The Death of “Crazy Uncle”
Hello again! Although it has been quite sometime since I last wrote to you my dear friends I still feel as if I am recovering from the grand festivities of Losar. Currently I am still in Losar, but I have recently received news about a death in my village. Have I ever told you all about the illustrious “Crazy Uncle?” He was a recluse with whom no one in the village had contact with for a great many years. At the moment in my village his death is proving to be quite a heated and controversial topic amongst my fellow village inhabitants, although I have never met said “Crazy Uncle,” the news of his death remains disturbing. My village is currently as I write this to you, embroiled in a heated debate regarding how Crazy Uncle’s death should be conducted. If Crazy Uncle was the highly realized dharma practitioner, that some people apparently believe, he will most likely be honored through a ceremonial cremation, and his remains will be entrenched in a stupa. As a spiritual proficient, death could also be a way in which Crazy Uncle could demonstrate spiritual prowess by displaying miracles. If any of you have ever come across Heruka’s account of Milarepa’s death, you know just how lavish and magnificent these miracles can really be! Though, let me mention my friends, if Crazy Uncle wasn’t a great lama his funeral will be quite diverse. For Tibetans, death is not considered a morbid or forbidden subject of discussion, Buddhists for one have been defined as having a rather “voracious curiosity” in regards to this subject matter. Although, I know most cultures view death with more of a morbid outlook, we Buddhists regard existence as samsara, which is a continuous cycle of rebirth, and our spiritual teachings highlight both life’s delicate like impermanence, and death’s inevitability.
Amongst all these speculations regarding Crazy Uncle, one thing is for certain, and that is that they have found his body, and someone must begin performing the first rites. My guess is that a Ngakpa will soon be called into the village to begin reading the Bardo Thodal, as I am far away from my village inhabitants I can only provide my insights as to what I believe may happen. In your language you may call this text: The Tibetan Book of the dead, but for us it is a sacred text. In the text it states that the consciousness of a person lingers from one life to another for a period of approximately forty-nine days. During this period, the one who has passed away, that being Crazy Uncle, will still be able to hear, and so the Ngakpa reads the text aloud for the whole forty-nine days, so that Crazy Uncle’s consciousness can then pass through the Bardos, or transitional states, unconstrained. This is essentially a way in which to support consciousness to pass through all the different transitions consciously, so that they can have a healthy and an aware rebirth in a human body with the continued potential to become an enlightened being. Although some had thought that Crazy Uncle might have been able to pass the Bardos on his own, I have now gotten news that it is has been argued otherwise. The village and its inhabitants are now respecting the decision of understanding what will happen to Crazy Uncle’s body as a layperson.
After approximately three days, Crazy Uncle’s body will be taken away, but the reading of the Bardo Thodal will continue. His consciousness will essentially remain within hearing distance of the Ngakpa, and so the text must continue to be read. This will allow the body to not only move through the Bardos, but since his body will be removed, it will remind him to finally relinquish the body, and try and move towards a new rebirth. My dear friends, I’d like to mention that all that I am writing to you, is what I have learnt through my fellow nuns back home at the nunnery, and any extensive research I have conducted while I spent my leisure times at this monastic complex. As I found death quite an interesting subject to continue reading about, I believe I have a fairly acute understanding of this subject matter. Let me go on then…an astrologer will also be invited to the village to determine the exact date for the proper funeral of Crazy Uncle’s body. I am hoping that I will be back in the village by this time, to pay my utmost respects. As I have mentioned time and time again the village has provided me with so much after I left my own family, and as a result of this I have come to view every single member who presides there as my family, and it saddens me to hear someone has passed from our glorious village. Normally in terms of cleansing the body, family members often wash it in order to say their final goodbyes to those most dearest to their hearts, but it is surprising to learn, that no one knows if Crazy Uncle has any family in our village. Furthermore, not a single individual has come to claim that they are indeed Crazy Uncle’s family, though Crazy Uncle will of course get the respect he deserves from what I am hearing so far, as he is again a member of our village, and we as the inhabitants of his home will provide a proper burial.
Once the date for a proper burial has been decided by the astrologer, Crazy Uncle will then receive what is termed: a sky burial. Now, now I’m sure many of you Westerner’s are often disturbed by the preparations in place for our famous sky burial, and let me tell you as a young adult I was quite shocked myself when first learning about this in my early youth, but I have learnt over the years that the sky burial is one of the most efficient methods for us to bury our people here surrounded by the mountains. For one it is rather difficult to burn everyone, as many of you have probably seen in various states throughout the Indian sub-continent, as we do not have as much access to layers of lumber. Cremation as a result is often left for those who are considered “special” and “sacred” peoples, including yogis and Lamas. Although we do indeed occasionally bury bodies, it is nearly impossible to bury a plethora of individuals, as the soil is shallow in so many regions across Tibet. Crazy Uncle must then, receive a sky burial. I am going to describe the sky burial to you my friends, and if you’re the faint of heart, you have had my warning. Basically what will happen during the burial is that Crazy Uncle’s body will be placed on a mandala like shaped rock, and he will then be cut open from the chest cavity, while a Lama conducts these proceedings. Soon after, vultures will arrive to begin feasting on the corpse, though the vultures will only begin to feast once the ritual has commenced. The body will then be cut open according to ritual practices, and then out of what is deemed pure compassion by the Tibetan community, it will be given to the hands of the vultures. Crazy Uncle’s bones and skull will then also be crushed into dust, mixed with barley, and fed to the vultures, and in this sense the cycle of life will be complete. Since one cannot take the body of the dead, it will be fed back to nature, to nourish and prompt life to move further. Due to this procedure, the consciousness is no longer attached to Crazy Uncle’s body, and so he can continue to move onwards.
My fellow monks and nuns have informed me that they will go to Crazy Uncle’s former residence, to both light incense and chant, what is called The Perfection of Wisdom, in order to be-rid the air of the village of any potential demon like creatures. My dear kind-hearted nuns I am hoping will then take all his belongings and donate it to the temple itself for those that are in need, no matter who Crazy Uncle really was, I’m sure he will appreciate his memory continuing to be remembered in such a sacred manner. Fellow reader, if you are still reading, let me tell you I am quite proud of you for putting aside all your anxieties and coming to understand Crazy Uncle’s cremation with an open mind J I also wanted to mention, as I have just remembered from a book I read before leaving the nunnery library to Lhasa, that the communists had originally banned the sky burial practices in the 1960’s, and did not reinstate it until the mid 1980’s! Furthermore, some have come to regard the vultures as dakini’s, who escort souls to the heavens, where they can await their rebirth. The sky burial is also regarded as karmically fruitful- by giving food to vultures one saves the lives of other small animals, who could become their next prey. We can see a clear example of this through Bodhisattva Gautama’s demonstration of this in an important Jataka tale: “to save a pigeon’s life, he offered a hawk a piece of his own flesh as an alternative.” Eventually the light from the rebirth realms will appear, and Crazy Uncle’s spirit will hopefully be drawn to the most karmically appropriate one.
Although us village inhabits know that one of our dear ones has passed, the continuum created by Crazy Uncle’s past karma lives on in some sensory realm, through another being, somewhere in one corner of the world. Though I am triggered by loneliness and sadness to hear of Crazy Uncle’s demise, I find this comforting. Just as others having fulfilled their karmic destiny on their journey through samsara, so too will Crazy Uncle, and I am sending positive vibes, and positive prayers his way. Until next time my friends!
