Bikesh Shrestha, bikesh@hotmail.de

Ever since I was a child, I wondered why dead bodies are burned. I live quite near a cemetery (a funeral pyre for burning bodies) and occasionally, when the wind is strong, the smoke enters our house. I always felt that the smell was bad for our health and for the biosphere too, as we breathe in the air. Those were my childhood thoughts. Now I know more about the biosphere, atmosphere and gasses found on Earth.

As I gradually became more educated, I felt that I wanted my body to be buried under a big tree, with no tomb, as Christians have, or to donate my body to a university for medical research. I told my parents and other members of my family but they said it was a foolish idea and against our religion.

However, now I know that this is one of the best things I could do for mankind. I’ve always wondered, since I was a child, why the Nepalese burned bodies. This is just a custom and has no scientific basis.

During my childhood I saw many funeral processions. Some bodies had even been placed on a large chair. This is a Buddhist tradition, especially in the Bajracharya community.

I saw lots of people in the procession behind a dead body (malami haru) and I always wondered why. I told my mother that I didn’t want to trouble people after my death so to just take a taxi or ambulance and take my body to Swoyambhu and bury it under a big tree. I thought that my body would decompose and the tree would gain some fertiliser and would grow even bigger because of this human fertiliser and that, ultimately, it would give out good oxygen into the atmosphere and that mankind would benefit.

I also thought that burning bodies uses up a lot of wood, which meant we would have to cut down trees, but that we should not cut down trees because they are a source of oxygen and that would mean degrading the environment.

Gradually I developed the idea of donating my eyes. My family was opposed to it and said that I would not attain salvation. They called it “Paar lagdaina”. I actually still do not know the meaning of “Paar lagdaina”. It is just a conservative and ignorant idea.

I always told my family about my ideas and they called me a foolish child. a long while late, I got ill and was taken to hospital where I saw many people who did not have any major disease dying. I felt that the body should not be burned but instead used to feed the big jungle animals, so that they would not have to kill deer, wild pigs, antelope, etc.

In Nepal, on Lord Krishna’s birthday a certain street (Tol) has a photographic exhibition of Lord Krishna. I saw that Buddha has cut off his own flesh to give to a weak, hungry tiger. I was shocked – how could anyone give a piece of his body in such a manner? Only Buddha could do it it because he is superhuman – this being an extremely thing to do. But I was also searching for something else.

Finally, after reading various textbooks at college (around 1978 when I was 16), I read about the first human heart transplant performed by Dr. Christian Barnard in South Africa. This enlightened me and motivated me. Here was my answer.

After reading about that, I wondered when it would happen in Nepal. Now respected doctors perform organ transplants very successfully. Well done to our life-saving doctors. Doctors are one type of Boddhisatva (one of the paths to Buddhahood). I also read of a Tibetan tradition of throwing dead bodies out to feed eagles and vultures. This is a very good idea and very praise-worthy.

Ever since then I have been interested in human organ transplantation. In my opinion, Nepal lags behind in this field so we need to do more to encourage people to donate their bodies and/or organs.

Note:

I have heard that some teaching hospitals use the bodies of the poor which are left at the hospital. I don’t know how true this is. In my opinion, it is wrong because no-one has the right to do so without permission. If this is not true, my apologies.

Here is excerpt: for you to read. Groote Schuur Hospital was placed centre stage in the world’s spotlight when Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on the third of December 1967. Sadly, Mr Louis Washkansky only lived for 18 days, succumbing in the end to pneumonia. His new heart beat strongly to the end. Christiaan Neethling Barnard was born in the town of Beaufort West, on the edge of the great Karoo, the dry and arid interior of South Africa, in 1922.His father was a preacher and there were 4 boys in the family. He did well at school, learned music and played sport, and decided on leaving school to study medicine at the University of Cape Town. The Barnard family was not wealthy but managed to secure a 3 year scholarship. He stayed with his older brother and walked to the University. There was little money to spare and even less time for leisure. Another problem was language, as his mother tongue was Afrikaans, and he had to learn to express himself in English. After 6 years he graduated and did internship and residency at Groote Schuur Hospital and Peninsula Maternity. He then joined a colleague and moved to a small town, Ceres, and married Louwtjie. The seeds of his future career were sown when one of his patients delivered a baby boy with a heart defect which could not be remedied. The baby died, causing him to think deeply about this and foresee the need for remedial surgery and the replacement of heart valves. Written on 4th June 2008, FINAL

Bikesh Shrestha, bikesh@hotmail.de

Ever since I was a child, I wondered why dead bodies are burned. I live quite near a cemetery (a funeral pyre for burning bodies) and occasionally, when the wind is strong, the smoke enters our house. I always felt that the smell was bad for our health and for the biosphere too, as we breathe in the air. Those were my childhood thoughts. Now I know more about the biosphere, atmosphere and gasses found on Earth.

As I gradually became more educated, I felt that I wanted my body to be buried under a big tree, with no tomb, as Christians have, or to donate my body to a university for medical research. I told my parents and other members of my family but they said it was a foolish idea and against our religion.

However, now I know that this is one of the best things I could do for mankind. I’ve always wondered, since I was a child, why the Nepalese burned bodies. This is just a custom and has no scientific basis.

During my childhood I saw many funeral processions. Some bodies had even been placed on a large chair. This is a Buddhist tradition, especially in the Bajracharya community.

I saw lots of people in the procession behind a dead body (malami haru) and I always wondered why. I told my mother that I didn’t want to trouble people after my death so to just take a taxi or ambulance and take my body to Swoyambhu and bury it under a big tree. I thought that my body would decompose and the tree would gain some fertiliser and would grow even bigger because of this human fertiliser and that, ultimately, it would give out good oxygen into the atmosphere and that mankind would benefit.

I also thought that burning bodies uses up a lot of wood, which meant we would have to cut down trees, but that we should not cut down trees because they are a source of oxygen and that would mean degrading the environment.

Gradually I developed the idea of donating my eyes. My family was opposed to it and said that I would not attain salvation. They called it “Paar lagdaina”. I actually still do not know the meaning of “Paar lagdaina”. It is just a conservative and ignorant idea.

I always told my family about my ideas and they called me a foolish child. a long while late, I got ill and was taken to hospital where I saw many people who did not have any major disease dying. I felt that the body should not be burned but instead used to feed the big jungle animals, so that they would not have to kill deer, wild pigs, antelope, etc.

In Nepal, on Lord Krishna’s birthday a certain street (Tol) has a photographic exhibition of Lord Krishna. I saw that Buddha has cut off his own flesh to give to a weak, hungry tiger. I was shocked – how could anyone give a piece of his body in such a manner? Only Buddha could do it it because he is superhuman – this being an extremely thing to do. But I was also searching for something else.

Finally, after reading various textbooks at college (around 1978 when I was 16), I read about the first human heart transplant performed by Dr. Christian Barnard in South Africa. This enlightened me and motivated me. Here was my answer.

After reading about that, I wondered when it would happen in Nepal. Now respected doctors perform organ transplants very successfully. Well done to our life-saving doctors. Doctors are one type of Boddhisatva (one of the paths to Buddhahood). I also read of a Tibetan tradition of throwing dead bodies out to feed eagles and vultures. This is a very good idea and very praise-worthy.

Ever since then I have been interested in human organ transplantation. In my opinion, Nepal lags behind in this field so we need to do more to encourage people to donate their bodies and/or organs.

Note:

I have heard that some teaching hospitals use the bodies of the poor which are left at the hospital. I don’t know how true this is. In my opinion, it is wrong because no-one has the right to do so without permission. If this is not true, my apologies.

Here is excerpt: for you to read. Groote Schuur Hospital was placed centre stage in the world’s spotlight when Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on the third of December 1967. Sadly, Mr Louis Washkansky only lived for 18 days, succumbing in the end to pneumonia. His new heart beat strongly to the end. Christiaan Neethling Barnard was born in the town of Beaufort West, on the edge of the great Karoo, the dry and arid interior of South Africa, in 1922.His father was a preacher and there were 4 boys in the family. He did well at school, learned music and played sport, and decided on leaving school to study medicine at the University of Cape Town. The Barnard family was not wealthy but managed to secure a 3 year scholarship. He stayed with his older brother and walked to the University. There was little money to spare and even less time for leisure. Another problem was language, as his mother tongue was Afrikaans, and he had to learn to express himself in English. After 6 years he graduated and did internship and residency at Groote Schuur Hospital and Peninsula Maternity. He then joined a colleague and moved to a small town, Ceres, and married Louwtjie. The seeds of his future career were sown when one of his patients delivered a baby boy with a heart defect which could not be remedied. The baby died, causing him to think deeply about this and foresee the need for remedial surgery and the replacement of heart valves. Written on 4th June 2008, FINAL

I choose not to consume @ 3 million BTUs for the sole purpose of incinerating my remains. With cremation about 4% of my body, referred to as “ashes”, would be returned to my family. What happens to the rest of my body? 96% of my deceased body would be spewed from a smokestack and dumped into my survivors’ atmosphere. The intense heat would release numerous pollutants, including highly hazardous mercury vapors and other toxins. How could I in good conscience select a process that renders my body into pollution and hazardous vapors?

CycledLife: http://www.cycledlife.com manufactures water and alkali disposition systems

I wouldn’t expect a neanderthal like you to understand, but it’s more than one’s “carbon footprint”. It’s about leaving a little as possible behind in any form.

In our community we bury the dead (no coffin), & they are Hindu (+hardcore vegetarians). The point is don’t view Hinduism with such a narrow view, it is so wide & varied that if you say something i can show you contradictory examples. (btw I am not the same guy who has commented on no. 3)

Nope.