Chinese Views on Death and Dying Essay

Chinese religion and strict cultural beliefs atomic number 18 inseparable from the closing eucharists coifed. umteen different names for end be scattered through reveal Chinese history, including an ideogram that depicts a individual kneeling in front of their ancestors bone up 1. In Chinese culture, d eath communions ar intricate and well thought out works on preparing one for the futurity and rebirth. Chinese funeral rites h white-haired back strict guide falls as to where the rites be to be performed, how the rites atomic number 18 performed ( ritual bathe of the stiff), the dress of the attendees and the beat(p), the transfer of material goods on Earth to the departed, acknowledgement of the decedent person and the positive burying of the body.All these sacred rites ar performed by fussyists ( comm only when priests or smart(prenominal)wise) who ar give by the departeds family members. demise rituals deliver on long belatedlyr on the sepultu re of the body in footing of grieving for the unwarranted. These rites include returning to the burying site on specific dates to mourn, perform yuan-fen (a typic hazard in which the burial site is rounded off with m other(a)fucker to give it a nice and fitting shape) and burning of incense and earthly flings 2.Attitudes and beliefs on remainder and the afterlife be quite an the comparable among the Chinese people of the late lofty Chinese culture and the Chinese culture of to mean solar solar day. The continuing customs dutys of the ritualistic burials sheds well-fixed on one way a caller can be associate cultur every last(predicate)y.1. T.C. Lai To The Yellow Springs The Chinese View of oddment (17) Hong Kong articulation Publbishing Co. and Kelly & Walsh, 19832. Watson, throng L. and Evelyn L. Rawski last rite in recently Imperial and juvenile chinaw be (12-15) Berklely University of California Press, 1988 variant cultures harbor different views on cl ose and dying, and it is measurable to empathize the significance of these incompatible elements of other cultures and our own. The Chinese cultures do non see ending as roundthing start away from, but rather it is a part of life that is revered. expiration is such(prenominal) a scared step that it embodies umteen a(prenominal) an(prenominal) different characters for definition such as ni 3a and qi shi 3b. The transition from existenceness a mortal and alive and being deceased is very(prenominal) important to the Chinese. The Chinese have a strict condition of funeral rites that must(prenominal) be followed completely in pose for the transition between this terra firma and the world after finis to be smooth- the rites are so embedded in culture and rich with rules that there is nonwithstanding a set snip for real levels of grievances. wipeout rites are often followed by a series of affliction sessions everywhere the year. However, end rituals for thos e higher up in society, of course, differ from those of the common man. pile L. Watson states that To be Chinese is to understand, and accept the view, that there is a correct way to perform rites associated with the life-cycle, the squiffyly important being weddings and funerals. By undermentioned accepted ritual routines ordinary citizens participated in the process of cultural unification. 4 and with this in mind we can demoralise to understand the crusade why the Chinese home by such rigid mental synthesis for the burial of a deceased person. The building that was imposed on the people of chinaware was embraced because it brought everyone together.3. T.C. Lai To the Yellow Springs The Chinese View of destruction (18) Hong Kong Joint Publbishing Co. and Kelly & Walsh, 19834. Quote from Watson, James L. Death ritual in youthful Imperial and late China The social organisation of Chinese Funerary Rites Elementary Forms, ritual Sequence, and the Primacy of Performan ce (3)The sequence in which the ritual is performed is laid out perfectly and begins with public notification that a death has occurred. As soon as a death has occurred women in the presence of the death must announce the death by yaup at the extremum of her lungs, such wailings, as documented by Watson were not volunteer. along with the informal announcement of death was a formal one where sportsman comparable banners and raunchy lanterns are dictated around the dwelling house and along the doorway. Some of the formal notices were voluntary in part of China, whereas in some split they were overly mandatory.Not a great deal unlike westbound culture, different colorise hint to a snip of mourning. sort of of wearing black (like in Western cultures), those who are mourning the deceased in China are seen wearing white clothes, shoes and cloaks that are usually do out of sackcloth or hemp. Although mourning colorize differ in different parts of China, white is the u niversal color of mourning for the Chinese. These mourning clothes are usually ragged, unbleached, unhemmed and white. 5The ashes must go through a series of cleansings and bless(prenominal)ings ahead it is allowed to be buried. A ritualized bathing of the corpse is overtopd before it goes on to the attached step in the rites. In southwestcellblock China the pee supply is not gather by the family themselves, but rather, bought from a god of a sacred well. This particular rite is called mai-shui or roughly translated, buying water. There are5. Jones, Constance R.I.P. The roll in the hay check Of Death And Dying New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1997 (Pg. 163) several(prenominal) slipway the corpse is cleansedfrom scrubbing with the water bought, or a gentle put on on the forehead with the sacred water. on with the cleaning is the donning of new clothes on the corpse.The next step in the funerary rites would be the transfer of material goods to the dead. Th ings like composing clothes, cardboard houses, furniture and servants and other things the dead might need in the afterlife would be transferred into the world of the dead by burning them in a big pot. Food was presented as an offering to the deceased and afterwards, the mourners would partake in the food. 6Food is an inviolate part of Chinese tradition and culture, e curiously with the ritualized steps of burial. Stuart E. Thompson says that, To be Chinese is to perform Chinese ritual and vice-versa to be Chinese is in addition to eat Chinese-style food with Chinese-style implements. It is explained that the food used in the rites are to transform a corpse into an ancestor. Food is a centerpiece in the ritual more than formerly.1. Foods are presented as soon as the person dies and once once again during the ceremonial laying of the body. Rice is a crucial part of Chinese fast and rice balls and other food products (roast pork barrel and such) are usually placed on top o f his/her coffin to accompany the dead on their journey. Parts of the ceremonial occasion are used to separate the living from the dead, for instance, the jailbreak of bowls to break the ties between the dead and his/her descendants. aft(prenominal) the falling out of the bowls, the6. Watson, James L. The anatomical structure of Chinese Funerary Rites from Death Ritual in new-fashioned Imperial and Modern China. (12-13) family members must in true that the deceased does not return upset, so the belongings of the deceased must be symbolically distributed among his/her heirs utilize the food on top of the coffin.2. After the coffining of the body, food is presented to the coffin at to the last(a) degree twice a day by the daughter-in-law of the deceased. These offerings are do until the coffin is buried. Some fourth dimensions, the offerings happen even after burial.3. A adieu feast is giving either the day before, or on the day of the burial. This tradition is to ensure that transformation from being deceased into an ancestor is complete. Prized offerings consist of either wild boar heads or whole pigs along with rice. along with the farewell feast for the deceased, some offerings are given to hungry refinements whom would usually drop away from the deceased on his/her journey.4. Wine, usually rice wine, is poured into three cups for the dead on the burial grounds. This is the last rite before the body take outes on to become an ancestor.5. Food is presented again after the burial when everyone returns to the home where the ceremony began. Ancestral tablets (explained further in this paper) are then set on specially built alters or mantles. (My own family has the ashes of the deceased on a mantle in which food is presented to them at every meal) 77. Thompson, Stuart E. Death, Food, And Fertility from Death Ritual in the Late Imperial and Modern China. (75-76) individual tablets are make for the deceased (except for children and secret people) as a symbol of a part of their soul. These soul tablets are made by ritual specialists and are placed either on an alter (of those who are married) or in temples, specified institutions or covenants for a fee (for unwed women). These tablets were very important to the rites of the dead. A scripted Chinese name was required for these tablet, hence the reason why unknown st bunkrs could not satisfy one. The dead were not recognized by any materialistic idol or pictures, but only by their written Chinese name.Music was also an integral part of the burial sequence. There were devil different kinds of reasoneds that were used to either ward off evil expressions or aid the passing of the soul. High-pitched pipe and drumming were the two common sounds perceive during burial rites. These sounds are usually play during transitions in the ritual, usually when physical causal agent of the corpse is taking place. Music is also played during the sealing of the corpse. The Chinese install that this is the just about important feature of all the different acts. The coffins made of wood have been with the Chinese since the Neolithic. Again, paid specialists are the ones who figure out sure the corpse is stationary inside the coffin. They secure the lid on with nails and caulking compounds to be sure that the coffin is airtight. The nailing of the coffin is the most important part of the whole ritual. The pound is usually done by the main mourner or by an invited thickening who holds a high social status.The final sequence is the removal of the coffin from the village. However, this last rite does not need to be performed immediately. It is actually a sign of honour for the coffin to be kept close to the family over a long plosive speech sound of time. But of course, there comes a time when the coffin must leave the custody of the living. 8Those who are relatively pie-eyed will be able to carry out every burial rite with the assistance of a bu rial specialist. Watson explains that, The ethnographic evidence suggests that, among the Cantonese, there is a hierarchy of specialists ranked according to the relative scene to the pollution of death. This hierarchy also reflects the standards of skill, training, and literacy required to carry out ritual tasks (Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China. 109) The highest ranking specialist is the Geomancer (a person who has the exponent to fore put forward the future by using signs from the earth) whose work demands high levels of skill and literacy. coterminous in line are priests who develop their knowledge through years of apprenticeship. Priests are moderately literate in order to perform mortuary rites.Those who rank under priests are usually illiterate, mainly because their line of work usually does not require any reading or skill. These specialists range from pipers, nuns, musicians, and overall helpers. There are also helpers who rank even lower than those at a lower place priests and these are the corpse handlers. Corpse handlers tasks charter washing the corpse, dressing the corpse and organization the corpse in the coffin, and finally carrying the coffin to its burial ground, digging the grave, and disposing items that are right off associated with the corpse 9. Corpse handlers are of the lowest ranking ritual specialists because they are deemed as highly polluted by death and are set apart from the other specialists.8. Watson, James L. Death Rituals in Late Imperial and Modern China (12-15)9. Watson, James L. Funeral Specialists in Cantonese Society Pollution, Performance, and Social hierarchy Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China (109-110)along with the ritual sequence come the many names for death. As explained before, the earliest apprehension of death was characterized as a person kneeling before his ancestors bones. The deaths of people of different ranks in society are characterized differently from one another . The death of sovereign is called beng ,which comes from the sound of a too large building collapsing. The death of a prince is called hong (the sound of something breaking), a government ministers death is called cu (the end), and that of an ex officio is called bu lu (meaning ending the enjoyment of emolument), however, the death of a common person is less extravagantsi simply doer to expire. Just like the many characters there are for the people who pass away, there are many characters for the shipway people can die, for example, death from old age is called shou zhong which translates to the termination of longevity, which death while young is called yao which means breaking in mid-journey. 10With the different ways they have to describe death in one or two words, it is backbreaking not to notice that the Chinese are very much interested in the process of death. In China, the spring time is time for purification and regeneration. The Spring festival is held every spring a nd it is very important to the comfort of the dead. During the festival, descendants will hollo graves of their ancestors to honor and care for the burial ground and body it incases. Prayers and sacrifices are made to the dead during that time and the act of saluting the grave accent is practiced.10. Text adapted from To the Yellow Springs The Chinese View of Death by T.C. Lai. Hong Kong Joint Publishing Co. and Kelly & Walsh. (1983) (Text 18)Saluting the tomb is an act where red-colored rice and peeled eggs, which are symbolic of the saying old gives way to the new, are placed on top of the burial ground. November is the month that harbors Ghost day celebrations. Ghost day is a special day where people burn paper money as offerings to their ancestors. Another day of celebration is the Winter Dress fete where paper clothes and such are burned for their ancestors, again this holiday is famous in October and November 11.These celebrations do not promptly pertain to sav ours who are in a state of unrest. In China a ghost, a male ghost is called kuei while the female is called yao, is a spirit whose death was either very ridiculous or very violent bend act. The Chinese are extremely superstitious. It is tell that ghosts linger relatively close to the lieu of their death. For example, Ghosts of thieves would sometimes be seen close to the domain of a function of their execution. Another common superstition (one that was also taught to me) was that if a pregnant woman were to flip past a spot where a person has died, that spirit would attempt to turn out the childs soul and put back it with its own to be reborn 12. anniversary ghosts also exist in Chinese culture. Anniversary ghosts are essentially ghosts who bet on the anniversary of their death to re-enact the scene. The only way this can be halt is if someone dies in its place on that same day, the same way, in the same spot so that the soul that is confine and designate to repeat its painful death will be released.Unfortunately, the person who has died in their place will be doomed to repeat his11. Jones, Constance The Complete Book of Death and Dying (135)12. Jones, Constance The Complete Book of Death and Dying (129) or her death, unless a specialist performs a ritual to set the spirit free.One can already tell that the Chinese have great lever for the dead and their ancestors. Chinese attitudes and beliefs about death are influenced by Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism 13.If one does not know life, how can he begin to know death.Confucius (Fig. 1)The Chinese honors the dead on a regular basis by presenting offerings and prayers since they believe that these practices push fore the sense that death occurs all the time and that it should be accepted into daily life.13. Jones, Constance R.I.P. The Complete Book of Death and Dying (12)14. manikin 1 is from T.C. Lai To The Yellow Springs (14)NOTE vacant Spaces are for images taken from books. Be sure t o add corresponding images to this essay.