Real Life experiences
Below is the real life experience of an individual who witnessed the sky burial first hand
Link to more responses used: http://www.ciolek.com/wwwvlpages/tibpages/tib-burial.html
Link to below response: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/skyburial.htm
H-ASIA
Tibetan Buddhist "sky burial"
October 11, 1999
Sky Burial - A Secret Solemn Sacred Burial Ritual
I was witness to a sky burial on the outskirts of Lhasa, where we were visiting in the summer 1986 after teaching for a year in central China. We had heard of the sky burials but were informed that witnessing the sky burial had been banned / closed / off limits to foreigners for some time. After a week one of our western friends there got word that there had been a quiet semi-official shift in policy - and that a few of us would be able to witness this ritual. This brief window opened up for about a half-a-dozen of us and we felt quite honored.
We had to get up at about 4:00AM and bike as a group quite a way from the center of town. Then we had to walk quite a distance across the high desert, and then climb up to the top of a rocky ledge overlooking the relatively flat burial rock about 40-50 feet away.
One of the Tibetans walked around us bathing us in incense, and speaking in simple Chinese making sure we understood the protocol, manners, and 'no pictures.'
There were a few dead bodies wrapped in cloth. We sat huddled on the ledge in the morning chill air just as the dawn was breaking. I wondered what mystery had made this profound experience possible and what had drawn these people who had just recently met in Lhasa together.
The bodies are not simply exposed but are calmly cut up (butchered). The flesh is tossed to an area for the birds, and the birds are "called" with a special sound or noise. It probably took about 15-20 minutes for the birds to come - a few dozen in all vying for the spoils. The bones were hacked or broken into smaller pieces and tossed aside to where the vultures would swoop down and peck at the flesh or make off with the meat and bone. The affair was not a harried one but a rather solemn and methodical process that must have lasted for a little over an hour.
When it was over I felt a sense of deep connection to the rhythm of life and to the universe. I reflected on the fact that these bodies had not suffered the indignity of worms and maggots. This was a haunting experience that in some ways is still fresh in my mind. I am almost reluctant to talk about it but I have decided to share this in the hope that it might be a helpful and useful contribution to this discussion.
Link to more responses used: http://www.ciolek.com/wwwvlpages/tibpages/tib-burial.html
Link to below response: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/skyburial.htm
H-ASIA
Tibetan Buddhist "sky burial"
October 11, 1999
Sky Burial - A Secret Solemn Sacred Burial Ritual
I was witness to a sky burial on the outskirts of Lhasa, where we were visiting in the summer 1986 after teaching for a year in central China. We had heard of the sky burials but were informed that witnessing the sky burial had been banned / closed / off limits to foreigners for some time. After a week one of our western friends there got word that there had been a quiet semi-official shift in policy - and that a few of us would be able to witness this ritual. This brief window opened up for about a half-a-dozen of us and we felt quite honored.
We had to get up at about 4:00AM and bike as a group quite a way from the center of town. Then we had to walk quite a distance across the high desert, and then climb up to the top of a rocky ledge overlooking the relatively flat burial rock about 40-50 feet away.
One of the Tibetans walked around us bathing us in incense, and speaking in simple Chinese making sure we understood the protocol, manners, and 'no pictures.'
There were a few dead bodies wrapped in cloth. We sat huddled on the ledge in the morning chill air just as the dawn was breaking. I wondered what mystery had made this profound experience possible and what had drawn these people who had just recently met in Lhasa together.
The bodies are not simply exposed but are calmly cut up (butchered). The flesh is tossed to an area for the birds, and the birds are "called" with a special sound or noise. It probably took about 15-20 minutes for the birds to come - a few dozen in all vying for the spoils. The bones were hacked or broken into smaller pieces and tossed aside to where the vultures would swoop down and peck at the flesh or make off with the meat and bone. The affair was not a harried one but a rather solemn and methodical process that must have lasted for a little over an hour.
When it was over I felt a sense of deep connection to the rhythm of life and to the universe. I reflected on the fact that these bodies had not suffered the indignity of worms and maggots. This was a haunting experience that in some ways is still fresh in my mind. I am almost reluctant to talk about it but I have decided to share this in the hope that it might be a helpful and useful contribution to this discussion.