Tibetan Head Photography Art

The natural environment, social forms and religious beliefs of all ethnic groups in China are different, so the customs and cultures of different places are also very different. Whether it's eating customs or weddings, there are etiquette norms everywhere. Tibetan culture attaches great importance to people's death ceremony, so it has rich funeral customs. Next, let's take a look at the funeral culture in Tibet that you don't know.

Tibet has a vast territory, and there are various ways of burial after death. After death, Tibetans adopt different burial methods according to their different economic and social status. There are five common burial methods: celestial burial, water burial, cremation, earth burial and tower burial. Ordinary people use celestial burial.

First, cremation.

In the past, cremation in Weizang area was mostly carried out among monks and nobles. The general procedure is: after death, the body is tied into a sitting position, fixed on a wooden frame and carried to the crematorium. Put the body on a cross-shaped pile of firewood and then support it with the surrounding firewood. The invited enemy sat facing the corpse, chanting prayers for the soul of the deceased to be accepted by the gods in heaven, and at the same time sprinkling oil on the firewood to make a fire. After burning the body, pick up the ashes and take them to the top of the mountain to spread with the wind, or scatter them in rivers and let the running water take them away.

Cremation is also prevalent in eastern Tibet and Tibetan areas in Sichuan. In xinduqiao, cremation is regarded as a sacred way of burial, and the way of burial is also very special. After death, several elders scrubbed the body, folded their limbs, stuffed ghee into the five senses, and wrapped the body in white cloth. The head cloth of the deceased was painted with a "swastika" symbol, and the left chest was painted with six stars, nine bows and arrows, 1 fish, 1 bull's head and 65438+. Then put the body on the floor of the room and let the Lama read it for three days. When cremating, prepare grain for the deceased and cremate with sugar. In addition, there are 16 1 sticks, 39 wheat flour biscuits and 39 oil bags, which are used to burn sacrifices to gods and hungry ghosts.

Second, water burial

There are two main forms of water burial. One is to throw the whole body into the river, which is the practice in Zaba area of Ganzi Yajiang River. Generally, a funeral is held by two people. The body is thrown into the torrent from behind, where it is smoked and burned, and the funeral is over. In the Riyi area of Yajiang, people immediately cut a knife on their waist after death, and then tied their heads and feet together. Put it in your backpack and cover your mouth with a black cloth. On the same day, one person carried it to the Shame River. The second is to dismember the body and throw it into the river.

According to the custom of water burial in Dege Gongya area of Ganzi Prefecture, most funerals are held at night, and the burial place is in the waters where the water is swirling around the coastline. There is a wooden pier where the funeral is held. First put the body on the pier, dismember it from top to bottom with an axe, chop it up and throw it out one by one, and finally throw the axe, body bags and the surrounding blood and soil into the river. When Ganzi Rongbacha was buried by water, the body was dismembered and the placement of the body was emphasized. The male is placed horizontally and the female is placed on her back.

In Phuket, south of Batang, iron can't touch limbs, only processed wooden knives and stone axes can be used. Most of the forest areas in southern Tibet dismembered their bodies and threw them into the river. Water burial is very popular among people in Kangqu. In the pre-Tibetan and post-Tibetan areas, water burial is considered humble, and only beggars, sick people, destitute people or people with infectious diseases go to water burial.

Third, tower burial

Living buddhas in Tibet are basically buried in towers. Some living buddhas cremate their remains, and their ashes are stored in stupas. There are also some living buddhas whose bodies are dehydrated and directly molded into Buddha statues from clay.

After the death of the famous living Buddha, he wiped the body with salt to dehydrate it, then coated it with precious drugs such as spices, wrapped it in silk mahjong and buried it in the tower, thinking that it could be preserved forever. The stupa is divided into gold, silver, copper, wood and mud, depending on the status of the living Buddha. For example, after the death of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the Golden Lingta will be built, while Gandan Chiba can only build the Silver Lingta. After the Lingta is completed, it will be stored in various temples.

When Tibetan children die young, they usually don't hold funerals. Instead, they put their bodies in clay pots, cover them and throw them into the river. Some still keep pottery pots in the warehouse for a long time.

Fourth, celestial burial

Celestial burial is the most common in Tibet Tibetans call celestial burial "Chado", that is, vultures (Tibetans used to call it vultures). There are celestial burial places, and there are fixed places everywhere. After death, a few days later, the Lama was asked to chant Buddhist scripture and choose a funeral day. Funerals are usually early, and special people will send the bodies to the celestial burial place. The undertaker first burns incense for the gods, and vultures gather around the celestial burial ground when they see fireworks. The celestial burial master immediately stripped the body of clothes, dismembered the body according to certain procedures, and stripped the bones. Mash the bones with stones, mix them with rakes, and cut the meat into small pieces for later use. Finally, the priest blew his whistle to summon vultures and fed them in the order of bone and meat until they were completely swallowed.

Lu Huole lives in Shiwu area, and there is a stake next to the celestial burial platform. After the body arrives, untie the rope and undress it, put the body face down and back to the sky on the body platform, and tie the limbs to the stake with a rope. First cut off your head, then cut it with a knife. After vultures eat meat, they break bones and heads, mix them with Bazin butter, and so on. Feed it to the vulture. The vultures ate nothing left, thinking that the deceased had no great sin before his death, otherwise the family of the deceased would ask the monk to recite the scriptures for him. In the eyes of Tibetans, vultures are divine birds and the embodiment of dakini. After the body is eaten by vultures, the soul of the deceased can ascend to heaven.

Influenced by Buddhism, the Tibetan people believe that the soul is immortal and the body is just a shell. Instead of letting the body die naturally, it is better to give it to another life and set the soul free. This kind of funeral fully embodies the great dedication of the Tibetan people.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) funeral

Burial is a primitive and inherent funeral custom of Tibetans. However, after the prevalence of celestial burial, Tibet changed its understanding and thought that earth burial was the worst burial method. It is generally used for the bodies of patients with infectious diseases such as leprosy, anthrax and smallpox, or the bodies of robbers, murderers and people killed by knives. Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the law did not allow them to be buried in the sky or in the water, but only allowed them to dig holes and bury them in the soil, which means destroying their roots.

The custom of burial is mainly popular in some areas of Ganzi and Aba Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. The cemetery in dege county is relatively fixed. The burial pit is conical, and the depth is about1.5m.. The grain is sprinkled under it, and the body is wrapped in cloth. The body was placed in the into the pit facing west, and then buried tightly with soil. You can't build a grave. Put a Mani stone with a mantra on it and insert a prayer flag, and the funeral will be over. In the area of Baiyu River slope, after the body was buried in the pit, there were several white stones on it to form a grave with a're' inserted on it. The local Tibetan language is called "Baka" (anti-ghost card).

Daofu area likes to use cave burial method, that is, not digging holes downward. Instead, dig a hole in the earth wall. Push the wooden coffin horizontally into the pit, build by laying bricks or stones outside the hole, and then smooth it with mud paste. Some people draw the head of a cow or sheep, put some white ash on it and put a prayer flag on it.