Tibetan sky burial

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Tibetan sky burial is a funerary custom practiced in Tibet, in which the body is given to vultures as food. It is not technically a burial: "sky burial" is a name created by European visitors. In Tibetan the practice is known as jhator, which literally means, "giving alms to the birds."

1 Purpose & meaning
2 Setting
3 Procedure
4 References

[edit] Purpose & meaning

As the name implies, jhator is considered an act of generosity: the deceased and his/her surviving relatives are giving food to sustain living beings. Generosity and compassion for all beings are important virtues in Buddhism. The believer hopes that by performing generous acts, s/he will accumulate merit, which will allow him/her to be reborn in better circumstances.

Although some observers have suggested that jhator is also meant to unite the deceased person with the sky or sacred realm, this does not seem consistent with most of the knowledgeable commentary and eyewitness reports, which indicate that Tibetans believe that at this point the spirit has completely left the body and the body is simply meat.

In addition to the religious implications, jhator is also defended as an ecologically wise way to dispose of a body, without contamination, in a place where cremation and burial are difficult, because wood is rare and the ground is frozen much of the year.

The government of the People's Republic of China, which has controlled Tibet since 1950, prohibited the practice (which it considered barbaric) in the 1960's and 70's, but began to allow it again beginning in the 1980's. Non-Tibetans are often forbidden to observe it, and photographs are usually forbidden.

[edit] Setting

A traditional jhator is performed in specified locations in Tibet (and surrounding areas traditionally occupied by Tibetans). Drigung Monastery is one of the three most important jhator sites.

The procedure takes place on a large flat rock long used for the purpose. The charnel ground (durtro) is always on higher ground than its surroundings; it may be very simple, consisting only of the flat rock, or it may be more elaborate, incorporating temples and stupas (chorten in Tibetan).

Relatives may remain nearby during the jhator, possibly in a place where they cannot see it directly. The jhator usually happens at dawn.

The full jhator procedure (as described below) is expensive and many people cannot afford it. Those who cannot, simply place their dead on high rocks, where they decompose or are eaten by birds and animals.

[edit] Procedure

Accounts from observers vary. The following description is assembled from multiple accounts by observers from the U.S. and Europe—accounts by Tibetans would be a valuable addition to this article. References appear at the end.

[edit] Participants

Prior to the procedure, monks may chant prayers around the body and burn juniper incense—although it seems that most often, ceremonial activity takes place the day before.

The work of disassembling of the body may be done by a monk or, more commonly, by rogyapas ("body-breakers").

All the eyewitness accounts remarked on the fact that the rogyapas did not perform their task with gravity or ceremony, but rather talked and laughed as during any other type of physical labor. This is consistent with reports that Tibetans see the body simply as a leftover to be dealt with appropriately.

[edit] Disassembling the body

In one account, the leading rogyapa cut off the limbs and hacked the body into pieces, handing each part to his assistants, who used rocks to pound the flesh and bones together to a pulp, which they mixed with tsampa (barley flour with tea and yak butter or milk) before the vultures were summoned to eat.

In several accounts, the flesh was stripped from the bones and given to vultures without further preparation; the bones then were broken up with sledgehammers, and usually mixed with tsampa before being given to the vultures.

In yet another account, vultures were given the whole body; when only the bones were left, these were broken up with mallets, ground with tsampa, and given to crows and hawks that had waited until the vultures had departed.

Sometimes the internal organs were removed and processed separately, but they too were consumed by birds. The hair is removed from the head and may be simply thrown away; at Drigung it seems at least some hair is kept in a room of the monastary.

None of the eyewitness accounts specifies what kind of knife is used in the jha-tor. One source states that it is a "ritual flaying knife" or trigu (Sanskrit kartrika), but another source expresses skepticism, noting that the trigu is considered a woman's tool (rogyapas seem to be exclusively male).

[edit] Vultures

Although many cultures consider the vulture a horrifying or dirty bird, Tibetans reportedly note that it does not kill living beings, but accepts whatever it receives in the natural course of events. Both of these—refraining from killing, and accepting whatever happens—are elements of Buddhist practice.

The species of vulture involved is apparently the "Eurasian griffon" or "Old World vulture," Order Falconiformes, Family Accipitridae, scientific name Gyps fulvus.

In places where there are several jhator offerings each day, the birds sometimes had to be coaxed to eat, which in one case was accomplished by a ritual dance. It is considered a bad omen if the vultures will not eat, or if even a small portion of the body is left after the birds fly away.

In places where fewer bodies are processed, the vultures were more eager and sometimes had to be fended off with sticks during the initial preparations.

[edit] References

Eyewitness accounts:

1. Eyewitness account, Niema Ash, 198?
2. Eyewitness account, New York Times, 1999
3. Eyewitness account, Pamela Logan, 1997
4. Eyewitness account, Mondo Secter, 1999 - This page also includes references and links to other eyewitness accounts and to a 1986 documentary film that shows a jhator
5. Description of Drigung site, Keith Dowman, orig. pub. 1988