Buddhism, in Its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in Its Contrast with Christianity

by Sir Monier Monier-Williams

The method of disposing of a dead body differs in all Buddhist countries according to station, condition, rank, and wealth.

In Ceylon the bodies of monks are all burnt, and the cremation ceremonies are carried out under decorated arches or canopies, which are never removed, but left to crumble away.

In Burma the cremation of a monk distinguished for sanctity is an affair of great state and ceremonial. The body (see Mr. Scott’s ‘Burman,’ ii. 331) is first embalmed, and next tightly wrapped in white cloth, which is varnished and afterwards covered with gold-leaf. The corpse thus gilded is placed in an unclosed inner coffin, and left exposed to view for a considerable time. When fastened down, the inner coffin is covered with gold-leaf, like the body. An outer sarcophagus is then prepared, and painted to represent scenes from the lives of the Buddha. This is placed in a building erected for the purpose, and there the body lies in state for several months, while a constant line of pilgrim-worshippers pass in and out. In process of time, when enough money for the expenses has been collected, a grand cremation takes place under a lofty canopy, which on special occasions may be fifty or sixty feet high. The calcined bones are then reverentially collected, and either buried near the temple or pounded and made up into a paste, with which an image of the Buddha is constructed for worship in the monastery.

In Tibet the bodies of the Grand Lāmas are generally embalmed and preserved in monuments or Stūpas. Other Lāmas and monks distinguished for sanctity are burnt, and their ashes are either distributed as relics, or preserved in idols or in small Dāgabas. Kings, princes, and great men are also burnt, and of course with much ceremony and repetition of prayers. Then for a long time afterwards prayers continue to be recited by the priests, the object being to propitiate Yama, god of Death, and to deliver the deceased from the possible purgatorial torments of one of the hells. It is said that this repetition of prayers is prolonged, in the case of the rich, for seven weeks, and in the case of princes, for a whole year.

Mr. J. Ware Edgar, C.S.I., in his interesting Report of his visit to Sikkim in 1873, gives a description of the remarkable funeral ceremonies performed on the occasion of the death of the Rājā of Sikkim’s sister (see [p. 62]), which I here abbreviate:—

The Rājā’s sister had died a few days after his return to Choombi. The body had been buried at Choombi, but her clothes had been sent to Toomlong, and her soul was supposed to accompany them. There a lay-figure meant to represent her, dressed in her costume as a nun, and wearing a gilt mitre and a long white veil, was placed on a kind of throne to the right of the great altar in the principal chapel. Before the figure was a table, on which were different kinds of food. On another table were various things which had belonged to her, while on a third, 108 little brass lamps were arranged in rows. Some days afterwards the lay-figure of the nun was taken to Pemyangchi. There, for three days the figure was seated before the altar, and the monks chanted the litanies for her soul, which had accompanied her clothes from Choombi. On the third day towards evening the tea-cup of the nun was freshly filled with tea, and all the monks solemnly drank tea with her. The monks chanted the litanies, and the Head Lāma went through some elaborate ceremonies. At about nine o’clock the chanting ceased, and the Lāma made a long speech to the soul of the nun, in which he told her that all that could be done to make her journey to another world easy, had been done, and that now she would have to go alone and unassisted to appear before the King and Judge of the dead.

‘You will have to leave your robes, your mitre, and your veil,’ said he, ‘and clad in the black garment of your sins, or in the shining garment of your good deeds, you will be shown the mirror of the just King. Your gold and silver, your rank, your good name will not help you, when your good deeds are weighed against your evil deeds, in the scales of the King. If you have done ill, you will be punished; but if your sins are found to be lighter than your good works, your reward will be great indeed.’

When the Lāma had finished his address, some of the monks took down the lay-figure and undressed it, while others formed a procession and conducted the soul of the nun into the darkness outside the monastery, with a discordant noise of conch-shells, thigh-bone trumpets, Tibetan flutes, gongs, cymbals, tambourines, and drums.

In Japan small portions of the calcined remains (often not larger than peas) are preserved in globular glass shrines, and then duly honoured and worshipped.

The method of disposing of the dead bodies of the laity and of the common people is generally much more simple. In most Buddhist countries laymen are buried, and the priests lead the processions to the grave. In Ceylon, the laity are certainly, as a rule, buried and not burnt.

In Burma rich laymen are also generally buried, and, according to Mr. Scott, the funeral is a grand affair.

The body is swathed in new white cotton cloth, leaving the face uncovered. A piece of gold or silver is placed between the teeth to serve as ferry-money over the Buddhist Styx—the terrible river of death which all deceased persons are compelled to pass. This river is clearly the counterpart of the Vaitaraṇī of the Hindūs (see ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 297).