In those ancient times of the fifties and sixties, Chinese funeral rites were usually conducted according to Taoist procedure as Buddhism teachings were not spearheaded into our Malaysian region yet until somewhere in the seventies.
After the seventies, lots of Buddhist schools started springing up and many began to imbibe the teachings of Buddhism. Upon death, many were then urged to perform Buddhist funeral rites in tandem with their status of belief.
However, not all are inclined to believe in Buddhism, and yet upon death, many people were urged to conduct their funeral rites according to the Buddhist way. This is where we hope to clear the misconceptions and myths surrounding the Taoist funeral ceremony, so there will not be any confusion in choosing the appropriate funeral rite upon passing.
Why Buddhist Funeral is Preferred than a Taoist Funeral in the Society
From our observation and discussion with many Buddhist devotees and other laities, many of them have the idea that performing a Buddhist funeral upon death is the better option compared to holding a Taoist death ceremony.
This is due to it becoming a trend in society today, since people tend to follow the herd, thinking that if the majority thinks and believes the Buddhist rites are better, then it must be true.
At the same time, the majority of people have an illusionary belief that the Buddhist rite is better than the Taoist way as the funeral ceremony rites are cleaner in terms of setup and simple in offering.
Furthermore, a lot of them also have the misconception that a Buddhist death rite may lead one’s soul to attain a higher realm like Arahantship and Bodhisattva levels, than the Taoist way of funeral conduct which is towards the Deity level.
The truth is, these lines of thinking are completely wrong and only do more harm to the departed soul than good; like the Buddha said, ignorance is the cause of suffering.
Why the Taoist Funeral Ceremony May Be The Better Rite
Far from the truth, the Taoist funeral rite is the most ideal way to help anyone who has suddenly passed away from their home as the Taoist funeral procedure will enable one to be guided by the Angels of Death who act as assistants to show the lost soul where to proceed in their next journey.
Most of the time, souls are in a state of shock as many people experience sudden death or premature death. Many lost souls are unable to adapt to their new environment upon passing, causing a lot of stranded movements in their life after death. Hence, it is important for anyone with very little interest or understanding of Buddhist knowledge to adopt the Taoist funeral rite instead.
Only those who are well versed in Buddhism knowledge and always practice a simple routine of chanting, taking vegetarian once or twice a week, listening to the Dharma sermons, and lastly, pondering and contemplating over our daily life will be most ideal to adopt the Buddhist funeral rite.
This is because the moment one adopts the Buddhist funeral ceremony, the departed soul is left to his own device to begin his afterlife journey into the next world, through his own initiative of putting his palms together and chanting the verses of the Triple Gems and Namo Amitabha mantra. Upon this action of chanting, this way will automatically emit a radiant ray of light in front of the soul, thereby opening a clear path and guiding the soul to a successful journey of a higher realm.
Also read: The Underestimated Power of Prayers
Unfortunately, this scenario is never materialized as most so-called Buddhists do not know or are never able to automatically put their hands together to start chanting incessantly due to their superficial belief in Buddhist knowledge. Many so-called Buddhists are just Buddhists in name; they rarely perform any daily chanting and never listen to the Dharma sermons at all as well as no contemplation of thoughts.
The same dilemma is also directed to those who are entirely following the Taoist belief – these people always enjoy eating a lot of meat, disco dancing, drinking alcohol and frequently punting numbers. Upon their departure into the next world, it is pointless to conduct any Buddhist funeral rite as it is irrelevant to their belief, and doing so will only cause them to be left stranded due to the absent knowledge of Buddhism.
Yet many will still arrange to have their funeral rites conducted the Buddhist way as it is now a trend and also fully recommended by most funeral directors. The appeal of going for the Buddhist death ceremony is higher than that of the Taoist death ceremony as it is easier to perform Buddhist rites and gain more profit from the funeral ritual, after all, there is less spent since the Buddhist way does not require offering meats to the deceased as well as cutting cost on burning joss papers.
Also read: Do We Need Prayer Beads for Chanting
Think Before You Follow The Funeral Director’s Advice
In this modern time, many people are simply following the instructions of the funeral director to a T, in which the funeral director will usually recommend the family to conduct a Buddhist rite for the deceased regardless of whether the departed soul is truly a Buddhist or purely Taoist believer. Sad to say, nowadays we need to evaluate whether the recommendation is valid and applicable for the deceased first, instead of fully and blindly believing everything that the funeral director says.
A good funeral director should always enquire whether the deceased is a good Buddhist follower or merely a Taoist believer, which will then dictate and accord the ideal funeral procedure for the deceased.
While this gesture may seem insignificant, the truth is, this important question will help many souls to not be stranded in their afterlife, preventing the situation where they end up clueless about where to go or how to move to the next world. This is sadly happening now as many stranded souls today are wandering aimlessly in the vicinity of their columbarium due to the wrong funeral procedure carried out by their families out of blind faith and total ignorance.
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Remember to Adopt Taoist Funerals According to the Soul’s Needs
We should never treat Taoist funeral rite as outdated or out of trend as funeral rite is not a fashion but accommodating a soul’s needs in the afterlife.
We should never discard Taoist funeral rites for Buddhist funeral rites out of misconstrued comparisons, as souls need to be accommodated and adapted accordingly to their status, not according to our liking or misconception that one funeral rite is better than the other.
One comforting thing to remember is that, any soul upon departure who adopts the Taoist funeral rite will never be lost or wander the wrong path upon death, as at least there is someone like the Angel of Death coming to his aid and guide the soul who needs guidance in the afterlife journey. It is different for the deceased undergoing the Buddhist rite; the soul must be a strong follower of Buddhism enough to be able to procure his own initiative to proceed on his path of journey into the next world.
Again, it is a myth to believe Taoist funeral is inferior to the Buddhist rite as the onus is on the soul to adopt and adapt and not what we think is good for the soul.
That said, we hope this sheds light on the Taoist Funeral Rite and clears the doubts surrounding this death ritual. Hopefully, there will be fewer souls stranded in their life after death.
If you ever need sound advice on the best funeral procedure to adopt for the departed soul, feel free to contact us to guide you and offer you the right information to ensure your departed relative has a smooth funeral and afterlife journey.