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Tibetan Sky Burial

In this burial ritual, corpses are dissected and fed to birds of prey. Called jhator, this "is considered an act of generosity: the deceased and his/her surviving relatives are providing food to sustain living beings."

Generosity and compassion for all beings are important virtues or paramita in Buddhism. Although some observers have suggested that jhator is also meant to unite the deceased person with the sky or sacred realm, this does not seem consistent with most of the knowledgeable commentary and eyewitness reports, which indicate that Tibetans believe that at this point life has completely left the body and the body is simply meat.

[Wikipedia Link] [Eyewitness Account by Pamela Logan]

jon posted this at 2:44 PM
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