Buddhism

 Here are just a few random facts I learned while I was in Tibet and some pictures that I took.

 

I've never known very much about Buddhism. Here are some of the things I've learned about it. More specifically Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is mainly practiced in Tibet, Nepal and India, but it is in other countries as well.

There is not just one Buddha but hundreds of them. Buddha is just the enlightened one. To become a Buddha means you have reached the ultimate freedom, you no longer have worldly limitations. Tibetan's believe there are five sects in Buddhism and I don't remember what each sect is called.

They have five types of burials.  Tibetans are buried by ground, water, fire, stupa, or sky. Depending on who you are or how you died determines what happens to your body. If you die before you are 7 then you are buried. If you are a Dali Lama your body will be dried and put into a stupa. Monks bodies will be burned. Dying from a knife, sickness, or war will lead you to a water burial. Regular people are given sky burial's.

A sky burial is as confusing as it seems. After death the body lives in its home for three days. Family and friends bring money for everything during this period. On the third night the body is chopped up and wrapped tightly in a white cloth. On fourth day son or brother will take body around to temples. After seven days they believe the spirit has left. Between 7 and 49 days it is choosing where it wants to go, while the son is still taking body around to temples. The sky burial part is on the 49th day, they take the body up somewhere high to the top of one of the mountains and leave it so the birds can come eat it. This is my understanding of Tibetan burials. Every burial is much more detailed than I described and has much more to it.

I learned a lot more about Tibetan Buddhism and many of the specific stories about different Buddha's lives. These were just some of the more general facts I was told that I found really interesting. The Tibetan and Nepali culture are so fascinating to me because they are so different from everything I've ever been taught.