Buddhist funeral rituals and traditional ceremonies are replete with religious significance for Buddhists. The rituals performed during the Buddhist funeral are believed to set the person’s soul free from the chains of life and enable it to find a new and better life after death where it gets closer to Moksha.
Buddhist monks are invited to carry out the rites and rituals during a Buddhist funeral, which typically ends with cremation. The underlying positive energies are released from the soul by the chanting of the correct sutras by Buddhist monks who read from the holy scriptures. While the chanting continues, the deceased is made ready for the funeral service and for friends and relatives to pay last respects, so that there is no decomposition even if the cremation is delayed. Once the body is bathed, it is placed along with candles, flowers and incense in a coffin along with a photograph of the deceased person.
When the final rituals are deferred to allow distant relatives to arrive for paying their last respects to the deceased, monks visit the house daily to read and chant from the Buddhist religious scripture Abhidharma.
On funeral day, monks perform the last rites and the chief monk voices his condolences to the family and utters words of consolation to them along with tribute to the dead person recounting his life. Other rituals like wrapping the casket with a white cloth during the religious invocation and Pansakula, a ritual of delivering virtues and blessings to the departed soul are also carried out.
Just before cremation, a family member or the nearest kin is requested to make a short speech about the deceased person. A light meal for all the visitors is organized after the Buddhist funeral ceremony and the cremation is done.
Although some variations in traditions can be seen, these are the general ritualistic procedures carried out during funeral ceremonies by followers in countries like Tibet, Thailand and China, where a large number of Buddhists live.
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