Sky burial, how Tibetan people handle their dead

News24xx.com - Tibet is one of the provinces in China which is a special Autonomous Region on Himalaya mountain range. Its area becomes the highest place on earth with its height on 4000 meters above sea level. This “top of the world” also gets higher ultraviolet light with oxygen concentrate to 60 percent.

With its geographical condition, it is hard for the dead to be buried in Tibet. The ground is hilly and rocky, and cannot be used as a place to bury a body. Even the layer of soil is only 2 to 20 centimeters. It is also hard to find wood there to start a fire and cremate the body, not to mention, leaving it on its own will also spread disease.

There is one way the Tibetan people know to handle their dead, which for ordinary people may seem extreme, which is what they call “Sky Burial”. This kind of burial is done by letting birds eat the dead body. It is done by the people in Qinghai Province, Tibet Province and Mongolia Province. Most of the Tibetans and Mongols are Buddhists, so they believe in reincarnations. For that reason, they believe that physical body does not have to be preserved.

The process begins in the morning. The monks will pray around the dead body while burning incense. Another source says that the dead body is left for three days and then washed, shaved from all hair and then covered with a white cloth with the face down, before the praying.

The body is then brought to the top of the mountain, which is believed to be the entrance to nirvana. Then, the body is mutilated. The bones, the flesh and the organs are divided. The bones are crushed and mixed with tsampa or roasted barley flour, but there are some that says that it is mixed with yak butter or other things. The bones “dough” then is sprinkled on the ground and they wait until the vultures come to eat it. They then give the flesh and the organs to the vultures as well, while the skull is kept and made into a cup.

During the process, the monks from the local temple read their holy book to pray for the dead to be cleansed for all of their sins. There is also a person who blows a horn to call for the vultures.

The bones, flesh and organs are given other “ingredients” in case the dead person had eaten herbs when alive, making the vultures dislike it due to the strong smell of the herb. The body is mutilated so it will be easier for the vultures to eat, because if the vultures do not eat it, the civilians believe that the soul of the dead person will be snatched by demons. If there are some bones left, it will be crushed and given to the smaller birds.

The vultures, or as local people call them, the “Dakini” birds, are birds that feed on corpse. They are believed to be the reincarnation of angels that will take the souls of the dead to heaven.

This tradition is done on top of the mountain and not everyone can get this kind of burial, only pregnant women, people who died due to sickness or accidents, and those who are above 18 years old. The Tibetan people use this way of disposing the physical body by also doing a “good deed” by feeding an animal. However, not everyone can see this burial because they believe it will give negative effect to the dead soul.

 

 

 

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