Tibetan Buddhism : DEath
Death in Tibet is far different from then melancholy view of dying as a plunge into nothingness or an endless, peaceful slumber. Death in Tibetan culture, is a serious journey for the Tibetan Budhhist soul.
What comes after death? For those who participate in the sky burial, their souls are taken to the next stage of reincarnation. If they have lived a moral and ethical life, karma will bestow an appropriate stage for them to live on in until they reach enlightenment - nirvana. In Tibetan buddhism, it is believed that there are six realms in which we can go through until we reach enlightenment. The wheel illustrates the six ways in which desire shackles us to the vicious circle of karma and samsara and the six realms through which every life passes in an endless chain of death and rebirth. These six segments include three upper realms:
And three lower ones:
Buddhists believe that a person remains bound to this chain until, through Buddha's noble eightfold path to enlightenment, he or she achieves Nirvana and rises above the wheel to nothingness. |