Sky Burials Michael Logerwell

Tibetan Buddhism The main ideas of Buddhism is cultivating spiritual awareness, tolerance, and finding truth for oneself. (Sakya) Vajrayana is the third Buddhist denomination, it spread throughout the Himalayan kingdoms. (Sakya) “Vajrayana places an emphasis on transmuting them directly into wisdom.” (Sakya) “They believe that the corpse is nothing more than an empty vessel. The spirit, or the soul, of the deceased has exited the body to be reincarnated into another circle of life.” (TravelChinaGuide) ( https://milaudthebaum.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/h2_1995-106.jpg )

Sky Burials (http://wesphelan.com/dead/)

The Burial “After death, the deceased will be left untouched for three days. Monks will chant around the corpse. Before the day of sky burial, the corpse will be cleaned and wrapped in white cloth.” (TravelChinaGuide) The ritual of sky burial usually begins before dawn.(TravelChinaGuide) Monks will prepare the body for the vultures, the cloth is unwrapped and the first cut is made on the back. They use hatchets and cleavers to precisely cut up the body quickly. (TravelChinaGuide) “Flesh is cut into chunks of meat. The internal organs are cut into pieces. Bones are smashed into splinters and then mixed with tsampa, roasted barley flour.” (TravelChinaGuide)

Vultures in Jhator Tibetans believe that the vultures are Dakinis, which are a kind of angels. (Popovic) “Dakinis will take the soul into the heavens, which is understood to be a windy place where souls await reincarnation into their next lives.” (TravelChinaGuide) Dakini means sky dancer in Tibetan. (TravelChinaGuide) ( http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/34/26/00002634_medium.jpeg )

Other Facts About Jhator For Tibetans Jhator is an act of compassion and genrosity, but in the 60s the Chinese criminalized Jhator and called it Barbaric, but since the 80s it has been allowed. (Popovic) Sky Burial is not suitable for children younger then 18, pregnant mothers, and those who have died of disease. (TravelChinaGuide) “Tibetans are encouraged to witness this ritual, to confront death openly and to feel the impermanence of life.” (TravelChinaGuide) “They believe that photographing the ritual might negatively affect the ascent of the soul.” (TravelChinaGuide)