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VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED – Tibetian Burial. Not for weak of heart (61 Photos)

September 15th, 2009 Mini Me Leave a comment Go to comments
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Update: Seems like some of you have actually attended this event. Please leave your comments below this post if you have.

tibet burial eaten by vultures 1


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Want more? part 2 here
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED – Tibetian Burial Part 2 (11 Photos & 1 Video)

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  1. Tauni
    September 17th, 2009 at 13:45 | #1

    I saw this done when I was in Tibet. It was done with monks on a hillside on an alter. It is a very fond memory of mine. But, seeing those pictures turned my stomach. Although my experience was much the same with the body (the body I saw was cut into pieces and fed to the vultures), being there in the moment with the monks chanting and singing in the background, made it seem more sacred. Those pictures don’t do the ceremony any justice. It just looks barbaric when really it is quite special.

  2. verycheeky
    September 18th, 2009 at 01:04 | #2

    BIRD BRAINS! ► Hebrews 9:27 Indeed, just as people are appointed to DIE ONCE and after that to be judged…

  3. A Ton
    September 18th, 2009 at 15:44 | #3

    I stayed with a volunteer friend in Tibet a few years back and was invited to attend a “funeral” then accompany the body to watch this process. At first I thought my host was joking about picking up the village butcher on the way there, but it hindsight, it makes sense that someone with those skills would double as the local mortician. I also recall the birds behaved well while the butcher was doing his work.

    The area I went to was more of a walled enclosure, and the process was as tauni relates- dignified, respectful and at the conclusion, leaves a feeling of peace as the body is completely returned to its original base state. Even the bones were ground to a paste, then passed on.

  4. Sub
    September 19th, 2009 at 00:29 | #4

    Why is the dead body tied up???

  5. kubbur
    September 19th, 2009 at 04:02 | #5

    so the body wont be carried away

  6. Mini Me
    September 19th, 2009 at 05:25 | #6

    So that you wouldn’t see the limbs flapping around when you transport them.

  7. September 19th, 2009 at 11:50 | #7

    Sick, disgusting, horrific, and uncivilized! Turns the stomach should be banned.

  8. Mini Me
    September 19th, 2009 at 23:42 | #8

    Well, it is an ancient tradition…

  9. eterna2
    September 22nd, 2009 at 01:03 | #9

    @MS

    How so? It is just cultural differences. The body is just a shell. And to them, it is their form of returning their mortal shell back to the natural world.

    How is it different from burial where the worms and bacteria break down the body. Or cremation where the fire consumes the body?

  10. RedBeard
    September 25th, 2009 at 00:33 | #10

    @MS
    yes, that’s exactly how I feel about the western (or is it just USA) tradition of pumping a dead body full of poison preservatives then dumping them in a concrete box. The Tibetan practice seems far more natural to me, far less grotesque.

  11. SomeGuy
    September 28th, 2009 at 11:24 | #11

    @RedBeard
    I believe you are referring to embalming. This was practised in ancient Egypt. It is useful. For example, there are times when corpses need to excavated for a second autopsy. Perhaps if new evidence surfaces suggesting foul-play.

    As for concrete box, I think you will find caskets are traditionally made out of pine. A lot now are made out of cheaper timbers for price sake. A person being buried in concrete is an odd and rare occurrence. In fact, I can only think of one case where this was done. That was in the case of a serial killer who mutilated his victims wanting his corpse to be buried in concrete so people can not dig him up and mutilate his corpse.

  12. October 14th, 2009 at 23:02 | #12

    No Wonder we have BIRDS FLU.They feed them with human flesh!!

  13. ayu
    October 15th, 2009 at 23:46 | #13

    i’m gonna throw up…i’m dizzy
    they dont have pity for those body
    oh god!its terrible.. they torturing the body..
    its just my opinion,but still,i dont have the right to condemn their tradision

  14. Slasherck
    October 18th, 2009 at 04:27 | #14

    Does anybody have any idea how long this great process took? The vultures did a good job.

  15. intruder
    October 18th, 2009 at 09:15 | #15

    damn! well, its a tradition.. mmmmmmmm
    it takes only 45 minutes to 1 hour…
    pretty good job for the vultures…

  16. Peter
    November 3rd, 2009 at 15:06 | #16

    This is barbaric! So much for human dignity, To be stripped of the flesh, then the bones pulverized to be fed to vultures is a rather ignoble end. This is the type of thing I would expect during medieval torture when someone was executed.

  17. Uncle B
    November 10th, 2009 at 13:37 | #17

    much better to rot in a lead sealed tomb in your own bacterial and stomach acids, or face the flames of the crematoria? This is symbolic and returns to nature what is hers, not so sickening as for those on the shores of the Ganges, half burnt fed to the fish of that river, where some still bathe. Only the soul knows for certain the differences, and we are not hearing from the soul yet!

  18. Le Dude
    November 19th, 2009 at 14:16 | #18

    I got to go with Tauni (first comment) here. I witnessed it fall 2007 in Litang (Sichuan), and while witnessing it was no picnic (no pun intended), it was actually less horrific than these pics – still good somebody documents this for posterity though. Pics freeze the moment, while the crisp high-altitude cool morning air, the silence, the birds hovering over, the priests/cutter’s prayer, then silent chants and occasional throwaway remarks as he cuts with speed and dexterity… it’s quite different, and while sickening, not at all offensive. By the way I read that it’s not really about “returning the person to nature”, because according to buddhism the person is at that moment already gone from the body. Instead, the idea is to give a gift to nature/the birds. And true, the vultures were well-fed. In fact, they and we were “lucky”, as that morning saw two consecutive sky burials. We skipped breakfast.

  19. Le Dude
    November 19th, 2009 at 14:18 | #19

    And by the way, they do bury people in concrete in the west, specifically in countries where the soil is often too rocky. In several parts of the mediterranean they build only family mausoleums with niches in which the coffins are put. Bit gruesome to think what’s inside. I mean, it never ever leaves that concrete box.

  20. Le Dude
    November 19th, 2009 at 14:20 | #20

    Mini Me, where and when did you witness it?

  21. Mini Me
    November 24th, 2009 at 20:23 | #21

    Nah, I haven’t got the fortune to witness it real time. though I would like to. I find the idea really beautiful, though I’m not sure if I can handle the image of it.

  22. Le Dude
    November 26th, 2009 at 07:27 | #22

    Where did you get the pics then? It is far less gruesome in reality, trust me on it. and you gat vast open space around, instead of a computer screen frame.

  23. Dc
    January 6th, 2010 at 13:53 | #23

    Tibet is above the timberline and so there is very little wood available for a cremation. Also there is little topsoil as most of the ground is frozen or just rock.

    Tibet is predominately a Buddhist society. One Buddhist practice is generosity. The consciousness of the dead person is no longer in the body and has moved on to its next incarnation. The body is seen as an empty shell and the Skyburial as the dead person’s last act of generosity.

  24. perraco
    January 13th, 2010 at 09:18 | #24

    me supongo,qué el del cuchillo se hará un caldito con los huesos

  25. Joe_T
    January 13th, 2010 at 12:19 | #25

    HAHA Perraco! Me hicistes llorar con tu comentario

  26. wico
    January 14th, 2010 at 15:56 | #26

    mierda eso es inhumano que hizo esa persona para que le hagan eso Dios.

  27. nico
    January 18th, 2010 at 03:03 | #27

    @wico
    morite ignorante chupa sirio

  28. Mike
    January 18th, 2010 at 12:04 | #28

    @SomeGuy
    Actually, in many parts of the USA, the wooden coffins are lowered into concrete vaults that are placed into the ground prior to the burial.

  29. January 24th, 2010 at 20:52 | #29

    @wico
    Después de morir los budistas tibetanos devuelven su cuerpo a la naturaleza. Me parece mucho más inteligente, generoso y ecológico que quemarlo o dejarlo podrirse.

  30. Libero
    January 25th, 2010 at 02:45 | #30

    @MS
    “There’s something I don’t understand, happening consensually between people I’ve never met who literally live on the opposite side of the globe from me. I demand that someone should ban it!”

  31. Nathan
    January 26th, 2010 at 05:42 | #31

    Ohh yea, being buried in a box that spent your family 50k (land, coffin, service, headstone) is way more noble. Nothing better then getting in debt after a loved one dies.

    The only noble thing to do with ones body is to give it to science, to train doctors or to use your organs to keep someone alive.

  32. Fabricio
    February 1st, 2010 at 13:29 | #32

    MS :
    Sick, disgusting, horrific, and uncivilized! Turns the stomach should be banned.

    Kill people with bombs is uncivilized.
    Kill the whole planet for money is uncivilized.

  33. Sandra Sanchez
    February 17th, 2010 at 14:25 | #33

    Oh my God!! I can’t belive real!! What a horrible thing!! What do they do it?? Somebody knows it? If so, please, tell me!! A human being most have a grave or a place where his/her people can pray for him/her… This so nasty!!

  34. Sandra Sanchez
    February 17th, 2010 at 14:28 | #34

    Can’t believe it’s real!! Why do they do it??

  35. kendra
    February 20th, 2010 at 21:45 | #35

    Is the picture real o.0
    I can’t believe it!!!
    Why do the man want to do that?
    Is it because of their religion?
    Do they still do it today?
    *Please do reply me at kendra_siah@yahoo.com.sg
    Thanks

  36. Mini Me
    February 20th, 2010 at 23:21 | #36

    yeap, definitely real.

    and yeap, bcos of their religion & tradition.
    something like back to nature they return, or something. :)

  37. Agi
    March 7th, 2010 at 11:00 | #37

    Wow that was something else. We were talking about sky burials in my Death and Dying class a few weeks ago and this is not what I pictured at all. I’ll have to send this link to my Prof.

  1. September 16th, 2009 at 03:27 | #1
  2. September 19th, 2009 at 23:36 | #2
  3. January 13th, 2010 at 11:11 | #3
  4. January 26th, 2010 at 10:13 | #4
  5. January 26th, 2010 at 23:39 | #5