Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOURISTS & SKY BURIALS
Sky burials are funeral services and, naturally, Tibetans are often very unhappy about
camera-toting foreigners heading up to sky-burial sites. The Chinese authorities do not
like it either and may fine foreigners who attend a burial. You should never pay to see a
sky burial and you should nevertake photos. Even if Tibetans offer to take you up to a
sky-burial site, it is unlikely that other Tibetans present will be very happy about it. As
tempting as it may be, if nobody has invited you, don't go.
Death
Although the early kings of Tibet were buried in tomb mounds with complex funerary rites
(the tombs are still visible in Chongye), ordinary Tibetans have not traditionally been bur-
ied. The dead bodies of the very poor were usually dumped in a river and the bodies of the
very holy were cremated and their ashes enshrined in a chörten (or their bodies dried in
salt). But in a land where soil is at a premium and wood for cremation is scarcer still, most
bodies were, and still are, disposed of by sky burial.
After death, the body is kept for 24 hours in a sitting position while a lama recites pray-
ers from
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
to help the soul on its journey through the 49 levels
of Bardo, the state between death and rebirth. Three days after death, the body is blessed
and early-morning prayers and offerings are made to the monastery. The body is folded up
(the spine is broken and the body itself is folded into a surprisingly small package) and
carried on the back of a close friend to the
dürtro
(burial site). Here, special body-breakers
known as
rogyapas
cut off the deceased's hair, chop up the body and pound the bones to-
gether with tsampa for vultures to eat.
There is little overt sadness at a sky burial: the soul is considered to have already depar-
ted and the burial itself is considered to be mere disposal, or rather a final act of compas-
sion to the birds. Sky burial is, however, very much a time to reflect on the impermanence
of life. Death is seen as a powerful agent of transformation and spiritual progress. Tibetans
are encouraged to witness the disposal of the body and to confront death openly and
without fear. This is one reason that Tantric ritual objects such as trumpets and bowls are
often made from human bone.
