and novices attending the funeral ceremonies. It also enabled the
announcer to call out their names correctly when required.
Monks walked to the nearby villages, or into town, for
alms every morning. The only exception was the day of the cre-
mation itself. On that day, the laity made a special request that
the monks collect food in the immediate vicinity of the monas-
tery. The faithful lined up in groups at various places inside and
outside the monastery, placing offerings into their bowls as the
monks filed past.
The ceremony began on the tenth lunar day of the third
lunar month and ended at midnight on the thirteenth lunar day
with the cremation of Ãcariya Mun’s body. The special casket con-
taining Ãcariya Mun’s body was placed on an ornate funeral pyre,
specially constructed for the cremation. Built on the site where
the uposatha hall presently stands, it was a four-sided wooden
structure decorated with intricately carved motifs that skilled
craftsman had created for the auspicious occasion. It looked very
impressive – worthy of such a distinguished ãcariya. His remains
were later collected on the morning of the fourteenth lunar day.
Unfortunately, I cannot recall the day of the month according to
the international calendar.^14
To the best of my recollection, his body was placed there on
the eleventh lunar day. As they prepared to move his body from
the pavilion where he lay in state, the monks and the laity held
a short service to ask his forgiveness for any past transgressions
they might have committed. The casket containing his body was
then carried solemnly to the funeral pyre, prompting a dramatic
outburst of emotion among his followers as they expressed their
grief once more. Watching his body pass by for the last time, the
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
#1