Autumn 2024, Volume 51
Features
Rites for the Departed
Cultural and religious perspectives shape how death is perceived and how the dead are honored, leading to a range of practices across the world. Belief in an afterlife is common across many cultures and religions, which highlights the significance of praying for the departed soul’s eternal peace.
Memorial services are held in a variety of settings and are meant to reflect the beliefs and values of the departed and their loved ones. They are often held to heal the grief of the bereaved and, in sociological terms, transition the deceased person from the category of the living to the category of an ancestor. Bereaved families and friends come together to grieve together, remember, and celebrate the life of the deceased.
But attitudes toward the rites for the dead are changing along with the times. In Japan, for example, in answer to a question asking about the meaning of funerals, only about 30 percent answered “sending the deceased to the afterlife,” while about 60 percent replied “bidding farewell to the deceased and comforting bereaved family members.” In other words, memorial services are viewed less as religious rites and more as rituals in human relations.
Economic realities, together with attitudes, are also influencing funeral rites, as more and more families do not have the wealth to have large elaborate funerals or even proper graves. This has led to the popularity of a private family-only funeral (kazoku-so), cremation without a funeral service (choku-so), and so forth.
In the autumn 2024 issue of Dharma World, we will explore the meaning and purpose of death rituals in today’s society.
Rites for the Departed
by Masashi Hashimoto
Venerating ancestors and their attainment of buddhahood is inextricably linked to the perfection and the liberation of the individual.
What Happens After We Die? Notions About the Afterlife from the US, Japan, and China
by Gordon Mathews
We in the present do not necessarily know better than people in the past‑ we may be afflicted by our own illusions and limitations that blind us.
Japanese Funeral Rites: A Miracle of Life
by Masaki Matsubara
Funeral rites are very powerful because they develop one’s self-cultivation or self-awareness.
The Importance of Grief Rituals in Coping with Loss
by Frank E. Eyetsemitan
In the face of modernity, some people still hold onto tradition, and may not change their grief rituals because tradition influences how they perceive themselves.
Death Rites and Our Relationship with the Dead
by Douglas J. Davies
Rituals change at the public and cultural level, just as individual awareness changes over time.
Ritual and Resiliency in the Unprecedented Times of the COVID Pandemic
by Natasha L. Mikles
The period of COVID-19 will hopefully be a lesson on the important role funerary and other death rituals have in healing.
Niwano Peace Prize
Interreligious Peacebuilding in Wartime: Finding Hope and Justice
by Mohammed Abu-Nimer
The Niwano Peace Foundation awarded the forty-first Niwano Peace Prize to Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, in recognition of his lifelong commitment to peace and interfaith dialogue. The award ceremony took place on May 14, 2024, at the International House of Japan, Tokyo. The recipient’s address follows.
Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhism
What Is the Place of Emptiness (Śūnyatā) in Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhism? Part One: Emptiness and the Lotus Sutra
by Dominick Scarangello
The Lotus Sutra tells us that the emptiness of things is precisely why there is the prospect of universal buddhahood—the teaching of the One Vehicle that all beings have the capacity to become buddhas.
