copies, are inscribed phonetic symbols referring to the six worlds of sangsāric existence, translated as follows:
- S = sura, or god, referring to the deva-world;
- A = asura, or titan, referring to the asura-world;
- Na = nara, or man, referring to the human-world;
- Tri = trisan, or brute animal, referring to the brute-world;
- Pre = preta, or unhappy ghost, referring to the preta-world;
- and Hung (from hunu, meaning ‘fallen’) = hell, referring to the hell-world.[1]
At the termination of the funeral rites the spyang-pu or face-paper is ceremoniously burned in the flame of a butter-lamp, and the spirit of the deceased given a final farewell. By the colour of the flame and the way in which the flame acts the after-death fate which the deceased has met with is determined.
The ashes of the cremated spyang-pu are collected in a plate, and then, upon being mixed with clay, are made into miniature stupas called sa-tschha, usually in moulds leaving impressions either of symbolical ornamentation or of sacred letters. One is kept for the family altar in the home of the deceased, and the rest are deposited in a sheltered place at a cross-roads or on a hill-top, usually under a projecting ledge of rock, or in a cave if there happens to be a cave.
With the burning of the paper, the rest of the effigy of the deceased is taken apart, the clothes going to the lāmas, who carry them off and sell them to the first purchaser, keeping the proceeds as part of their fee. When one year has elapsed after the death, a feast in honour of the deceased is usually given and the service of the Medical Buddhas is performed.[2] Thereafter, a widow of the deceased is free to remarry.[3]
Connected with the Tibetan funeral itself there is much interesting ritual. Thus, when the officiating lāma is preparing to assist at the removal of the corpse from the house,
- ↑ Cf. Waddell, Gazetteer of Sikhim, p. 388.
- ↑ ‘In Ceylon, death-feasts are given, to the Bhikkhus, seven days, one month, and one year after the death. These feasts are given “in the name of” the dead, to whom also the merit is offered. This, under certain circumstances, helps the dead to attain higher rebirth.’—Cassius A. Pereira.
- ↑ Cf. Waddell, Gazetteer of Sikhim, pp. 391 and 383.
