Death and Funeral - Beliefs Among Malaysian Buddhists

Death and what comes after death have intrigued the human race since time immemorial and each religion has its own views concerning the after-life. In Confucianism, there is no teaching on life after death. The Taoist teaching on life and death is philosophical;' the wise man knew neither love of life nor fear of death. Living, he felt no elation; dying he offered no resistance. What made my life good made my death good also. '

quotation from: 'Taoism - the Way of the Mystic' by J.C. Cooper. Confucianism and Taoism thus did not provide the spiritual food and comfort the common Chinese people were looking for. When Buddhism was introduced in China during the 1st. century A.D., there was upheaval in the country with wars and civil strife rampant everywhere. The people found in it the very thing that could provide comfort and consolation to them in life and death. The teaching on suffering and the doctrine of kamma and rebirth were easily understood by the common people. Those who performed meritorious deeds by helping to reduce the suffering of their fellow-men in the world could accumulate merits which would not only extend their life-span on this earth but would also ensure rebirth in a better state after death. This law of cause and effect applied to all, irrespective of rich or poor. The poor and lowly found it possible to accept their present condition owing to their misdeeds in the past, and were inspired to live a morally good life and perform as many meritorious deeds as possible and look forward to a better life in the next birth. The Buddhist teachings have exerted a tremendous influence on Chinese culture since its advent in China by providing answers to the questions of the people about death.

In the event of sickness, a conservative Chinese will seek the aid of a medium when his sickness remains uncured after consulting several doctors. Invariably, he is told that his sickness is due to disharmony in his system with plenty of "wind" inside his body or that he has offended some angry spirit who is seeking revenge on him. He is given various kinds of 'Hu', or pieces of paper believed to possess special magical powers. These are pieces of yellow paper on which the medium writes certain characters, his hand, it is believed, being guided by some kindly deity (or deva). These 'Hu' are used for the purpose of warding off evil spirits. Some are burned and the ashes dropped into a bowl of water which is then drunk by the patient. Another kind of ' Hu' is for pasting on door arches or hung on walls to keep away evil spirits. Similarly, many Chinese families hang the Eight Trigram (Pak-Kwa) or an old brass mirror (to deflect evil) outside their houses. They also wear various kinds of charms or talismans round their necks for protection against evil spirits. These beliefs and practices are not Buddhistic but many Chinese Buddhists and those professing the syncretic folk religion also observe these practices under certain circumstances. Those of stronger faith go to the Buddhist temples, light candles and burn joss-sticks to request help from Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Kuan Yin or Baisajyaguru (the Healing Buddha) to cure their sicknesses or those of their family members, relatives or friends. A small monetary gift is usually presented to the monks or nuns for chanting suttas invoking the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When faced with the dilemma of whether to undergo an operation, major or minor, or not, as advised by the patient's surgeon, his family members would usually consult the Goddess of Mercy or some other deity in whom they have faith. The method of communicating with the deity, as explained before, is to toss out a small bamboo fortune-stick from a bunch in a container and obtain an affirmative or negative reply from the deity by using two kidney-shaped blocks of wood.

Among the Chinese who incline more to Theravada Buddhism, the wearing of a small Buddha image or a cylindrical metal case containing a thin copper sheet with Buddhist suttas inscribed on it, is common, for the purpose of protection against evil spirits or prevention of accidents. They also seek the assistance of devas at the Bodhi tree in the temple for the speedy recovery of their sick family-members, relatives or friends, by burning candles. This Bodhi Puja is popularly practised because of the strong belief that the devas possess some worldly powers of curing certain types of illnesses. Usually, monks in the temples conduct a short religious service at the Bodhi tree if requested by the devotees. Sometimes the bhikkhus are invited to the devotees' residences or hospital to chant parittas for the speedy recovery of the patient. Some Chinese Mahayana Buddhists also observe this practice, but the orthodox followers are averse to it, for they consider the presence of monks and nuns in their homes as a bad omen, foreboding the possible death of the sick person. However, with a better understanding of the Buddhist scriptures, even this barrier of the orthodox Buddhists is slowly crumbling down.

When a person dies, it is the duty of the family to give him a decent funeral and burial. For this reason, friends and relatives who come to pay their last respects usually make monetary contributions to the bereaved family. This tradition is still followed today, especially in the less well-off families, while in the case of affluent families, such contributions are usually directed to charitable organizations. In the olden days, the Chinese buried their dead, and it was therefore important that a proper burial site should be carefully selected. A diviner was consulted for the propitious day and hour of the funeral and burial. Many rites and rituals were carried out, some of which were superstitious, due mainly to fear. Sometimes, one cannot understand why family members start to harbour fear for their departed the moment he dies while during his life-time many of them have shown love and respect towards him. It is understandable if those who have shown disrespect and enmity to the departed become fearful of him. The majority of Chinese Buddhists, however, believe that the elderly departed relatives are reborn in heaven as' shen' (devas) and they will protect and look after them on this earth, if they continue to respect and honour them by the practice of ancestor worship. Those who follow the Theravada tradition believe that the departed has been reborn in a plane of existence in accordance with the kusala or akusala kamma" that he had accumulated in his life-time, but it is their duty to offer alms to the Sangha so that merits could be transferred to him, should he be in a place where he could receive such merits.

Today, most Chinese, Taoists and Buddhists alike, prefer to cremate their departed relatives although this conflicts with the traditional practice of preserving the corpse for as long as possible. Even so, many still continue to have elaborate and expensive funeral rites performed, many of which are foreign to Buddhist teachings. One such rite is to burn paper figures of houses, servants, motorcars, etc., in the belief that they could be transmuted into real objects for the use of the dead in the spirit world. This practice has for a long time been derided by non-Buddhists as ridiculously superstitious. However, this practice is gradually losing ground among Buddhists although it is still somewhat popular among the Taoists, even though it is strictly not of Taoist origin. Meaningful methods of merit-making and transference of merits are now well understood by both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhists who resort to them by performing meritorious deeds. According to Buddhism, the greatest gift one can give to one's ancestors is to perform meritorious deeds such as" giving alms to holy people and printing religious books, and transferring the merits so acquired. Weeping, feeling sorry, lamenting and bewailing at the death of the loved ones are of no benefit to the dead as well as to the living. On the other hand, transferring of merits in this manner not only benefit the departed ones, but those who perform it also receive the fruits of their deed.
Of all cultures in the world, there is perhaps none that has accumulated more superstitious beliefs in the course of its development than Chinese culture. This is particularly so from the time a person dies until his funeral and burial. In many cases, for a few days and nights, before the funeral day, Buddhist and Taoist priests are engaged to chant prayers at appointed hours. This is done in the case of those who are still wavering between strictly pure Buddhist and Taoist beliefs concerning death and the after-life, but those who are more steadfast in the pure Buddhist teachings request only the services of Mahayana and Theravada monks for the prayer chanting. In the case of the Theravada monks, they usually conclude their chanting with the verse:

'Anicca vata sankhara Uppdda vaya dhammino Uppajjitvd nirujjhanti Tesam vupasamo sukho.'

' Impermanent are all conditioned things, subject to rise and fall away; having arisen they then must cease; blissful is it when they subside'. This serves to console those who mourn the loss of their dear departed that where there is birth, death is inevitable.

Even among those who call themselves Buddhists there still lingers in their minds the possibility that some kind of 'material' heaven exists somewhere in the universe to which their departed ones have been transported at death. Hence, quantities of paper money and other paper objects such as houses, servants, garments, suitcases, motorcars and even TV. sets are transmuted I >y tire into their spiritual counterparts in the belief t hat these objects will be enjoyed by the departed < mes in the other world. The majority of them, however, have now realized that all these beliefs are meaningless after studying the true teachings of the Buddha. The stigma that Buddhism encourages expensive funeral rites has nearly been completely eradicated. A proper Buddhist funeral is a simple ;ind solemn ceremony, without the fuss and noise-making that usually attended a traditional Chinese funeral in the past. At the funeral ceremony, Buddhist monks are invited to chant suttas, followed by a short sermon and other speeches, before the cremation. No funeral procession of any kind is organized to accompany the dead to the crematorium, such as was witnessed in days gone by when bands were engaged to play solemn funeral marches and token paper money strewn along the route to the grave-yard.

The abandonment of traditional funeral rites is gradually being accepted by the Chinese Buddhists and there is good prospect of seeing its complete disappearance by the next generation. Many rites and rituals performed by Malaysian Buddhists of Chinese descent, including those pertaining to death and funeral, are traditional cultural practices handed down from their ancestors. The present generation has the courage and understanding to break away from many of those meaningless practices, even though it is often argued that there is no harm in allowing the older generation to continue to observe these cultural practices, which they believe to have some religious significance, since they obtain a certain satisfaction from so doing and keep alive in them the interest to have some contact with the Buddhist religion. Notwithstanding this, it is gratifying to note that the Venerable monks of both the Maha yana and Theravada schools, together with the various lay Buddhist associations are making dedicated efforts to bring about a gradual change in the thinking of those die-hards belonging to the conservative generation. However, to change their attitude without giving them the knowledge of the Buddha-dhamma that could increase their wisdom and understanding will not meet with much success. It is imperative for those who have made it their task to make good Buddhists of all those who call themselves Buddhists to keep this objective in mind, lest we lose them to detractors of the Buddhist religion who exploit their (the Buddhists) ignorance of the Buddha-dhamma and their weakness in their own faith to draw them away from the religion of their forefathers.
Among the enlightened Chinese Buddhists today, the holding of memorial religious services in the temple or at home to honour and respect a deceased person has become a common practice. These services are normally held on the 7th. day after the death of the person and again on the 100th. day of the occurrence. The usual practice is to invite monks to conduct the religious services followed by the meritorious act of offering alms to the monks. Some families continue to hold memorial religious services on the anniversary of the date of death for several years. In addition to that, generous donations are made to temples and charitable institutions in memory of their loved ones, or contributions made towards the printing of religious books for free distribution to enlighten the public on the sublime teachings of the Buddha.
In holding memorial religious services, the Chinese Buddhists who follow the Thai and Sri Lankan traditions by offering alms to the monks in the temple or at home are merely practising Ancestor Worship in a different manner. The traditional Chinese practice was to offer cooked food and wine to the departed ancestors on the anniversaries of their deaths, in the belief that the ancestors had not been reborn in some fortunate states and were still suffering under pathetic conditions such as hunger and thirst, thus requiring the help of their living descendants. This belief is still strong among many Chinese Buddhists, but with better understanding of the Dhamma, this mode of practice is undergoing a rapid change.
The memorial religious service usually commences with the offering of flowers and fruits to the Buddha, followed by the lighting of candles and joss-sticks. In addition to offering alms, some families also present robes and other requisites to the monks, who chant suttas suitable for the occasion, while the family members present transfer merits to their loving departed by pouring water from a vessel into a bowl till the water overflows. As this is done, the monks recite the following stanza:

'Yathd vdri vahd purd, paripurenti sdgaram, Eva'meva ito dinnam, petdnam upakappatu.'

'Even as this water overflows and fills the ocean, may this merit be transferred to the departed.'

After this, the family members follow the monks in reciting:

'Idam me ndtinam hotu, sukhitd hontu ndtayo.'

'May this merit redound to our relatives; may they be well and happy.'

Tan Tien - Beliefs and Practices Among Malaysian Buddhists