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Tibetan Rituals of Death : Buddhist Funerary Practices.

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This book describes and analyses the structure and performance of Tibetan Buddhist death rituals, and situates that performance within the wider context of Buddhist death practices generally. Drawing on a detailed and systematic comparative survey of existing records of Tibetan funerary practices, i...

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Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Full Text (via Taylor & Francis)
Main Author: Gouin, Margaret
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: London : Routledge, 2012.
Edition:1st ed.
Series:Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism Ser.
Subjects:
Buddhist funeral rites and ceremonies - China - Tibet.
Table of Contents:
  • Front Cover
  • Tibetan Rituals of Death
  • Copyright Page
  • Table of contents
  • Acknowledgements
  • 1. Introduction
  • Terminology
  • Transliteration
  • Inclusive language
  • 2. The sources
  • Tibetan material
  • Non-Tibetan material
  • Buddhism outside Tibet
  • Bön
  • 3. Before death
  • 4. Immediately after death
  • Spiritual concerns
  • Consciousness transference (powa)
  • Death horoscope
  • Readings, prayers and bardo guidance
  • Purification rituals
  • Offering food to the deceased
  • Practical concerns
  • Planning the funeral: the role of the death horoscope
  • Protection against malignant manifestations
  • Preparation of the body
  • Funeral procession
  • Comments on activities undertaken immediately after death
  • Spiritual concerns
  • Practical concerns
  • 5. Disposal of the body
  • Burial (disposal in earth)
  • Immersion (disposal in water)
  • Cremation (disposal in fire)
  • Activities at the cremation site
  • Religious rituals
  • Conclusion of the cremation ceremonies
  • Self-immolation
  • Exposure (disposal in air)
  • Historical origins and the 'Parsi debate'
  • Who qualifies for exposure?
  • Who does it?
  • How is it done?
  • Religious observances at the disposal site
  • Why is it done?
  • Speed and completeness of consumption
  • Exposure and 'secondary burial'
  • The charge of cannibalism
  • 'Sky burial' in Western perception
  • Treatment of remains
  • From burial
  • From cremation
  • From exposure
  • Bones for ritual use
  • Hair
  • Comments on the disposal of the body
  • 6. Special cases
  • Holy persons
  • Preservation
  • Cremation
  • Remains
  • Relics
  • Nobility
  • Children
  • Old people
  • 'Bad deaths'
  • Comments on special cases of disposal
  • 7. Post-disposal rituals of benefit and protection
  • The transition through the intermediate state (bardo)
  • The intermediate state
  • The 49 days
  • The nature of the 'bardo being'.
  • Rituals of benefit
  • The name-card and the effigy
  • Prayers and readings
  • Bardo guidance
  • Purifying the deceased's karma
  • Severing attachment: chö
  • Food offerings
  • Making merit
  • What if there is no body?
  • Rituals of protection
  • Protection against the deceased
  • Protection against the death-demon
  • The conclusion of the funeral rituals
  • It depends on what you pay
  • Comments on the post-disposal rituals of benefit and protection
  • 8. Remembering the deceased
  • 9. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index.

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