afterlife
It has been more than 3 weeks since old man has bitten the dust. After so many rituals performed and “treasures” burnt, I wonder if he is really enjoying himself in “afterlife”. If there is even such a thing.
You see, the Chinese (that embraces Taoism) believed in afterlife… and to them, it is equally important to ensure that the dead is being kept content to insure good fortune, wealth and health for the living. (or something like that). Hence, you get all these Taoist priests going around performing rituals and prayers for dead people… for a sum of fee.
And these “fees”, they never come cheap. It had cost my (extended) family thousands, just to send grandpa on a luxurious journey to afterlife … a figure which could literally get me to Bahamas to indulge myself until I reach the heavens (ironically). The services usually come in “packages” - that is… more money for a more thorough and complete prayer… and less money for a rockier ride to the afterlife. (economy class versus business class - they get to the same destination)
And of course, more money spent also means… you get to burn more fancy stuffs for that dead person. In Taoism, burning is akin to a courier service to the underworld from reality. Just flip a lighter, burn the thing that you wanted to send (say, a car… a paper car that is…) and POOF, a beemer materializes before that dead person in afterlife. (I think the guys burnt old man a Mercedes, I’m not quite sure).
How exactly they managed to make sure the correct person gets the correct stuff, I have no idea. But the key point is, the more goodies and hell notes you burn for that dead person, the more loaded he/she will get down there. (and he/she’ll use the money to bribe them hell officers for a better treatment). And if you don’t know that already, one can even burn a servant (paper effigy) for the dead! Isn’t that awesome? If that’s for real, I’d like my kin to burn me some busty playmates for my afterlife ‘needs’ when I die … that’ll be wicked… (who needs a servant?)
During the course of one ritual, I actually threw a question to my cousins, if they’ve ever wondered who started all these idea. You know, prayers and all the burnings. How do they know if it’s really working. It was a question predicated out of my sheer curiosity (I always needed credible proofs to believe anything…) But all I got were chides asking me to “just follow lahh!!”.
So I followed. I was born into a Taoist family… had to respect that as a tradition/culture thing. But deep inside me, I think all these are some ingenious psychological remedies created by our ancient ancestors to relieve the mourners from the overly grief of losing a loved one.
You see, when one loses a family member, it is often that the person would have this pang of remorse - “I should’ve cared more about him/her… I should’ve paid him/her more visits…. I should’ve given him/her more money” etc etc. By making use of these “rituals” and “ceremonies”, the mourners will be made to believe that there’s actually one last thing that they can do to compensate what they have missed … get your old man/old lady a good funeral. Burn him/her more money. More joss sticks. More candles. More hell notes.
But I think, that’s only as good as using money to buy yourself an imaginary peace of mind. When a person’s dead, he/she’s dead. Just like any dead things you see inside the dirt you stand on. There’s no use for one to act pious by mourning louder or by burning more effigies to that dead person.
You won’t get any much a better person by making a funeral a more successful occasion. I fucking loathed those people who thinks that they care … just because they lent that wee bit of inconvenience for a funeral. When old man was sick, there’s only a handful of people visited him at the hospital. But when he dies, you see them appearing out of nowhere looking sad. What the fuck humbugs!
I would say, the expensive ceremony helped these people more than grandpa himself. He’s on no journey to afterlife. He’s dead. But these people needed the ceremony to clear off their regrets and get their lives back together. Like I said, using money to buy themselves an imaginary peace of mind. *shakes head*
Always remember people… you want to love your old man/old lady … do it while he/she’s ALIVE. Not when he/she’s dead.
Hey…did u manage to capture those sort of ‘images’ as claimed by China Press? Read http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/15/nation/12591047&sec=nation for more.
“China Press also carried a photo of a white image captured during the funeral ceremony of a 93-year-old man on Nov 8 in Kuala Lumpur.
The photo was taken during the liu hong ceremony – performed before a coffin is sealed in the hope that the deceased will leave behind good fortune for his descendants.”
All the best in ‘image’ capturing…Seekers (Edisi Michael Ooi)…
I just knew this from my friend…
They (the joss stick shop)have Sony Ericsson W800 on the shelve now. Shall we burn also paper made Digi/Maxis/Celcom comm. towers and customer service center… Just in case no network.
What you said is very true….
Spend more time with those who are still alive and no regrets when they die. I learnt it the hard way. When my grand mother passed away that is. She has passed away for close to 10 years and till today I still have regrets. Nowadays I spend as much time as possible with my mom. I do not want to feel the same when someday she is not around any more.
got wht u mean…really…
but then in taoisism and buddhism prayers to the deceased are said to ease their suffering and to clear their sin…
most just followed blindly… but some do get dreams from the deceased that they required something and need the kin to burn for them…
about burning things… those “kim chuah” ‘gold paper/silver paper” i believ was here for veyr long… while those fridge, tv, handphone, rolex, those are new items introduce by the businessman to gain more…
oh yah…about how the recieved… normally for my grandpa, they will put it into paper luggage bag, seal it with a tag… with his name written on it… so ehhehe.. yah..he will get it…
howsy - Yes! Yes! I did indeed capture a very strange apparition during that period! It’s like… white in colour… goddamn! I thought it was my lense fucking up on me but now that you mentioned it… it begin to make a lot of senses now. Here… I uploaded it in some photosharing server for all to see (warning, disturbing content) - click here
beefstew - Wow… i guess they needed the phone to call their loved ones who’s still alive…
jc - Unfortunately, for majority of people, it’s always like this –> they won’t treasure what they have until it’s gone.
zbjernak - Don’t you think it’s a bit wrong to make people believe that you can clear off their sins by simply pay for a few days’ prayer? This is like… indirectly encouraging people to do something wrong, and then to ask for forgiveness later. Like, hey! what the fuck? I’ll still be a good guy once I cleared off the sins… just pay.
And that makes all the rich guys to become the epitome of greatness. Coz they’re “cleared” of their sins. (yeah right)
Dead ppl will actually receive the “gifts” is a myth, no one can prove it. But the fact is that his hearing nerve would prolong for certain hours. And this is such a painful period for him to hear “the heartrending of blubird ppl”
Usually (but not all) the scale of performing ritual, crying, paper gifts are the vehicle to show “faces” rather then the “true hearty greeting”.
I did provide permanent monthly salary plus medical aids to my parents for over 20 yrs till their departure 2 yrs ago. I’ve called this my most successful thing in my life!
When they died, I smiled, why? cos I felt that I’d done my very best to them before their life not because of huge sum of $, secondly they’d given me a full stop on my duty.
My brother who is a rich “one cent no drop” ppl lastly confessed over his “bo ho ho ciau ko lau lang” and compensated with a big “house” & “Hokkian show” to show to the public. But finally he billed me 5k! What’s the use? What’s the purpose?
hehe, i know wat u mean. dead people are good business. last 2 weeks attended my uncle’s funeral (prayers 1st at nirvana memorial, cremation at PJCC - which i didn’t attend cos was outstation). man… the cheapest package was 21,888 o_O
hmm.. i think i saw paper computers and laptops even…wonder whether they hav broadband down there.. =P
haiyo… all of these stuff done is to ease the living relative’s consience la…
or mebbe it’s like d singaporean movie “money no enough” a few yrs back… sometimes it’s to ‘cho kuan’ nia la…scared later ppl talk behind ur back n say ur not fillial pulak…
i got one question for the buddhism thing… is there a hell or heaven in buddhism? since they believe in reincarnation, then when suppose dead people spend their time in hell/heaven? let say there is hell/heaven and they must spend for few days first in hell/heaven before got selected to be reincarnated, then how come some are not lucky enough to be place in bad family (for example, baby kena deserted inside toilet bowl) or born with cacat anggota (or maybe worst, cannot even breath without using a special machine)? the hell thing suppose to clean for your sin first (of course by punishing you kow kow)!!! my friend said the bad things that can happen to you is not totally based on karma, some are targeted randomly.
btw, can you can cop mohor besar to a dead people ah??? then the guy can become a king in hell or heaven!
put3put4 - Well, at least that makes you understand what kind of person your brother is. And you get to live your life without any qualms… as a happier person. Cheers …man.
olivia - Yeah, good business indeed. My grandpa’s niche is approx a couple square foot in size, and that costs 20 over grands. That’s wayyyyyyy more expensive than those condo’s for the rich and famous. (figure this, for that price rate, a 1200 sq ft apartment would have cost not less than 24 million bucks!)
caryn - I wonder if they’ve actually made a paper dildo for the dead before… hmmmm
jusoh - I don’t know about the hell thing in Buddhism. I’m not a religious guy… ahaks. Perhaps you can google for it.
erm… don’t think so… who would buy that? =P
i think that’s the job for d paper maids.. to help release sexual tension haha.. summore can cook n clean… not a bad deal hehehe…
hey… waitamin… wat about d gals?!??!! no fair?! O.o
We human are really master of universe. The hell notes are printed, approved and circulated by us. We control the finance and economy of the HELL. How great we are!
If that “transburning” is possible. We don’t use email already, better than teleporting.
will there be traffic jams in hell?
will there be air polution?
will there be toll?
toll…. no wonder Mr. Aiyoyo lives happily ever after … the hell doesn’t allow him to enter…
or else KNN, he puts up tolls in hell ma charm?
my relativies capture a ghost 1 time it appers in negatives also. she take that photo during trip to nirvana memorial park! sacery ah? if you closely at that pictures it can *wink* true cross my heart. but that picture gives to buddha temple.
if you say ‘there will recieve any gift at after life i say is true! is true
why? my grandma from my mom always gives to my mother dream whenever it got problem. it usually wants a passport when ,it wants go to singapore.
this story true i don’t make it, is up to you.
Right on Michael. Especially the last sentence. Live NOW. Love NOW. Hate… I’m drifting off again. I am wary of religion in general but even more so when it costs you money!
To quote lyrics from Metallica’s Lepher Messiah:
“Send me money, send me green
Heaven you will meet
Make a contribution
and you’ll get a better seat”
Amen and peace out.
caryn - The paper maids aren’t just female lah. There’s a male and a female one… So, you wanna keep your loved one happy, burn her a Negro servant… ahaks. Pun intended.
allenext - Weird isn’t it? After die also must worry about your financial well-being… kanneh…
Lichard - Then we’ll burn a few paper Indons to beat him up down there…
hokkienlang - Eh, why would you need a passport to travel in afterlife? They have different governments down there meh? This is starting to make less sense…
andre - And that green’s their medium to go to heaven… heheheh. It’s on Earth all these while…
I dunno about the servant thing, but … apparently you burn the paper stuffs is to help lessen the years they have to wait in hell before reincarnating. The bigger and more the sin, the longer the wait, and more punishment. To Jusoh, the reincaranation thing is how much the dead person repents. Apparently there’s eighteen stages or something … and got different punishments in different stages. I think. =) There’s no proof or anything la (duh) however an old chinese emperor (can’t remember which) was paid a visit by a bodhisvatta (dunno how to spell) and told him that he would have to tour the underworld. The emperor agreed, and the whole country was in chaos cos the emperor was like in a coma for three days, but his soul was in the underworld. He came back after 3 days, and wrote down what he saw and … well. haha..
maikel may be that true .
btw it comes in dreams to favorites child or grandchild only. i hope you are not in grand’s lidt.