that kamma created by your own good actions can be transferred so someone else so they have a favourable rebirth.

Theravada funerals - features of a funeral

• shrine:

  • deceased persons portrait

  • offerings to the Buddha: candles, flowers, incense.

Theravada funerals - burial and cremation

• cremation more common.

• monks perform the last rites before the casket is sealed.

Theravada funerals - funeral procession

• family members walk behind hearse

• all mourners sending good thoughts to the family and contemplating the impermanence of life.

Tibetan funeral tradition - sky burial

• body left in a high place as a gift to the vultures.

• the body should be returned to nature because it is viewed as a generous act.

Japanses Pure Land traditions

• family gather after the cremation and pick out the bones from the ashes using chopsticks.

• Bon festival is the custom of honouring the sprits of someone’s ancestors. They may return to the ancestral home or visit and clean their grave.