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Post by JCL on Feb 7, 2006 17:17:36 GMT
i heard from someone about this vajrayana funeral ceremony where they cut out the dead person's thigh bone, hollow it out, and play it like a trumpet.
is this true? maybe it's a different sect i'm thinkin of, but i thought they just took them 2 the top of a mountain and let the vultures eat them as a final act of dana.
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alexandra
Member
Right V.I.S.A.B.E.A.M
Posts: 43
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Post by alexandra on Feb 7, 2006 20:17:09 GMT
Well, I've done someresearch, and hunted high and low, and asked several 'cognoscenti' about this specific bizarre performance, and this is what a really good friend found out for me....
"It could be true. It sounds like something the Bon shamans, and Gomchens would do. They often used human bones to make ritual vajras. Sometimes, the dead were also cut into pieces and fed to vultures. Read Alexandra David-Neel's books about her travels through Tibet ."
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Post by JCL on Feb 7, 2006 21:12:02 GMT
hmm, i see. thanx 4 the info.
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Post by prady on Feb 8, 2006 17:50:44 GMT
yep.
thay had sky buriels...offered their bodies to the birds as they no longer needed them a way of making good karma by selflessly giving. and in some cases the bones of the body were used to make ritual objects like trumpets and malas. which sounds dodgy to us but there are really good reasons for it.
for example being constantly reminded that we might die today stops us hurting others in vengful ways cause we know one day they will die and reap their own bad karma for example, also being aware of death hightens our need to practice and helps us feel compassion...anyway you get my drift...
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Post by JCL on Feb 8, 2006 22:08:50 GMT
ah! hadn't thought of it that way!
andrea as always comes in with her lovely insights!
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