deathprovide the proper antidote to the child’s condition, although the mother
can only accept a mustard seed from a household in which no one has
ever died. After searching many houses, she discovers that not a single
household can be found that has never experienced the death of a family
member. This lesson enables her to recognize the truth that death is inev-
itable. Within Buddhist lore, the demonic Māra (derived from the verb to
die) functions as a symbol of death and the impermanency of everything
in the world. Over the centuries, Buddhist monks have meditated on
death by proceeding to a cremation ground or burial area to mediate on
the decaying bodies, bones, and ashes of corpses, and thus have learnt
about the brevity of life, its uncertainty, and its impermanence and the
certainty of death.
According to the Daoist text, the Zhuangzi, life and death are two
aspects of the same reality, which implies that the change from one to
another is as natural as the succession of day and night. Since death is
natural, humans should not fear or desire it, but they should accept it as
one’s destiny. Overall, death is merely an integral part of a vast cosmic
process of change.
In virtually all cultures, death is handled by ritual procedures mani-
fested as rites of passage: separation, transition, and incorporation. Rites
of separation entail the separation of the living from the death. Physical
items of separation include the grave, coffin, or cemetery, while purifica-
tion procedures render the deceased ready for burial or cremation. Among
the African Dinka, a dead male is stripped of his decorations and orna-
ments, his head is shaved and his body washed and anointed with oil. The
body is then placed on its side in the grave with its head facing west, and
buried by people facing away from the grave and pushing dirt backwards
into the grave. The mourners are purified by the burning smoke of straw
taken from the home of the deceased blowing over them. The mourners
are then sprinkled by the remains of a sacrificed ram.
The rites of transition involve the transition of the living, such as a
wife to widow; and it entails the transition of the death to the other world.
Within the Ngaju religion, the transition is symbolized by a coffin shaped
like a boat for the journey to the village of the dead. The dead go either
to the upper world where they change into mythical hawks or to the
underworld where they change into mythical water snakes.
The rites of incorporation are twofold: incorporation of the living with
society and incorporation of the deceased into the other world. The first
type of incorporation involves rites that lift all regulations and prohibitions
associated with mourning. A common feature is a meal shared with others
after the funeral or at a commemorative celebration. In the Tibetan culture,
for instance, the soul of the deceased is given instruction by a Buddhist