"heavenly funeral". photo. Funeral rites of Tibet

Heading to Tibet, I understood that I would not become the first person to conquer the sacred Mount Kailash. I did not expect to become the discoverer of the mythical Shambhala, glorified in ancient Tibetan texts. My main goal was to see the beautiful landscapes and the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, picturesquely spread out with red houses in the middle of the mountains. But I had no idea that the path I had taken would allow me to see traditions and rituals that were not eradicated by the Cultural Revolution, something that does not fit into the framework of Western consciousness - Tibetan funerals, which are a ritual accessible to tourists.

The "sky funeral" (天葬) ceremony, the most common method of burial in Tibet and the Tibetan autonomous regions of Sichuan and Qinghai provinces, is one of those things that tears the minds of inexperienced foreigners to shreds. This is because during the ceremony the bodies of the dead are fed to the birds. Tibetans believe that after death the body is an empty vessel that will either be spoiled by nature or serve a good purpose and be given to birds as food. Therefore, a “heavenly funeral” is a kind of act of generosity, since the deceased and his living relatives support the life of living beings. Generosity in Lamaism is one of the most important virtues.

First of all, the ceremony is held openly and anyone, be it a close relative or a stranger looking for new sensations, can attend it. The ritual is carried out every day, around noon, but often the beginning of the ritual is delayed, and by the time everything begins, quite a lot of “spectators” have already gathered, both among people and among birds, waiting in the wings. A maximum of 20 bodies are allowed to be buried on one day, and when we attended the ceremony, 11 bodies were announced to be buried.

After death, all these bodies remained untouched in the corner of the house where the deceased had previously lived for three days, while the lama read texts from the Tibetan Book of the Dead over the deceased. This is how the deceased are shown the path in this segment between the death of the physical body and the next rebirth, because stopping breathing is only the first stage of death. And death itself is not an end, but a transformation. After the three-day period had passed, and only after it was certain that the process of separation of the spirit from the body was completely completed, the dead were transferred to the funeral site.

We are presented with a unique funeral scene for the whole world: death in Tibet, in the highlands of which there is barely a glimmer of life - this is the crown of existence and the axis of the picture of the world. It is difficult to imagine that anywhere else in the world the terrible funeral scene would be available to anyone other than close relatives, but not in Tibet, where it turns into a rare and vivid ritual of the barren mountain desert, accessible to everyone. It is not for nothing that Tibetan society, Lamaism and death cults attracted mystical researchers from Hitler’s Germany and special NKVD expeditions looking for the underground king of Shambhala.

We are in place. The bodies lie a little further away, behind a thin, translucent screen, right in front of us, but from the side we can only see a monk working with the dexterity of a butcher. Spectators watch with wide eyes as the monk begins his preparations: lighting a juniper tree to attract vultures and making a prayer circuit around the ceremonial site. And only then does the monk bend over to the body lying face down. First the hair is cut off. The back is then cut into pieces, allowing rags of skin to hang, exposing the flesh. The smell of a corpse mixes with the smell of smoldering juniper. The monk works without a mask. Already at the very beginning of the ritual, Chinese tourists cannot stand it and hastily leave the place, holding their nose and mouth...

At first it seemed that nothing was happening, but then we heard sounds: the blows of instruments during the dismemberment of bodies. Despite the fact that everything was fenced off with fabric, it was at that moment that a chill ran through my body. The more our imaginations ran wild, the closer the birds came down the hill to the scene of action. At some point, dozens of birds began circling overhead, which added a sense of urgency to the already overwhelming surrealism of what was happening.

By the time the ritual comes to an end, birds are everywhere: circling in the air, sitting on the walls, guarding the curtain and waiting for it to rise. And so, on a signal, the fabric is torn off and at the same time the birds lose all “rules of decency,” instantly filling the entire area where people, living and dead, had just been seen. Spectators watch the birds in a daze, some with disgust, some with fear, and some with indifference, while managing to photograph the ceremony, despite the prohibitions.

The birds do not pay any attention to the living, although there are so many of them that sometimes it seems that they are about to swoop down on the spectators. In reality, the heads of some vultures are already covered in red. Somewhere between the birds a bloody skull rolls. Gradually the flock thins out, but more and more birds arrive to profit from the remains of what 10 minutes ago was a human body. Although the ceremony has already ended, the last spectators are still unable to take their eyes off what is happening...

Warning: This article contains scenes of violence and is intended for mentally stable people over 18 years of age.

The high sun shines dazzlingly, but does not warm. The wind licks your cheekbones. On this bare, almost bald area in the mountains, sparsely decorated only with small grass and stones, it seems that only birds feel like full owners. The dull thud of an ax is heard as bones and a skull are crushed into flour. The vultures have not yet finished their meal. They are waiting for the last parts of the human body to warm their stomachs once again. The eye sockets have long been pecked out, the soft flesh has been eaten, the liver, heart, intestines have been torn apart... When the vultures are finished, there will be nothing left of the body. This is jator, or alms to the birds: an ancient Tibetan custom of open-air funerals. A ritual that will shock the imagination of those who are not accustomed to the harsh life of high mountain Tibet.

The Chinese authorities, who came to Tibet in the fifties of the twentieth century, considered jator a barbaric custom and banned it. It was taboo for almost thirty years. However, the daring living conditions at an altitude of more than four thousand meters and loyalty to tradition took their toll. How else to bury the dead, if instead of earth there are frozen stones, digging graves for this simply does not make sense? As a result, the ban was lifted in the eighties.

Venue of the "Heavenly Funeral" in Tibet

The origins of the ritual go back centuries. It is possible that bodies were buried in this way thousands of years ago in areas with poor vegetation. But in the twelfth century, with the strengthening of Buddhism in Tibet, open-air funerals, in addition to economic ones, also acquired their own special, religious significance.

However, giving the body to be torn to pieces by birds of prey is not the only method of burial here. The bodies of pregnant women, children under eighteen years of age, and those who died from disease or accidents are released downstream. In addition to them, the bodies of deceased titled lamas are subject to cremation. In a region where wood is very rare, this ritual is incredibly expensive. For this reason, some deceased monks are walled up in the walls of monasteries, and small tombs are erected in their honor.

In an open-air crypt

By the way, burying bodies in the open air is also an expensive ceremony. Endowed with a special religious meaning, it includes many necessary rituals that must be performed. First of all, the relatives of the deceased wrap the body in white cloth and leave it untouched in the far corner of the house. After which they turn to the clergy.

For three days, the monks will perform the funeral service for the deceased with mantras to speed up and facilitate the transition of his soul from the old, decaying material body to the new. During this time, everything in the house freezes - the living leave all their daily affairs so as not to complicate the transition of the soul wandering between worlds.

On the day of the funeral, the last clothes are removed from the body and placed in the fetal position. This is how a person came into this world, and this is how he will leave. The poor, who have no money, often simply leave the bodies of their dead on the ledges of the mountains, so that not people, but nature, will take care of the dead.

The ceremony itself usually takes place at dawn in a specially designated place. It is called "durtro", an open-air crypt. It is a large, fenced meadow, sometimes with several stupas and hanging prayer flags. In the center of the meadow there is a circle made of stones, in which the main action takes place. The smell of smoldering juniper cleanses the air here.

There are several such burial sites in Tibet, all of them are located near monasteries. There are especially popular ones where relatives carry the body of the deceased on their shoulders. At the head of the procession are lamas who never stop reciting mantras. When the column reaches the crypt, the lamas fall silent, the relatives retreat - they no longer have the right to observe the details of the ceremony. The corpse is handed over to those who will be responsible for cutting it up.

Rogyap case

Rogyapa, or one who cuts up the body, in a word, a gravedigger, is a difficult calling. It is a family tradition and the craft is usually passed down from father to son. If a daughter is born into the family, then her future husband is obliged to take over his father-in-law’s business. Often the Rogyapas live in isolation, away from the rest of the village. They are still prohibited from appearing in the homes of wealthy townspeople, but such costs of the profession are more than offset by the considerable cost of their funeral services. Usually several rogyapas are present at the ceremony.

The main one, dressed in a voluminous white apron, without any gloves, armed with a large sharp knife, makes the first cuts on the dead body. First, internal organs are removed from the body. While one rogyapa skillfully wields a knife, the rest use sticks to drive away the hungry vultures. Men communicate with each other at ease, crack jokes and laugh. Locals say: this is how the rogyapas make it clear that there is nothing more significant left in this body.

Dakini

Huge birds of prey have been watching every action for a long time, ready to pounce on the corpse. The main rogyapa gives a signal to the others - the men quickly retreat from the dismembered body, and the vultures rush headlong onto the remains. Flapping their giant two-meter wings, they compete with each other for the best piece. The caustic spirit of death and someone else's feast hovers in the air. Vultures tear apart the remains in less than twenty minutes.

In the mythology of Vajrayana Buddhism, these seemingly dirty, always hungry, bald-headed, featherless vultures, corpse eaters, scavengers are sacred creatures. In Tibet they are revered as "dakinis": fierce female creatures who live high in the sky. Dakinis feed on human flesh, but despite their fierce disposition, they often help true yogis on their path, revealing the secrets of secret spiritual knowledge. Dakinis are also revered by followers of the Bon religion, a tradition that dominated Tibet before the advent of Buddhism.

Dakini vultures gnaw bones. The Rogyapas again take up sticks to drive away the birds. The remaining bloody skeleton will soon turn to dust. Armed with heavy axes, the Rogyapas crush bones and mix them with tsampa, barley flour. This dish goes to the crows and hawks waiting right there. The remaining cartilage is again thrown to the vultures.

Another quarter of an hour, and nothing remains of the body. The dakini's meal is finished - the rogyap's work is finished. On a stone platform high in the mountains, not a trace remained of the former bloody feast. The men leave the hill, the relatives of the deceased follow them, and the birds fly away. The body is no longer there, but the spirit has long been soaring over the mountains, led along the path of rebirth. The Tibetan open-air funeral is over.

Sacred meaning

In the sacred Tibetan Book of the Dead, Bardo Thedol, the body is only a vessel that temporarily houses the soul. Just as a clay pot is broken when it is empty, so the body is destroyed when the soul no longer needs it. Bardo Thedol contains a whole science about what tests a soul goes through when overcoming death, and how to ease its path in the ocean of samsara, the illusion of rebirth, on the way to the next reincarnation, or incarnation.

The process of separating the soul from the former shell lasts three days, during which the monks chant special mantras. These mantras, like a guide, pave the way for the consciousness of the soul through the stages of the bardo, from death to new life. In the process, the old body becomes an empty form, forever devoid of meaningful content. In a crypt at the top of the mountain, the dakini disposes of it, depriving the soul of its old shackles.

A major metamorphosis occurs with the body; it splits into primary elements: earth, air, fire and water. The soul becomes finally free from the shell in order to plunge into a new vessel, in which, perhaps, it will be able to approach nirvana.

"Green" funeral

Although the roots of the custom of open-air funerals are lost in Tibetan history, archaeologists note that the same ritual existed in the culture of Zoroastrian Iran. The oldest archaeological mentions of it date back to 400 BC. And then the corpses were left to be torn to pieces by wild birds and animals on a site high in the mountains, and the remaining bones were buried in a crypt.

Despite the fact that today the jator ritual seems wild to many representatives of Western thinking, there are those who have a different opinion. In the United States of America, some sects choose exclusively this method of saying goodbye to the dead, calling it the most environmentally friendly of all possible. Today in the United States you can find special “green” cemeteries, where corpses - their soft tissues - are given over to be torn to pieces by predators. The cost of such a service varies from five hundred dollars for an individual funeral to five thousand for the burial of the remaining bones in the family crypt.

And the Tibetans themselves believe that any dead flesh defiles the Earth. After all, burying a decomposing body, in their opinion, is the same as violating a caring and nursing mother.

Text: Anna Abramenko

From bone turning in Madagascar to sky burials on the Tibetan Plateau... Discover the most unique and strange funeral rites.

Zoroastrian funeral

A key tenet of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion, is the maintenance of both physical and spiritual purity. Death is seen as evil, and decay is considered the work of a demon called Drui-I-Nasush. This demonic act is harmful to the spirit and is very contagious, so during the funeral they do everything possible to avoid touching the body of the deceased.

After death, the person is washed in ox urine and then dressed in old clothes. A special dog visits the corpse twice to ward off evil spirits. Only after this will it be possible for all people to look at it. The corpse is then placed in the dakhma (or "tower of silence"), where the body is freely accessible to vultures.

Santhara

What would happen if there was a way to hasten death, to hasten its onset, so to speak? For many adherents of Jainism (a distinctive religion that believes that self-control and non-violence are the means of spiritual liberation), such a ritual is the norm. This is called santhara or sallekhana. This ancient practice is only suitable for people with terminal illnesses or disabilities.

Gradually, a person gives up the small pleasures in life. Starts with books and entertainment, then comes sweets, tea and medicine. Finally, the person refuses all food and water. Death Day is a holiday where family members of the deceased dress in colorful outfits and dine in honor of the deceased person. Such a joyful day of mourning indicates that life has gone well.

Sky Burial

There are coffins, there are urns and, of course, the famous mummies of Egypt. But high on the plateaus of Central Asia, another type of funeral rite is practiced: sky burial. Known in Tibetan as bya gtor, or “alms to the birds,” the funeral rite involves placing the corpse on a mountaintop where it will be eaten little by little by birds of prey.

Widely practiced by adherents of Buddhism in Tibet, Nepal and Mongolia, sky burial is directly related to the concept of rebirth. In addition, at any stage of life, a person must be useful. Here it is considered the most real charity to give the body back to the earth, sky and other creatures.

Famadikhana

In some cultures, the dead rise again, turn over. The Malagasy people of Madagascar practice famadihana, which means "turning of the bones." People periodically exhume the dead from family crypts and wrap their bodies in fresh shrouds. Music plays as all family members join forces to lift the corpse and dance around the grave. According to the ritual, the soul enters the realm of the ancestors only after complete disintegration and numerous similar ceremonies.

Aboriginal funeral rites

While Australia's indigenous cultures vary across the continent, spiritual beliefs are often grouped under the concept of Dreamtime (creation time). During funerals, relatives and friends of the deceased paint their bodies with white paint, cut themselves (an act of mourning) and sing songs to promote the rebirth of the deceased.

Funeral rites are clearly tailored to the people of Northern Australia. The burial takes place in two stages. First, the body is lifted onto wooden boards and covered with leaves, and it remains in this position for a month until it begins to rot. The second stage begins after the bones are collected and coated with ocher. Family members sometimes take the bone and carry it with them as a keepsake. In other cases, the remains are abandoned in a cave.

Sati

Although this rite is no longer practiced, sati deserves mention because of its connection with marriage. In Hinduism, bodies are cremated in a funeral pyre. In some sects of Hinduism, a widow was voluntarily burned at the stake with her already dead husband. The ritual was banned in 1829, but reports of such acts still remain. There was one case in 2008 in the Indian state of Chhattasgarh where an elderly woman performed the ritual rite of sati.

Funerals in Tibet often terrify foreigners. Tourists who come from other countries find some methods of burying the dead barbaric and unacceptable. To begin to understand the customs of the highlanders, you need to learn to look at the world through their eyes.

Tibetan philosophy

Christians, Jews and Muslims are accustomed to the fact that after the death of a loved one, some part of him remains on earth. Believers visit graves and look after them, believing that the dead will definitely appreciate love and care. Tibetans do not bring flowers to the dead. They practically don't do burials.

You should not think that in Tibet people are indifferent to each other. It's just that followers of Buddhism approach death differently. They view the body as a temporary container for an immortal soul, which sooner or later decides to change its shell.

When the mortal part dies, the soul is freed and begins to search for a new refuge.

Buddhist funeral rites are aimed at completely destroying the mortal coil. In this case, the spirit will lose contact with the life it left behind. For a Buddhist, a dead body is nothing more than an empty vessel. A loved one has left him forever and will never return to him. This means that there is no point in trying to preserve mortal remains.

In carrying out some rituals, Tibetans differ from Buddhists living in other countries. Many followers of Gautama Siddhartha prefer to burn the dead. But cremation requires firewood. And in Tibet there are too few trees to burn the dead.

Burials in the ground

In some areas, only the corpses of criminals and unrighteous people are buried in the ground. Since the body will decay slowly, the soul will not leave this world immediately. Thus, the criminal will receive retribution for what he did during his lifetime. The grave becomes a kind of place of imprisonment.

According to one of the Tibetan traditions, the bodies of children under fourteen years of age are also supposed to be buried. The custom can also be found in some regions of India. In this case, the soul is not released into a new life not in order to punish. Tibetans believe that the spirit of a small child is not yet strong. Once free, he may get scared. As a result, the deceased will wander between two worlds, without finding shelter and without the opportunity to be reborn.

Wood burials

An unusual container mounted high on a tree may turn out to be a burial place. This method of burying the deceased is used only for stillborn children. Parents soak the body in saline solution to prevent it from being touched by decay. The child is then placed in a coffin shaped like a barrel and firmly attached to a tree. It is believed that with the help of this ritual it is possible to prevent the rebirth of a stillborn child from the family. In some provinces, wood burials are imitated.

Instead of a coffin with a body, toys or children's things are hung on a tree.

Burial in water

This is a very labor-intensive way to bury a relative. Water burial is not often practiced. The dead human body is ground up and mixed with roasted barley flour. The resulting dish is fed to fish in the nearest body of water. To representatives of Western culture, this method seems inhumane and is perceived as mockery of a dead body. However, Tibetans view this ritual differently. An empty vessel is of no use to the soul. And living fish need food. A person who feeds a living being with his flesh will be forgiven many sins. Tibetans do not eat fish. Sea creatures carry within them a piece of a deceased loved one.

Sky burial in Tibet

This type of burial is considered the main one. One of its names is “Distributing Alms to Birds.” This method can be compared to burial in water, only the corpse will be fed not to fish, but to birds. Tibetans believe that a person should be useful both during life and after death. Feeding birds with your body will help improve karma. The next life will be much better than the one that ended. The bodies of the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama are not given heavenly burial. They are supposed to be embalmed and covered with gold.

After death occurs, the person is seated. The lama then reads special prayers from the Book of the Dead. Reading should continue throughout the day. Prayers help the soul go from a life that has just ended to a new rebirth. After 3 days, the deceased is handed over to the gravedigger (rogyapa). The body is transferred to the burial site, where the rogyapa removes the shroud and makes incisions on the deceased with a special knife. After this, the corpse is left on the site, where it is immediately eaten by hungry vultures. The cuts made on the body help predators tear the flesh apart. During the ceremony, the relatives of the deceased should be nearby and pray. The gravedigger grinds the remaining bones on a stone, mixes them with flour and butter and feeds them to the birds.

Currently, more than a thousand ritual sites are equipped in Tibet.

In the late 1950s, Chinese authorities banned sky burial in Tibet. However, due to urgent requests from believers, the ritual had to be allowed in the mid-1970s. The ban on the ritual was due to the fact that the birds were poisoned with stale human meat. Vultures became infected with dangerous diseases and became carriers of diseases themselves. Although sky funerals are now permitted, Chinese authorities have taken personal control of them. It is strictly prohibited to bury people who died from contagious diseases in this way.

The funeral traditions of Tibetans can be disgusting. However, similar customs exist among many peoples around the world. Heavenly funerals were also practiced by the ancient Slavs. They gave the deceased to be eaten by birds. A year later the bones were buried. It was necessary to do this in order not to defile the earth with rotting flesh. With the advent of Christianity in Rus', the mentality of the Slavs changed, and the once natural tradition began to be considered barbaric.

Continuing the theme of death and funerals.
WARNING: These photographs contain exclusively naturalistic photographs and are therefore not recommended for viewing by sensitive people or those with fragile nerves!)
MANY THANKS TO THE AUTHOR!!!

Original taken from masterok V

“Sky burial” ((jhator (Wiley: bya gtor)) is the main type of burial in Tibet and in a number of areas adjacent to Tibet. It is also called “giving alms to birds.” According to Tibetan beliefs, the soul leaves the body at the time of death, and a person at all stages of life should try to be useful. Therefore, the dead body is fed to the birds as the last manifestation of charity.

Many Tibetans still consider this method of burial to be the only possible one. An exception is made only for the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. After death, their bodies are embalmed and covered with gold.

First, I will show you the official artistic vision of this ritual, and then there will be an ordinary everyday report - that’s where the real shit is. So I warned you...

“City of Prayer Flags” is a site created for burial in the vicinity of the Chalang Monastery. Dari County, Qinghai Province, Golog Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, November 5, 2007. Photo: China Photos/Getty Images

Sky burials are practiced throughout Tibetan territory, including some Indian territories such as Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

Relatives of the deceased pray during a burial ceremony in the “City of Prayer Flags,” a burial site set up in the vicinity of Chalang Monastery.

In 1959, when the Chinese authorities finally gained a foothold in Tibet, the ritual was completely prohibited. Since 1974, after numerous requests from monks and Tibetans, the Chinese government has allowed the Sky Burial to resume.

The vultures gathered in the “City of Prayer Flags,” a burial site set up in the vicinity of the Chalang Monastery.

There are now about 1,100 sites for the rite of heavenly burial. The ritual is performed by special people - rogyapas.

Rogyapa ("gravedigger") sharpens a knife before a burial ceremony in the "City of Prayer Flags."

When a Tibetan dies, his body is placed in a sitting position and he “sits” for 24 hours while the lama reads prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

These prayers are intended to help the soul progress through the 49 levels of bardo - the state between death and rebirth.

3 days after death, a close friend of the deceased carries him on his back to the burial place.

Rogyapa first makes many cuts on the body and yields the body to the birds - the vultures do most of the work, eating all the flesh.

The body is destroyed without a trace; in Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that in this way it is easier for the soul to leave the body in order to find a new one.

Rogyapa ("gravedigger") prays before a burial ceremony in the "City of Prayer Flags". The surroundings of the Chalang monastery. For burial, a rogyapa receives up to 100 yuan (about $13.5). Dari County, Qinghai Province, Golog Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, November 5, 2007. Photo: China Photos/Getty Images

Rogyapa crushes the bones of the deceased during the burial ceremony

Rogyapa feeds the meat of the dead to vultures

Rogyapa cuts the body of the deceased

Rogyapa prays during the burial ceremony

Rogyapa ("gravedigger"), having finished his work, drinks tea with his family.

And now reporting without cultural embellishment, just business as usual.

In general, first the body is brought to the valley

Then they unpack

Then they tie the body to a peg and cut

The Chinese government has announced its intention to take tight control over Tibetan funerals. The ancient tradition, according to which the bodies of the dead are left in the open air for vultures to eat, is, according to environmentalists, very harmful to the health of birds.

The Chinese government has announced its intention to take tight control of Tibetan sky funerals.

The ancient tradition, according to which the bodies of the dead are left in the open air for vultures to eat, is, according to environmentalists, very harmful to the health of birds.

The corpse of a deceased relative is tied by the neck to a stake driven into the ground so that vultures cannot drag away the remains. After this, the skin of the deceased is cut - this makes it easier for birds to eat.

According to China's Ministry of Nature Conservation, unexplained deaths of vultures have become more frequent recently. Officials attribute this to poisoning from stale human meat.

One dead man is enough to feed a whole flock

— Tibetans arrange a sky burial for people who died from various diseases and infections. Birds come into contact with carriers of the infection and, in addition to dying themselves, spread it throughout the country,” Commissioner for Tibetan Territories Yun Hui shared his concerns. “Therefore, we will make sure that the birds do not eat anything, in particular those who died from AIDS or various types of influenza.”

The Tibetan community perceived the prohibition to bury people who died from illness according to established religious rites extremely negatively. It considers these measures another step towards establishing official control over their religion.

Hungry birds gnaw a Tibetan to the bone

By the way, if the customs of the Tibetans seem barbaric to someone, then it is worth remembering that many tribes living on the territory of modern Russia did the same, and, for example, Mordovians observed this ritual until the end of the 19th century.

Before burial, our ancestors placed the remains of the deceased on a shield fixed above the ground. A year later, the bones, gnawed by predators, were buried. Hence the modern tradition of holding funeral services every other year. This custom was dictated by the desire not to desecrate the nursing land with rotting flesh.

The remains are carefully collected

You can learn more about this from the interesting book “The Unknown Himalayas” by the author Himanshu Joshi.

Sky burial is one of the three types of burials used in Tibet. The other two are cremation and throwing into the river.

Sky burial is called "jha-tor" in Tibetan, which means "giving alms to birds." According to Tibetan beliefs, the soul leaves the body at the moment of death, and a person should try to do good at all stages of life, so the dead body is fed to birds as a final act of charity.

There are about 1,100 heavenly burial sites in Tibet. The largest is located in the Drigung Til monastery. The ritual is performed by special people called Rogyaps.

The remaining bones are then ground into powder, mixed with barley flour and again fed to the birds.

Tibetans believe that everyone should see the rite of heavenly burial at least once in their life in order to realize and feel all the fleetingness and ephemerality of life.