Buddhist Funeral

I attended the funeral of the mother of my aunt today. This woman was 81 years old and was a Buddhist. She was born in B.C. but at the age of 5 was sent to Japan to be raised by family.
Thus, she had been of the Buddhist faith all her life.

I sat in my seat having a good look around and trying to pay close attention to all that was going on. At the front was a raised platform where they had a huge golden shrine and I think an alter. There were some statues as well.

At the beginning, the family came down the centre isle as the gong was banged. After they sat down, then the MC for the funeral told us about Tomiko (my aunt’s mother).

The head person (Sensei) did some praying, chanting at the alter, as he banged a gong. Then he came down and gave a speech in English. He talked about the Buddhist beliefs in the after life and tried to give some words of comfort to the family.

It all seemed so very sad and not with any hope for these people.
the building also seemed empty, so very empty. It made me sad.

— Kareen
Mon, Apr 18^th, 2005 · 12:54pm ↑

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