What do you think of sky burial?

[LittleLambofJesus]

have you got anything to say, Sphinx, or are you just going to post pretty images?.

Have you seen his tent pictures yet

http://www.christianforums.com/t7520097/
Would You Ever Consider Living In A Tent On A Permanent Basis?

 

[wannabeadesigirl]

What if in Tibet this IS the respectful way of disposing a body? Personally I think it's brilliant. I mean if you don't have the resources to bury a body, then use the things you have. In Tibet you get predatory birds and animals on top of very rocky mountains. They deal with dead bodies the best way they can.

 

[heron]

US regulations, good point.

What if in Tibet this IS the respectful way of disposing a body? Personally I think it's brilliant. I mean if you don't have the resources to bury a body, then use the things you have.

It sounds like intentions are for honoring the dead, by the name and the selected locations. Honor is what most people are looking for.

Some cultures send bodies floating out on the water... everyone knows the fish and birds will eventually get them, and the process will end up cleaner than allowing decay.

I know people who shiver at the thought of cremation burning. And the thought of ceremonial wrapping like New Testament times can seem stifling. (Grave cloths for Lazarus and Jesus.) So maybe it's best to find out the person's wishes before they die.

I'm sure a mainstream American mother would not want to watch her son being eaten by birds, but in principle it seems fine.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

I think buddhism is a false religion and that only those who trust Christ as savior will be saved from the outpouring of the wrath of God in hell. So buddhists need Christ and should be evangelized.

What a very warm and nice view you hold!

Still, the question was not whether you agree with Buddhism, but whether you are OK with sky-burials, which, whilts being used in a Buddhist country, do not neccessarily have to be a Buddhist tradition (infact Zoroastrians do it and I would think that some Christians from similar cultures did, or do, too).

However, I think God can do anything he needs to a body and a sky burial will not effect the future resurrection. Nor will any other means of bodily destruction.

In the context of your religion, I agree.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

It just doesn't seem a respectful or nice way to go. For myself I would like to be buried in a simple wooden box facing east and dressed in a simple suit and wait for the resurrection.

Ah, but you forget that the Tibetans would not feel slighted if they were ''buried'' like that. I mean, a Tibetan could say that being shut-off in a box is disresepcting the body and say that would feel disrespected if they had that form of burial. A Zoroastrian would feel the same.

You can only disrespect people if your act is disrespectful in their culture. To a Tibetan it is more respectful to let the body go back to nature by becoming food for creatures, and for the soul to fly off free.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

But most cultures consider it respectful to treat a loved one's body with honor..

Ah, but in Tibetan and traditional Iranian (Zoroastrian culture) wouldn't they believe that to honour the body, you have to leave in the open air so the soul can be free?

It is all well and good saying that it is respectful, and an honour, to put a body in a box and bury it, but people from other cultures (such as Tibetan), would feel greatly dishonoured if you did that to them.

You do not realize that Tibetans, when they do that, are respecting and not disrespecting their loved ones.

 

[Lady Bug]

I think it's kind of less scary than wondering what the corpse would look and smell like if you opened the coffin twenty years later.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

I think it's kind of less scary than wondering what the corpse would look and smell like if you opened the coffin twenty years later.

That is a good point. I didn't consider that, either.

 

[BL2KTN]

I would rather my body be cremated wearing a hawaiian shirt, sun tan lotion in the right hand, an inflatable parrot on the left shoulder, and the song "It's Getting Hot in Here" playing on a loud speaker.

But that's just me.

BL

 

[wannabeadesigirl]

Me? Cremate me, scatter the ashes in a pretty place (at home in Idaho, or in India), and then hold a party. Literally, get Guinness, order some rousing Irish music, and have at it.
Or drag my body to a mountain in Tibet, drop me off, and then have the party. Either way my body is disposed of don't forget the party at the end.

 

[plmarquette]

Unsafe, unsound, disrespectful, unsanitary, and unattractive....

Are our remains just so much dead meat to be disposed of and recycled?
Are our remains to be reunited with our renewed spirits later...
Is it a sign of respect to bury, honor, and remember those who have passed...
Is it a good thing to bury those who have died of a communicable disease, that others might not be exposed to and or contract the same thing?

 

[Celticflower]

Is it a sign of respect to bury, honor, and remember those who have passed...

Wouldn't that be dependent upon the culture? What one sees as repectful another might view as disrespectful.

Is it a good thing to bury those who have died of a communicable disease, that others might not be exposed to and or contract the same thing?

The same could be accomplished by cremation or burial at sea.

And the whole being reunited with our earthly remains - if you are buried and enough time passes you are just going to be dust. If the casket was biodegradable you will have long since seeped into the soil and been washed away. Either way - you need a new body.