According to one website, on the 49th day, the spirit of the deceased body will cross 100 dieties, and more precisely, "58 wrathful and 42 peaceful deities that one will encounter" (http://www.rimecenter.org/dharma.cfm?dharmaID=16).
But anyways, the experience. Mind blowing. I have never attended a funeral or funeral ceremony, but I don't imagine most, if any, of the Western-style funerals to last 5 hours, complete with chanting, dozens of 절s, or a deep bow that after the 20th one starts hurting one's knees. My knees hurt, I was periodically numbed from the waist down, and my back hurt from sitting and standing and sitting so much, but I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything.
Imagine. A New Year's parade, but for a deceased soul about to confront a hundred deities. The colors were spectacular and festive, the chanting was soothing, and drums and percussion were involved. The high monk reminded us to think of his death as a passing, and that we must all learn to forgive the mistakes he made in his past life. The monk's message matched the ceremony which matched the decorations which matched everything.
And the weather! Cloudy, slightly ominous through the morning, until the high monk started speaking. And then, rain. Monsoon rain that seemed to manifest how I felt about my uncle's death, the uncle my dad requested that I go see this summer in Korea when he died while I was on the plane to this place. It's difficult to describe all the events that happened this morning, but in manifesting my emotions, the rain just... washed away any regrets, any burdens of sadness that I had about the whole situation. After the ceremony, a monk came up to me because he knew I was a 교포, or an overseas Korean. He asked that I come back for tea with the buddhists at the temple. Maybe I will. Maybe the monsoon faucet will be on and it will wash whatever remnants of teenage angst I may have in me.
After all, I am 20 here, not 19.
No comments:
Post a Comment