Generally, Buddhist teaching views life and death as a continuum, believing that consciousness (the spirit) continues after death and may be reborn. Death can be an opportunity for liberation from the cycle of life, death and rebirth.
“For most Buddhists, the belief about where you go when you die is not that you go somewhere else, but rather that you are reborn as something and someone completely different. The idea of rebirth has been around for a very long time, since pre-Buddhist times.
Do Buddhists Bury the Dead? Buddhists typically favor cremation because they believe it is an important way to release the soul from the physical form. Buddha himself was cremated, so his followers often follow his lead. But burial with embalming is allowed, too.
These eight states - earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into consciousness, consciousness into luminance, luminance into radiance, radiance into imminence, imminence into transparency and then reversed -- transparency to imminence, imminence to radiance, radiance to luminance, luminance to ...
In many Buddhist traditions, 49 days is the total mourning period, with prayers conducted every 7 days, across 7 weeks. These Buddhists believe that rebirth takes place within 49 days after death. So these prayers are conducted to facilitate this journey of the deceased into the afterlife.
In many traditions, the 40 days after the death of a loved one are vital. The souls of loved ones are currently undergoing the biggest transition from Earthly life to the afterlife. Families and friends use their customs and practices to aid the deceased during this transition.
Buddhist services, from the 7th day to the 49th day
Cremation is popular because it is thought to free the soul from the body, but it is typically delayed until the seventh day after death, as Buddhists believe that once cremation happens and the body is no longer present, the spirit is cut off from our world entirely.
During his late twenties, Siddhartha is said to have encountered "four signs" which altered his life forever. These signs were: an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk or a yogin (i.e. yoga or yogin refer to a man who pursues and/or teaches various religious practices).
Essentially, maranasati meditation consists of a series of Buddhist mindfulness of death practices, ranging from contemplation of the ever-present potential for death at any moment, to deeper contemplations, to the eventual breakdown of the body during the death process.
Although cremation is the most common choice among Buddhists, burial is also permissible. Individual traditions or sects do have specific funeral practices that practitioners usually follow but unlike Christianity, none of these would have any impact on the soul or eternal destiny of the practitioner.
According to Buddhist beliefs, death is an escape from one life and the beginning of a new life. Thus, white encompasses this hope for the departed to have been pure in heart, and to move on to their next life in peace.
The sukhavati ceremony is traditionally performed shortly after a person's death. In this ceremony, their loved ones, friends, and fellow practitioners, guided by a Buddhist teacher, pray they will be reborn in Sukhavati, the Western Paradise or Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Most Buddhist traditions and texts reject the premise of a permanent, unchanging atman (self, soul). However, some Buddhist schools, sutras and tantras present the notion of an atman or permanent "Self", although mostly referring to an Absolute self and not a personal self.
Buddhists and End-of-Life Care
Since Buddhists believe death is the beginning of the new (reincarnated) life, rituals at the deathbed promote a favorable rebirth. If possible, a Buddhist monk or nun should be present. The chaplain may be able to find one. Family and friends may repeat chants to calm the patient's mind.
All unenlightened beings are in a perpetual cycle of life death and rebirth known as saṃsāra.
In Buddhism, the main problem of existence is dukkha, which means “suffering” or “unsatisfactoriness,” and all the Buddha's teachings aim at finding an end to dukkha.
The Three Universal Truths: 1. Everything is impermanent and changing 2. Impermanence leads to suffering, making life imperfect 3. The self is not personal and unchanging.
Buddhists believe in the cycle of samsara , which is the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. This means that people will experience suffering many times over. All of the things a person goes through in life cause suffering and they cannot do anything about it. Instead, they have to accept that it is there.
Within Buddhism there are five or six possible forms that rebirth can take. These are from the highest to the lowest: gods, demi-gods, human, animal, hungry ghost and hell creature.
At a traditional Buddhist funeral, the family wears white or cover themselves using a white cloth. Mourners should wear simple, black or dark clothing. Wearing expensive or flashy clothing/jewellery is seen as a display of wealth and not in keeping with Buddhist funeral etiquette.
While the family will often be dressed in white, mourners are asked to wear dark clothing. Red is frowned upon, for both dress and flowers as the colour represents happiness and joy in Buddhism.
Historically, funerals had to take place after just a matter of days, because of decomposition. With today's preservation methods, families have a bit more time to prepare and get affairs in order. This helps families make arrangements, and to pick a day to hold the funeral.