The Tibetan Book of the Dead — ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz

Waddell adds: ‘Its inscription [as in our copy above] usually runs :

‘T, the world-departing One,... (and here is inserted the name of the deceased), adore and take refuge in my /a@maconfessor, and all the deities, both mild [translated by us as “peaceful” ] and wrathful;1 and [may] “the Great Pitier”? forgive my accumulated sins and impurities of former lives, and show me the way to another good world!’

At the left shoulder of the central figure of the spyang-pu, as in our copy, and sometimes down the middle in otherp. 24 copies, are inscribed phonetic symbols referring to the six worlds of sangsdaric existence, translated as follows :

1 ¢Of the hundred superior deities, forty-two are supposed to be mild, and fifty-eight of an angry nature.’—L. A. Waddell.

2 ¢ An aboriginal or Chinese deity now identified with Avalokita, with whom he has much in common.’—L, A. Waddell.

3 Our translation is based upon that made by Dr. Waddell; cf. Gazetteer of Sikhim, pp. 387-8.

S = sura, ot god, referring to the deva-world ;

A = asura, or titan, referring to the asura-world ;

Na = xara, or man, referring to the human-world ;

Tri = ¢risan, 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.?

At the termination of the funeral rites the spyang-pu or face-paper is ceremoniously burned in the flame of a butterlamp, 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-¢schha, 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 /amas, 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.? Thereafter, a widow of the deceased is free to remarry.®

Connected with the Tibetan funeral itself there is much interesting ritual. Thus, when the officiating /ama is preparing to assist at the removal of the corpse from the house,

1 Cf. Waddell, Gazetteer of Sikhim, p. 388.

Thereafter, a widow of the deceased is free to remarry.®

Connected with the Tibetan funeral itself there is much interesting ritual. Thus, when the officiating /ama is preparing to assist at the removal of the corpse from the house,

1 Cf. Waddell, Gazetteer of Sikhim, p. 388.

* “In Ceylon, death-feasts are given, to the Bhtkkhus, 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,

3 Cf. Waddell, Gazetteer of Sikhim, pp. 391 and 383.

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he presents a ‘scarf of honour’ to the corpse and, addressing the corpse as the deceased, advises it to partake freely of the food offered, warns it that it is dead and that its ghost must not haunt the place or trouble living relatives, saying in conclusion, ‘ Remember the name of thy spiritual /aa-teacher, which is... [so and so], and by his aid take the right path— the white one. Come this way!’!

Then, as the /ama begins to lead the funeral procession, he takes hold of one end of the long scarf, the other end having been tied to the corpse, and begins to chant a liturgy to the accompaniment of a miniature hand-drum (having loose-hanging knotted cords attached, which, striking the drum as it is twirled by the hand of the /ama, cause it to sound) and of a trumpet made of a human thigh-bone. When there are a number of priests, the chief priest, going before the rest, rings a handbell (as the Breton priest does in a Breton peasant funeral procession), and the other priests assist with the chanting and the music, one blowing at intervals the sacred conch-shell, another clashing brass cymbals, and perhaps another twirling the small drum, or blowing the thigh-bone trumpet. From time to time the chief /@ma looks back to invite the spirit to accompany the body and to assure it that the route is in the right direction. After the corpse-bearers come the main body of mourners, some bearing refreshments (to be in part cast on the funeral-pyre for the benefit of the deceased and in part partaken of by the priests and mourners), and last of all the weeping and wailing relatives. Such priestly guiding of the deceased’s spirit is for the laity alone, for the spirits of deceased /@mas, having been trained in the doctrines of the Bardo Thédol, know the right path and need no guidance.

In Tibet itself all known religious methods of disposing of a corpse are in vogue; but, owing to lack of fuel for purposes of cremation, ordinarily the corpse, after having been carried to a hill-top or rocky eminence, is chopped to pieces and, much after the Parsee custom in Persia and Bombay, given to the birds and beasts of prey. If the corpse be that of a nobleman, whose family can well afford

1 Cf, Waddell, Gazetteer of Stkhim, pp. 391 and 383.

3069 E

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If the corpse be that of a nobleman, whose family can well afford

1 Cf, Waddell, Gazetteer of Stkhim, pp. 391 and 383.

3069 Ep. 26 a funeral pyre, it may be cremated. In some remote districts earth burial is customary; and it is commonly employed everywhere when death has been caused by a very contagious and dangerous disease, like small-pox for example. Otherwise, Tibetans generally object to earth burial, for they believe that when a corpse is interred the spirit of the deceased, upon seeing it, attempts to re-enter it, and that if the attempt be successful a vampire results, whereas cremation, or other methods of quickly dissipating the elements of the dead body, prevent vampirism. Sometimes, too, as among the Hindus, corpses are cast into rivers or other bodies of water. In the case of the Dalai Lama and the Tashi Lama, and of some very great man or saint, embalming is practised; and the corpse, in a way somewhat resembling the ancient Egyptian embalming process, is packed in a box of marsh salt, usually for about three months, or until the salt has absorbed all the watery parts of the corpse. Then, after the corpse is well cured, it is coated with a cementlike substance made of clay, pulverized sandal-wood, spices, and drugs. This adheres and hardens; and all the sunken or shrivelled parts of the body, such as the eyes, cheeks, and stomach, having been rounded out by it to their natural proportions, a very Egyptian-like mummy is_ produced. Finally, when thoroughly dried and then covered with a paint made of dissolved gold, the mummy is set up like an image in a sort of Tibetan Westminster Abbey.

At Shigatze, the seat of the Tashi Lama, there are five such funereal temples. With their double roofs, resplendent with gold, they resemble the palaces or royal shrines of China. In size and embellishment they differ, in accordance with the rank and wealth of the mummies occupying them, some being inlaid with gold, some with silver.!. Before these enshrined mummies prayer is offered up, incense burnt, and elaborate rituals are performed, as in the ancestral cults of the Chinese and Japanese.

The four Northern Buddhist methods of disposing of a corpse correspond to those mentioned in various of the sacred

1 Ct. Ekai Kawaguchi, Three Years in Tibet (Madras, 1909), p. 394.

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books of the Hindus: a human body is said to consist of four elements,—earth, water, air, and fire,—and it should be returned to these elements as quickly as possible. Cremation is considered the best method to adopt. Earth-burial, as among Christians also, is the returning of the body to the element Earth; water-burial is the returning of the body to the element Water, air-burial, to the element Air—the birds which devour the corpse being the denizens of the air; and fire-burial, or cremation, the returning of the body to the element Fire.