Funeral Rites among the Lama Priests of the Monguor

In all cultures across the world, death and the traditions bound up in death are important aspects of one’s culture. Among the Monguor (also known as the Tu), one of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China, there are certain funerary rites that must be adhered to in order to safeguard the community. In addition to this, deaths are categorised into different groups; those who have died a natural death, an unnatural death or the death of a lama.

A lama is a Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) and the death of one of these priests is of great concern among the Monguor. Death and the spirits are considered with great seriousness as if the proper rites are not performed correctly, then the spirit can raise havoc among the community.

If a lama is advanced in years or is clearly seriously ill, a coffin is built for him in advance. The coffin is constructed sloping at the top and is painted red with a sun and moon symbols. The box is built on a small scale, usually only big enough “accommodate the corpse, which is set in the box in a squatting position just prior to being carried to the cremation ground”.

As the lama dies, his clan and immediate family are invited to join in the ‘death watch’. As soon as the lama dies, his ajiu (important male maternal relative) is informed. The rest of his family and village are then told. On the first day of his death there are endless burning of symbolic paper money and flat pieces of fried bread (which are only used during the Spring Festival, the Day of Pure Brightness, and the anniversary of the death of the deceased, and are never eaten).

The body is then prepared. The body is generally tied in a squatting position, dressed in his finest clothes. His face is white-washed and covered in yellow silk. The head is crowned with a five-directional hat and then the body is placed in the centre of the north room facing the door. A table or chest is placed in front of him where offerings of fruit, money, large sugar crystals, a bowl of rice in which crossed chopsticks are inserted, bread, joss sticks, oil lamps, etc, are placed upon. The body will stay here until the third day of his death.

On the third day, the ajiu arrives to visit the deceased with a group of people. Several old women will walk behind him, singing loud laments. As soon as the ajiu arrives, family members rush out of the home and kneel outside on the ground, and, as the ajiu draws near, they kowtow, holding incense sticks. It is the older family members, and those who are closely related to the lama, that will kowtow and the entire family will wail before the ajiu enters the home.

After this, the body is then placed in his coffin. The windows are closed in order to prevent the curious looking in. As this happens, a retinue for wailing women set off for the cremation site, singling laments about the deceased. The woman going in front carries a wicker basket containing crumpled funeral bread and bits of "sacred paper" burned for the deceased. As she walks to the site, she will gradually throw out the contents of the basket. The women have effectively, “opened a road for the deceased to follow”.

The coffin is then brought to the site. The ajiu walks in front of the coffin and the rest of the family and community behind them. Once they reach the site, a screen of several blankets are placed around the oven before the corpse is placed seated upon it in privacy. “The coffin sedan is smashed to pieces and the pieces placed in the oven bottom, above a basin of liquefied butter and cypress needles”.

On one side, a group of lamas will assemble. Usually they number seven but any up to twenty will arrive. “After the lamas assemble and begin chanting, a lama hands the oldest xiaozi a long tree-branch, the end of which has been tied with cotton, dipped in butter, and set ablaze. The xiaozi accepts the torch, kowtows to the dead lama, then kneels and lights the fuel inside the cremation oven through the four small open-ings at the bottom”.

At this point the women leave and only the men remain. After an hour the rest of the villagers will leave as well so that only a few xiaozi (male relatives) and lamas remain. After the lamas have finished their chanting, they too depart.

The fire then burns out and after three days the oven is opened, and the bones are removed using red chopsticks, wrapped in yellow gold paper, and placed in a small con-tainer. This container may then be buried locally or sent to Kumbum (Taer Temple). The mourning period of the nephew of a lama lasts for 100 days. In this time they should not cut any facial hair or brush their hair. In addition to this, they are should not wash their faces until after the coffin is taken out.

The funerals and traditions surrounding the deaths of lamas among the Monguor are fascinating; it has been pondered by scholars as to the reasons why they are cremated and never buried in their ancestral burial grounds. It has been suggested that this is because they die childless and if they were buried in ancestral ground it could bring bad luck to the community – that future generations may not reproduce.

Bibliography:

Stuart, Kevin & Hu, Jun (1992) Death and Funerals among the Minhe Tu (Monguor), Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

A History of Korean Funerary Rites

In all cultures across the world, funerary rites and traditions are very important once someone has died. In Korea, from antiquity to today’s contemporary society, the rites associated with death and funerals make up a very important element. This article will discuss the funerary rites surrounding the concept of ancestral belief in Korea.

In Korea, when a person is just about to die, he is taken to the warmer part of the house and into his deathbed. He is then dressed into a clean cloth called ch'ongo chongch’im and his family gather at his side. The Koreans believe that the time and place are important in the afterlife, just as the date and time of birth are important during a person's lifetime, and they go to great lengths to determine these as accurately as possible. If the dying individual has any last words, it is the child’s duty to record these.

Once the individual has died, all ornaments from the body are removed, the hair is loosened and the family weeps for the death of their loved one. One of the family members will then take the white upper garment that the deceased was wearing and then, facing north, climb onto the roof of the house. They will call out the name of the deceased in a loud voice, followed by the word ‘pok’ (which literally means ‘return’). After calling out in this way, they will pull the white cloth up onto the roof. This ritual is known as the “ko bok”, the calling back the spirit of the dead.

After this rite has been completed, the family will then prepare a feast for the messengers (saja) who will escort the deceased to the other side. Traditionally, this meal consists of three bowls of rice, vegetables, soy sauce, money and three pairs of straw shoes. It is positioned either in the middle area of the inside garden or outside the main gate of the house of the deceased.

The body of the deceased is then moved from his deathbed and onto a board known as the chilsong-p’an. The board “is the board of the deity of the seven stars, who controls the life of men”. The head is turned to the north and the thumbs are tied together with string, as are the two big toes. One of the children will then put on one sleeve of the upper garment – the right side if the deceased was his father, the left side if his mother. “A person experienced in these matters will make a spirit, called the honbaek with string or paper. If string is used three strings of different colours will be knotted together in a fixed form, and if the material is paper it will be a white paper folded in a fixed form. This knot, or folded paper as the case may be, is placed in a small box called the honbaek box, or “spirit box."

The word "hon" refers to the spirit or soul, and “baek" has the same meaning. Sometimes one of these words will be dropped, with either "hon" or "baek" appearing alone, and sometimes both words are used”.

The most important ritual is that of washing the body, known as “sup”. One of the mourners will bring a bowl of warm water mixed with mugwort or juniper and while either two or four people hold the corners of a blanket covering the deceased, the body is washed thoroughly with a piece of cotton or cloth soaked in the warm water. After this, the hair and fingernails will be cut and placed into four small bags known as choballang that are later placed into the coffin.

The deceased is then dressed in his funeral clothes. The person who is performing this rite will put “wet rice to the mouth of the deceased with a willow spoon, saying loudly, "a hundred sacks of rice" at the first spoonful to be held up, "a thousand sacks of rice" with the second spoon and "ten thousand sacks of rice" with the third”. After this a coin will be placed into their mouth. The body is then bound in a a long cloth known as yom. Relatives and friends of the deceased will place money into the twisted sections of the yom as it is believed that the paper money will be used when the deceased passes through the twelve gates of the otherworld.

The body is finally placed into his coffin and is covered with coverlets. “The corpse is laid on top of one of these, called the "coverlet of earth," and is covered with another, called the " coverlet of heaven." The deceased's old clothes will be put into the coffin next to the head and legs to fill the empty spaces. When the cover of the coffin is nailed down with wooden nails the offspring will weep loudly. The coffin itself is now bound with a straw rope around its upper, middle and lower parts”.

The last rite that is practiced is done when the coffin is taken out of the room. Four men will take the coffin and shake it slowly up and down toward the four corners of the room. When it is taken from the room a gourd will be destroyed in front of it, in the attempt to drive away evil spirits.

There are a number of different rites and rituals that are practiced in Korea when someone has died. The ritual of washing the body is the most important, as it is a rite of purification, cleaning the polluted body whereas the act of binding is one that symbolises separation. These rites have been practiced for generations and continue to be practiced, for it is believed that they will aid the spirit of the deceased to pass through the twelve gates of the otherworld and arrive in heaven.

Bibliography:

Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestor Worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.