"How Chinese Thought Deals with Death And the Afterlife"

Cynthia Pong

Death is the final statement. As far as we know, it is the end, the point of no return, a dark, grim fate at which all will one day arrive. To mankind it is intimidating if not terrifying, since there is no hard knowledge of life after death. People need an explanation for this phenomenon to comfort themselves. This brings about many attempts to explain death and the afterlife, as well as life itself. Therefore it calls for no surprise that death consumes a great deal of Chinese thought. Is there a Supreme Being that governs life and death? Is there an afterlife? Is the course of one’s life predetermined? To answer these questions, the Chinese turned to Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Much religiosity is evident, and there are as well strict instructions depicting, for example, exactly how to face a coffin during a burial or in what order the family members should walk in a funeral procession. Various explanations are offered for what happens to the soul of the deceased after burial. There are also variations when it comes to describing Heaven’s existence as well as its basic function and purpose. And of course there are many different views concerning God – Taoism and Confucianism are two major schools of thought that attempt to explain God. Still, death remains unexplained for the most part. As a result, Chinese people have developed detailed rules of conduct for dealing with death and many different theories concerning death and the afterlife.

There are probably an infinite number of variations of the customs and traditions explained here. China is a big country; it has many regional deviations and ethnic differences. There are, however, many similarities. For nearly all classes, rich or poor, if an elderly family member is expected to die soon, all family members are notified. After the death, a geomancer is usually consulted immediately to determine the exact time and day of death by examining the right hand of a woman or the left hand of a man (Li-Ch’en 70-71). Next a diviner is called to determine the time and day that the spirit should leave the body (Cormack 67). In addition, the color of the spirit (as it shall appear in visible vapor form) and the direction that it should be headed are established (67). It is convenient that the Chinese believe that family members who see the spirit leaving will die early; they all avoid the room in which the dead lies and no one actually sees a spirit (68). Following that, a funeral or burial date needs to be decided upon keeping in mind the time of death (Li-Ch’en 70-71). According to J. G. Cormack, the body is then washed and clothed; socks and shoes are put on. Also, the feet of the corpse are tied together to ensure that the body cannot rise and jump around; the body is believed to be controlled by the demons if the deceased passed in an unlucky hour (70). The body is laid on a bed with special sheets and the coffin is prepared (70). Prayers and chants are said to make way for the soul to go to Heaven; this may last for seven days (73).

The coffin is the most important part of the burial; it is made prior to death from the person’s favorite tree (Granet 115). For the death of a young adult, blue, red, or flowered white linens cover the bottom of the coffin while red satin covers the top (66). The above customs mainly pertain to the middle class, average families. For poorer families, linens and other decorations may be omitted (67). Lower class families may also be forced to keep the coffin of the dead out in the countryside covered by a mat of soil, awaiting a lucky date for the funeral (Cormack 102). Of course wealthier families have more elaborate funerals with more ornate decorations and accessories.

It is obvious that many religious ideas regulate the preparations for the funeral. In the opinion of certain scholars, some of these religious ideas border on superstition. As stated by Soothill, "There is much to deplore in the worship of the dead. It has generated no little superstition, which has an oppressive burden upon the living, and has drawn the mind of the Chinese away from the search after and approach to the Great Parent of all men." (185)

According to Marcel Granet, a man should be buried three days after death in his native soil, but that may be changed for the sake of a more lucky and advantageous burial date (52; 152). Fear of the spirits of the dead returning to punish those who did not fully honor their death motivates some poorer families to put more effort into making a proper burial (65). In the special case of an emperor’s death, it is required that two of his servants volunteer to give their lives in order for the emperor to have servants in the next world. They would take part in the procession and commit suicide by consuming mercury or gold (Cormack 102-103). In the case of a middle class family, during the funeral procession, eight pallbearers will carry the coffin (66). Behind it are the family members in different colored carts according to their relationship with the deceased. The carts are in specific order, even distinguishing maternal from paternal sides of the family (95). Family members also must dress in specified colors and garments made of specified materials. There is a greater pressure placed on the eldest son in funeral and burial proceedings; he must look physically and mentally drained in public because of the death of his father or mother. At the burial, family members must each throw a handful of dirt onto the coffin and then weep (98). Afterwards, family and friends leave for home and only family members are allowed to visit the grave again (Granet 52). The importance of the family in Chinese society is a recurring theme, especially when it comes to dead relatives. Many strict regulations dictate what is to be worn and done to mourn the dead after burial. For example, food is brought to the grave or temple on the third day after burial (Cormack 99). Two white flour cakes are brought to the grave. One is put on each side of the coffin as to resemble a doorway. The purpose of this is to allow the soul to leave the body by opening the coffin (99). Paper money is also burned so the soul can use it in the afterlife (101).

However, ethnic differences exist. Following are several detailed aspects of a Manchu funeral. There is emphasis on the participation of all relatives. Garments of the dead are tied and not buttoned so as to let the spirit escape easier (Li-Ch’en 67). In the Manchu belief the ankles are also tied together, but, in this case, it is to keep the spirit close to home – since it cannot move far with its ankles bound (68). Manchu coffins, too, differ from the Chinese. Thirteen logs of the red ringed fir tree go into the construction of the coffin (72). Not one nail may be used to build the coffin (74). The Manchu people believe that the eldest son should wash the corpse’s eyes with cotton and water in order that they better serve the dead in the afterlife (74). A lamp shows the spirit the road to be taken to reach the world of darkness (76). All arrangements and preparations must be taken care of by the third day after death before friends come to pay their last respects (76). "…It may be said that the dead rule the living in thought and custom, and by the fear and dread of calamity, if anything which should be done is omitted." (Cormack 102)

Another issue that raises controversy concerns the existence of Heaven. In Chinese religion, there is a Mandate of Heaven (Yang 127). Only vaguely conceived as a place for the dead, Heaven was mainly thought of as a political authority in the beginning. This was established before the first dynasties and it was accounted for like this: the monarchy is supposed to have a special relationship with Heaven; subjects were led to believe that the privilege of ruling concerned Heaven and those in power, completely skipping over them (128). This lessened chances of rebellion since no one wanted to be sent to Hell for rebelling against Heaven. All the emperors needed to say was that they were representing Heaven (128). In the Ch’ing dynasty, beginning with its first emperor and ending in 1909, sacrifices to Heaven and Earth officiated the coronations of every monarch (128). The sacrifices were symbolic of the emperor’s acceptance of the Mandate of Heaven to preside over the empire (128). Another belief that emperors were the bodily forms of dragons added to the faith in Chinese rulers and subsequently their power over the people.

All of these thoughts concerning Heaven were established by the rulers, of course, to give themselves more power. They used the idea of Heaven, a state of mind really, to achieve their wants. Later the concept of Heaven as a destination for the dead was created. Heaven was the controlling factor in stabilizing the forces of the universe (130).

Because of the great reverence toward Heaven and the belief that the course of human events was predetermined, the emperor was always honored as moral and superhuman (132). When crises strike, offerings are make to Heaven; if order is restored, Heaven is always responsible and is duly thanked (134). This dependence and faith in heavenly forces relieved the pressures of ruling as the public believed in the supernatural completely (134). Once universal harmony was pushed out of balance because of a man’s wrongdoing, Heaven would send warnings: an eclipse on New Year’s Day or another holiday, a comet, a falling star, or the birth of malformed animals or humans (139). Heaven might also send punishments: "droughts, floods, unseasonable precipitation, earthquakes, fire, and destruction by lightning." (139)

Commoners had a different purpose for the existence of Heaven since they had no ruling status, no empire over which to control; they were interested in Heaven as a place for the dead. Taoism reveals several heavens that the Immortals enter after departure from earth (Kaltenmark 117). Heaven is the great determiner of how humans turn out on earth (62). "…The profound Confucian sense of destiny [is] based on predetermination by Heaven." (Yang 142) According to Buddhism, heaven is "bliss…eternal light and liberty and joy." (Soothill 106) Prior to Buddhism there was only the good afterlife; it was not until Buddhism that the concept of hell was developed (Kaltenmark 83).

When one speaks of heaven and the afterlife, one must address the many issues and questions dealing with the soul. In both Western and Eastern religions, there is a predominant emphasis on acting "selfless" during life on earth, alluding to the fact that there is no personal soul after the brain dies, according to David Darling (4). The self is only temporary – nothing of the individual prevails after death (4). Darling also writes, "Consciousness as an epiphenomenon of physical and chemical processes taking place in the brain – and all fail utterly. They fail not because their models are insufficiently accurate or detailed, but because they are trying to do what is, from the outset, impossible." (4) There is no self; one is what one’s brain and consciousness tell one (4). But according to most Chinese thought, a soul does exist, and in many cases there is a need for two or three of them. Upon death, one undergoes judgement for good and bad actions done during life on earth, one stays at the grave and one "goes into the ancestral tablet." (Cormack 100)

In Buddhist thought, the concept of a soul is valid though it never truly promotes the existence of the self and ego (Soothill 106). Closely associated with thought on the human soul are thoughts surrounding immortality and reincarnation. According to the Tao, nothing lasts forever save the principle of the Tao in the Holy Man’s heart (Kaltenmark 67). Lao-Tzô , a follower and preachers of the Tao, also thought to be a contemporary of Confucius as there is no proof of his existence, had no faith in physical immortality or the endurance of the personal soul (66). Derk Bodde states that humans have two souls: the hun and the p’o. The hun is the soul that leaves the body but is later compelled to return by a family member. The p’o eventually makes its way to the underworld and represents the dead’s raw energy (Bodde 276-277). Regarding reincarnation, there was a recent claim made by the Tibetan Buddhists that a Maryland woman was the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama, called the tulku. She is supposedly the reincarnation of AhkØ n Lhamo, a Buddhist saint who has been dead for the past 300 years (Podesta 123). In Chinese religion, reincarnation does occur: the dead are absorbed into the earth for a period of time and then returned always into the same family as a newborn (Granet 52). "Every birth seemed to be the reincarnation of a forbear." (52)

And then there is the issue of God. Is there a God? What is God like? What role does He play in human lives? In Confucianism, God is a "Majesty and never…a Father." (Soothill 31) God must be respected and pleased; He is the Absolute Power, the Absolute Being. God controls all the elements in the universe. And in most cases in Chinese religion, Heaven is synonymous with God in what they both do as the great deciding factor that they both are (31-32). As W. E. Soothill quotes in his book, "For ‘In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God. And the Tao became flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’" (76) All other deities are classified in a hierarchy under the supreme control of Heaven (Yang 133). The purpose of having deities is to account for the idea of predetermination on their part (127).

All these thoughts must have come from somewhere: Confucianism and Taoism came first and Buddhism followed. As do thoughts concerning any phenomenon, ideas and views surrounding death evolve with time. Confucianism and Taoism established ideas that may or may not be contradicted by Buddhism. Hybrids of these schools of thought also develop with the passage of time. To start at the beginning, Confucius, who lived around 551-479 B.C., once said, "Not yet understanding life, how can you understand death?" (Soothill 172) There is truth in that – sometimes people try to know too much and perhaps it is not meant for us to know all, especially if there is a Mandate of Heaven, or a Supreme Being of any sort. A major reason religions exist at all is to create a Supreme Being who controls all – including fate and death. In Taoism death simply is – it is neither feared nor truly welcomed – it is accepted as fate (Kaltenmark 81). Max Kaltenmark writes, "Life and death are merely two aspects of the same reality, and the change from one to the other is as natural as the succession of day and night, waking and sleeping." (81) Buddhism, on the other hand, started in India with the enlightenment of Buddha. He realized one day while meditating that no mortals, inanimate objects, and not even gods exist permanently. As a consequence, he understood that suffering was directly related to existence and with the presence of one follows the presence of the other. To escape suffering there is only one option: to give up the self by loving all humanity and all objects (Soothill 83). Buddhism entered into China between 58 and 76 A.D. (96). The basis of Buddhism is the idea of Impermanence as stated above (96). Even heaven and hell are impermanent (99). Buddha is the Supreme Being, revealed in all other Buddhas (104).

For the Chinese people, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism explain the unexplained. Heaven, the soul, God and other thoughts concerning death are made known through these religions. Burial and mourning customs have been passed down from the remote past. And it is evident that superstition is involved in nearly every aspect of Chinese religion and plays a huge role in Chinese thought. But the idea that is common to all types of Chinese thought is that death is like the passing from one month to the next – it is inevitable and is the right thing to happen. A dying man once said, "Wherever his parents tell a son to go he goes. Nature is more to a man even than his parents are. When It hastens my death, if I do not obey, I shall be unfilial…and surely what has made my life a good will make my death a good…" (Kaltenmark 70).

To close, one can examine a story of Chuang-Tzô , a colleague of Lao-Tzô . This story explains quite eloquently and simply that we really do not know anything – we are not to judge or decide what is life and what is death. Concerning the illusion of death he asks himself the following question:

‘How do I know that the love of life is not a delusion? and that the dislike of death is not like a child that is lost and does not know the way home?’

Then he gives the instance of the bride of a prince, who saturated her dress with tears on leaving her home in the wilds, but after she had enjoyed the delights of the palace regretted that she had wept. And he asks, ‘How do I know that the dead do not repent of their craving for (this) life?

‘Those who dream of the banquet may wake to lamentation and sorrow; those who dream of lamentation and sorrow may wake to join the hunt. While they dream, they do not know that they dream. Some will even interpret the dream while they are dreaming; but only when they awake do they know it was a dream. By and by comes the Great Awakening, and then we shall find out that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake now, and flatter themselves they know if they are princes or peasants. Confucius and you are both dreams; and I who say you are dreams – I am but a dream myself.’ (68-69)

Works cited

Bodde, Derk. Festivals in Classical China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Cormack, J. G. Chinese Birthday, Wedding, Funeral and Other Customs. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, Ltd., 1927.

Darling, David. "Supposing Something Different: Reconciling Science and the Afterlife." Omni Winter 1995: 4.

Granet, Marcel. The Religion of Chinese People. New York: Harper and Row, 1975.

Kaltenmark, Max. Lao Tzu and Taoism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969.

Li-Ch’en, Tun. Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking. Taipei: Southern Materials Center, Inc., 1977.

Podesta, Jane Sims. "A 300-Year-Old Saint Returns As Buddhism’s First U. S. Mama Lama." People Weekly Oct. 1988: 123-124.

Soothill, W. E. The Three Religions of China. London: Oxford University Press, 1951.

Yang, C. K. Religion in Chinese Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.