“Are we going to be here forever?” Chris asked.
No sooner had Chris made this comment that the flexi-bubble started moving again. It went up first and then towards the west. This time we wondered whether it was going to our home town as it was heading in that direction. It gathered speed. We couldn’t gauge the speed as we were in a situation similar to an airplane flying at very high altitude. It appeared we were almost still, but definitely we were moving at very high speed. The landmarks we passed confirmed that we weren’t wrong. When the flexi-bubble came to a halt I could see Dan’s house, Chris’s house and my apartment from that spot. All three places had more parked cars than usual and the reason was obvious to us.
After a brief pause the flexi-bubble started moving again. It didn’t take much time for us to understand where it was heading. It was another burial ground. The yellow robes of three Buddhist monks we saw at a distance indicated it was Dan’s funeral arrangement. They were seated on a row of chairs covered with white cloths at the center of the gathering. We were surprised at how quickly Dan’s body was brought back to our home town.
Dan recognized all his relatives and friends. His mother was sobbing uncontrollably. All of us gathered around Dan to show our support. His coffin was placed almost perpendicular to the rows of chairs where the Buddhist monks were seated. The people in front of the monks were seated on the carpet laid on the concrete surface. All the others were standing behind them listening to what the monks were chanting. Dan’s immediate relatives took part in formal Buddhist rituals. A little later the Buddhist monks left the scene. Dan’s body was then carried by relatives and friends to the crematorium about 50 feet away. The coffin was taken around the crematorium three times before it was placed on the special platform. A person who looked like the crematorium operator took over the coffin from there. By pressing a button he made Dan’s coffin move into the incinerator. Dan’s uncle ignited the burning system by pressing a button. We saw the smoke coming out of the chimney. Dan was silent. We patted Dan to show our solidarity.
One by one the members of the gathering at the funeral, left. Dan’s eyes were on his mother. She was helped by his uncle on her way back to the parking lot. The smoke from the chimney was thinning out to the atmosphere.
“My body must have turned into ashes by now,” Dan said breaking the silence and detaching us from the long line of events we were watching.
“That’s life. It’s strange that we see our own funerals,” I said.
“Are you OK?” Aini asked Dan. “Yes, thank you.”
Suddenly the smoke coming from the chimney stopped. At the same time the flexi-bubble started moving up and then towards the north. It stopped over Chris’s house. I could see my apartment from that spot. It was almost dark. We didn’t have a clue what time it was. Just as on the previous night we had sufficient light. The moon was fuller than on the previous night. We knew it was going to be another long night for us if the flexi-bubble’s schedule was going to show the funerals of Chris’s and mine on the next day. My psychic reading on the flexi-bubble’s schedule was based on experience we had so far. However, who knows what tomorrow will bring forth?
At times I wondered whether the flexi-bubble was remotely operated by another unforeseen person or power. “If there is such a possibility, who could be that person or the power?” I would definitely venerate that person or power, as our destiny now solely depended on whoever person or power, was in charge.
Though physical tiredness wasn’t applicable to us, we were bored. When I wanted to make small talk to kill time, I saw Aini was trying to ask something of Dan.
“Dan, can you explain some of the rituals that were performed at your funeral?”
“Yes sure Aini! One common practice is people wear white clothes. The Buddhist monks generally give a sermon emphasizing the non-permanent nature of our life. The purpose of it is to console those who are grieving to come to terms with life. At the end you saw my mother donating a gift to the monks. That was to earn good merit for the departed. Buddhists have a tradition of transferring the good merits to the dead sprit to have a good rebirth. People think it would be good to transfer merit in case the deceased is in an unpleasant afterlife situation. I don’t buy this idea, but these are the psychotherapeutic treatments that the psyches of the grieving require, more than the deceased. Probably the Buddha promoted these ideas for this reason. Then after seven days they will have an alms giving, in other words offer food to the monks. Family members and friends join these events. This will be repeated after three months. Some Buddhists make it an annual event. All for the same reason of transferring merit,” Dan said.
“Wasn’t the gift given to the monks a white cloth?” I asked.
“You are right. The rationale behind this is symbolic and the idea was to make sure if the dead person was born naked in a bad realm, the offering would help him to cover himself. Bit of a fancy idea, but imagine if I was naked here among all of you?” Dan said. We all laughed.
“I saw all your relatives jointly filling a bowl of water from a teapot. What was that, Dan?” Aini asked.
“The water in the teapot represents the collective merits of the partakers of the gathering. The bowl represents the departed one. So, pouring water into the bowl until it overflows is a symbolic gesture of transferring the merit to the departed-one by the others, as an act of collective kindness. There is a philosophical meaning to it too; I cannot remember what it is,” Dan said.
“I know Buddhism is considered more a philosophy than a religion. It looks like you have studied it a lot,” Chris commented.
“Yes, to some extent,” Dan replied.
“Out of curiosity, what is enlightenment in Buddhism?” Chris asked.
“My view may be different to most Buddhists’ thinking. Many Buddhists may not agree with this view but several do,” Dan paused.
“What’s your view?” Chris asked again.
“In a nutshell the goal of the Buddha’s teaching is to eliminate un-happiness. Many Buddhists think this is achieved by ending the journey of the birth and death cycle. Buddhists define this as the Nirvana. Hindus call this as Moksha. Hindus consider life as some sort of energy, which sustains the birth-death-birth endless cycle. When someone achieves Moksha, in other words stops the life cycle, the life energy joins back the mass energy from which he or she came, similar to a drop of water falling back to the ocean. Hindus call the mass energy source “Brahma”; the “God”. Contrary to this belief, the cessation of mental unhappiness is what I think the Buddha meant as enlightenment or Nirvana. Though it’s difficult, un-happiness can be controlled and eliminated by developing your mind. Meditation is part of the method of developing and tweaking the mind process. We need to understand that all bad thoughts we generate are the source for unhappiness. Nobody else but ourselves make us unhappy by generating unhappy thoughts. Having a well-developed thought process that could intentionally eliminate unhappy thoughts is what I think the enlightenment means. If you achieve that state of mind control, you can enjoy the state of happiness or ‘enlightenment’ while you are living. I don’t interpret enlightenment as the elimination of rebirth. This is my personal view,” Dan said.
“That is a very philosophical explanation. I haven’t read or heard those concepts before,” Aini said.
“That’s interesting Dan. You know a lot,” Chris said.
“Thanks,” Dan said.
“Aini, I’m interested in knowing some of the rituals performed at Muslim burials,” Dan said.
“Some of the primary things I know are washing the body and maintaining cleanliness. We wrap the body with a cloth. There are variations to this part of the ritual including the selection of the fabric, style and color of the cloth. It all depends on one’s cultural background. Whatever’s selected will be simple and modest; generally white cotton,” Aini paused to attend to Sara and continued. “Some even apply perfume on the body. After the body is ready, it’ll be taken to the burial grounds. Then th
e well-wishers are allowed to pass on their respects and condolences. When the Muslim community gathers they offer collective prayers for the forgiveness of the dead. That’s what you saw.”
“Aini, I saw at the burial your coffin being lowered to the ground a few times before it was lowered to your grave. Was that a standard custom?”
“I have been to only one Muslim funeral as we don’t have many relatives or Muslim friends in my hometown. That was about 10 years ago. When I asked my dad about those rituals, he told me that some customs were influenced by the earliest known religion in Iran known as Zoroastrianism. By the way my parents are from Iran. Zoroastrianism flourished in Iran millennia ago and was gradually displaced by the later religious establishments in the country. Even Buddhism had been practiced in Iran for centuries but suffered the same fate,” Aini said.
“What is Zoroastrianism?” Dan asked.
“It was founded by a prophet named Zarathustra. Like the Bible and Quran they have a holy scripture called Avesta. Avesta spells out all the rules, rituals and observances that need to be followed. The hymns are called Gathas,” Aini said.
“I have heard about Zoroastrianism. My brother-in-law once told me that this is the oldest religion in the world going back to 1600 BC, making it older than Abrahamic religions,” I said.
“I’ve read about it as well, but whether it was the oldest religion is very speculative and debated, as the real date of when prophet Zarathustra lived had not been established. Some scholars say it’s likely to be 650 BC,” Aini said.
“The interesting thing is that prophet Zarathustra was the first to teach about heaven & hell, individual judgment, resurrection of the body and the notion of virgin birth,” I said.
“What’s the name of their God and does this religion still exist?” Dan asked.
“Their God is called Ahura Mazda, meaning ‘Wise Lord’. Ahura Mazda is a good God. He created the world and all good things, including people. They consider fire as the original light of God and hence fire holds a special place of esteem in their religion. Like Satan, they have Anghra Mainyu, creator of all things evil,” Aini continued. “Yes, it still exists and there are over 150,000 Zoroastrians also known as Persian or Parsis; mainly concentrated in Iran and India,” Aini said.
“Amazing! It looks like you have read about this religion, a lot,” I said.
“Yes, one time I was very interested in our history.”
“Do any of you know when the burial practices started in human history?” Dan asked.
“According to archeological findings, burial rituals have started a long time ago and date back to over 200,000 BC. Neanderthals and other Hominids existed at the same time. Neanderthals just placed the dead in simple graves at that time. No markers or goods placed in their graves like seen in the pyramids. Around 98,000BC in the areas of France and Belgium archeologists have discovered a ritual of de-fleshing of the dead for burial,” I said.
“It is interesting. When did the Neanderthals become extinct from earth?” Aini asked.
“The archeologists couldn’t find Neanderthal burials after around 25,000 BC. This coincides with the modern man Homo sapiens migrating to Europe. It looks like we have not been very kind to the Neanderthals, like how Chris treats me. We are responsible for causing their disappearance from the earth,” I said. “Who knows? You guys might meet the Neanderthals in heaven. If you see them be kind, Chris.”
“What were the burial rituals of the early Homo sapiens?” Dan asked.
“The early Homo sapiens had a habit of coloring the body with red ochre. That is a very red color mud found in many parts of the world including Eastern Europe. Also this is the time they started decorating the dead bodies with ornamental objects as a burial custom,” I said.
“I read about the ruins of the oldest civilization that were found recently in a place called Göbekli Tepe dating back to 9000 BC. Did they find any burial details?” Chris asked.
“I’ve read about Göbekli Tepe also, but I can’t remember reading anything about burials there. However archeologists believe it’s the oldest human-made place of worship yet discovered,” I said.
“Your half brain still has stuff, Tony. Very good! What else do you know about burial customs?” Chris was back to his fun making mood but I knew he was kindly disposed to me this time.
“I know when Egyptians mummified the bodies around 2500 BC they carefully removed all the organs and preserved those for the next life. But, they scooped out the brain by using sharp tools through the nostrils and discarded it. The brain didn’t get any importance in the body since they thought the purpose of it was to cool the blood, like a radiator in a car,” I said.
“Don’t you think you’re a good example to prove that Egyptian’s assumption on the brain, Tony?” This was Chris’s second comment on me but it lacked the kindness element.
“Ha, ha! You genius! Can you tell me whether God created a Neanderthal or Homo sapiens? In other words, were Adam and Eve, Neanderthals or Homo sapiens?” I asked thinking he wouldn’t have an answer.
“I would say a man with a brain,” Chris said.
Chris was very clever to give that answer with a hidden trace of cynicism.
“I don’t like to argue on that Chris. However, do you think someone can become or expect to behave like an adult without a childhood? That was really the case of Adam; a man without a childhood,” I said.
“Whatever you think is right, is right, Tony,” Chris dodged the question cleverly.
“What’s good about having a religion is it creates a social structure that people love to have. The structure brings a lot of interaction with each other and enhances social integration. In my view, the belief aspect is secondary as the intention of all religions is to bring good to mankind,” Chris said.
“Chris is right,” Aini supported Chris’s view.
“I totally agree with you Chris,” Dan said.
~~~