Trip to Tibet | What are the sky burials that we misunderstood?

01-3 kinds of giving

Today is the last day of our trip to Tibet. We returned to Lhasa from Shigatse City. Our tour guide Huahua explained sky burials to us in the car.

Before I heard the explanation, I had only heard about sky burial. Perhaps like most people, I felt that sky burial was cruel. People should be chopped into pieces and then eaten by vultures. I have also heard from friends that sky burial is a burial method that Tibetans yearn for, but why do Tibetans like sky burial so much?

Let’s start with the religious beliefs believed by Tibetans.

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are three types of alms:

1. Giving money means giving money to people in need or worshiping Buddha. This is something that everyone can do, and it is also the lowest level of charity.

2. Giving alms means imparting knowledge and good ideas to the people around you, helping others grow cognitively and spiritually, such as teachers, tour guides, or friends who listen to you and help you answer your questions, etc.

3. Giving with the body means using our bodies to give. For example, after some of us die, we will donate our bodies to medical schools for anatomy research. This is a contribution to medicine. Sky burial is also a part of giving with the body. kind.

Why can't we eat a lot of animals and creatures when we are alive and then become food for vultures after death? It is also a way to give back to nature with your own body.

02——What is a Sky Burial Master?

The most important thing is that the requirements and forms of sky burial are not as simple and crude as we imagined. Why do you say that?

Let us first understand that in order to complete sky burial, a profession must be born, that is, sky burial master.

How was the Sky Burial Master formed? I believe that many of us have passed many professional certificates at one time or another, and the same is true for sky burial masters, who need to obtain the certificate of sky burial masters.

So how can one become a qualified sky burial master?

First of all, it takes 3 years, 3 months and 3 days;

In fact, the form is to spend 3 years in a cave studying various anatomy, Buddhism, chemistry and biology. You can't leave the cave until you have completed the study after 3 years. If you can endure the boring and important learning tasks for three years, you will have the opportunity to follow an experienced sky burial master to practice at the sky burial platform.

Then came the three-month internship, working as an assistant to the Sky Burial Master. At the beginning, I could only do some auxiliary tasks, such as learning more than 100 knives, wiping the Sky Burial Master's sweat, etc.

During these three months, you must learn how to dissect a corpse, and you will be given a chance to practice it at the end. If you can completely follow the sky burial procedures and complete the sky burial, you will have technically passed the test. This is not over yet. In addition to passing the test technically, we also need to pass it psychologically.

Because we face dissection of corpses and sky burial rituals with vultures flying around every day, we must be very strong psychologically.

The last step was a three-day psychological test. No matter it was windy or rainy, thundering or snowing, I had to sleep with the remaining bones and remains for three days and three nights. If you can persevere, you can get the certificate of Sky Burial Master.

From the examination form of this certificate, we know that the role of Sky Burial Master is not something that ordinary people can do. Whether it is learning ability, practical ability or psychological ability, it requires extremely strong skills to complete the final assessment.

Therefore, sky burial masters are currently in short supply in Tibetan areas. Although the current cost of a sky burial is between RMB 50,000 and RMB 80,000, there are still very few people who can complete the examination for sky burial masters.

03—Who cannot be buried in the sky?

The above has introduced the introduction of sky burial masters. Next, let’s talk about how Tibetans perform sky burials. How deeply have we misunderstood it?

Although sky burial is a good burial method pursued by Tibetans, not everyone can perform it.

The first type is not allowed for people who are born with disabilities, because in religious culture it is believed that this person did something bad in his previous life and will become a disabled person in this life, so he cannot be buried in the sky.

The second type of people are people with infectious diseases and cancer, because this vulture does not eat the flesh of these people.

For the rest, as long as your financial conditions allow, you can choose sky burial. Of course, the cost of sky burial is relatively high among ordinary Tibetans, so in the past, most sky burials were burial methods for nobles.

But before the Buddha, all living beings are equal. If you don’t have so much money to hire a sky burial master, you can hire a living Buddha in the temple.

04——How to be buried in the sky?

So how to do a sky burial?

First, the naked body is wrapped in white cloth in the posture of a baby being hugged, which means that people come naked and leave naked. Therefore, it is said that the Tibetan people are cultivating the afterlife, because everything cannot be taken away, only karma remains with them.

Then very early in the morning, the body bearers are asked to carry the body to the sky burial platform. In the past, people who carried corpses on their backs took turns carrying the corpse up the mountain, and the feet of the corpse were not allowed to touch the ground during the process. This shows that the deceased is still remembered in this world.

Nowadays, cars are used. The cars drive to the bottom of the mountain, and then people carry the body to the sky burial platform. Women and children cannot watch the sky burial of their relatives, only men can. This is a Tibetan custom. Of course, other relatives and friends do not need to send anything in vain. They only need to send a white khata to express their feelings for the deceased.

This is something we should learn from. There are too many worldly things in our lives, which can make many people breathless. My old father spent several months of his salary just at home alone for a year.

After arriving at the celestial burial platform, the celestial burial master will first greet the deceased, and then the monks will recite the Sutra to help the soul of the deceased to reincarnate as a human being as soon as possible. Then the sky burial master untied the white cloth, and the trainee assistant placed the deceased face down, back up, and fixed the limbs on the sky burial platform. Then the sky burial ceremony began.

This involves medical human anatomy, astronomy, chemistry and biology, etc. The following content is read according to your acceptance level, and it introduces the operation of Sky Burial Master in detail.

First, the first cut is to start from the back, draw a cross shape first, and separate the head first. There are a total of 28 joints in our human body from the spine to the lumbar vertebrae, and a total of 28 cuts are needed, which also means that there are 28 stars in the sky. From here we can learn that the anatomy of sky burials is consistent with human anatomy and astronomy.

Then change to a knife. There are twelve joints in the human body, so you need to make 12 cuts, which symbolizes the 12 months in a year.

Then comes the dismemberment of the joints, here 30 knives are used to separate the skin and flesh, pull out the bones, wrap the offal in tsampa, and throw it to the vultures for practical use. 30 means there are 30 days in a month.

A very particular point here is that the sky burial master will look at the blood on the bones of the deceased and use the color of the blood to deduce and determine what diseases the deceased had during his lifetime.

For example, if there is yellow viscous bone fluid flowing out of the bones of the deceased, they call it yellow fluid disease, which is what we call internal rheumatism; more yellow fluid means internal rheumatism, and less yellow fluid means bone disease. calcification.

For another example, if it is white, smelly, and has a foul odor, it means a heart problem;

If it is red, it means death of natural old age, which is a good way to die.

Therefore, through the anatomy of the deceased and the understanding of the deceased's diet and living habits during his lifetime, the cause and causes of the deceased's disease can be determined. In this way, many case examples on the plateau have been accumulated, which can provide treatment for the living Tibetans after they become ill. A lot of basis.

The human flesh is not thrown directly to the vultures in large chunks, but is cut into thin slices and wrapped in tsampa. This is to make it easier for the vultures to eat cleanly, and it is also the best feedback to the deceased.

The next step is to deal with the internal organs. The internal organs must be inspected in every place. Any abnormal parts must be brought back for further examination, which cannot be used by vultures. At the same time, the family members of the deceased must be carefully questioned, and a report must be given at the end.

The next step is to deal with the head. Here, the Tianling Cap must be taken out and given to the family of the deceased as the last item left by the deceased in the world. All other things must be burned, and there is no portrait left at home.

This craniotomy technology was actually mastered in Tibet more than 2,000 years ago. The main test for the head is whether there are blood clots and blood clots. This is the basis for judging whether there are cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and black vein disease.

The last hairs and teeth have to be taken care of, and it is best to let the vultures eat them all.

05——The meaning of sky burial

Sky burials provide Tibetan medicine with powerful data, allowing doctors to understand common diseases in plateau areas. The incidence rate of cancer in Tibet is only 1%, while it is as high as 50-60% in other areas of our country.

Why is this?

First of all, the environment in Tibet is good. Take this new coronavirus epidemic as an example. There is only one case of a foreigner in Tibet. After treatment, he was sent back.

Secondly, food is healthy. Tibetans do not eat chicken, duck, or fish. As for fish, it is because some people cannot be buried in the sky, especially children who died young, and they choose to be buried in water, so they do not eat fish.

Finally, they have a good mentality. When they encounter problems, they will go to the Buddha to pray and talk, so they rarely suffer from psychological diseases.

To summarize the benefits of sky burial in Tibet:

First, it is environmentally friendly, does not pollute land and water sources, returns the body to nature, and feeds animals;

The second is to contribute to medicine, collecting a lot of big data and providing sources and references for the development of Western Tibet.

Tibetans have three pursuits:

One is to become a Buddha in this life and practice cleansing to atone for one’s sins;

The second is to be reborn as a human being, because only by becoming a human being can you have unlimited possibilities;

The third is to die without illness, die of old age naturally, and leave without any pain.

06——Summary

During the 7-day trip in Tibet, I saw different scenery, high mountains, white clouds, blue sky, green lakes, tasted different food, met different group members, and simple people Tibetans are more inspired by the thinking and inspiration brought by Tibetan religious culture.

Tibet is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don’t know if I will come again in the future, but I know that something has begun to take root in my heart.

Thank you dear insect dad for taking me to Tibet with you;

I am grateful for the lovely and kind group members I met and spent the trip to Tibet together;

Thanks to the tour guide Huahua for explaining so much about Tibetan culture;

Thanks to the driver, Master Zhao, for allowing us to reach the scenic spots safely every day;

I am grateful for the culture and environment of Tibet, which made me feel what faith is;

Thanks to my parents-in-law for taking care of the caterpillars at home and giving us the opportunity to visit Tibet;

Thanks to the strength and construction of our motherland, we can walk around safely.