Question

Write in your own words about Japanese death, rituals and dying practices and also, Compare and Contrast the differences and similarities between Neo-paganism, Wiccan, and New Age beliefs, rituals, and death practices. NOTE: (IT SHOULD BE 600 WORDS or More) Thanks

Answer 1

Qstn:Write in your words about japanese death, rituals, and dying practises and also compare and contrast the differences and similarities between neo-paganism, Wiccan, New age beliefs, rituals, and death practises.

Solutn: The Japanese perception of life and death is a unique one.They believe in the existance of life after death.So even after the death, bereaved japanese families treat the corpses in the same way as living persons, and they have a strong feeling of rejection to autopsies as they do not want to hurt their bodies anymore.They want to bring the bodies to home as early as possible since they think it is cold,hot, or lonely for dead to stay in morgues. The bereaved families always believed, the diseased will have a tough time in another world if they lost  limbs or eyes through autopsies. Therefore getting approvals from bereaved families in case of consented autopsies is still not easily achievable in many cases in japan.

The holistic theory is fundamentally accepted in japan.For japanese, human remains do not merely mean corpses without souls,but much more than that.They believe cremating bodies and consoling souls of the diseased are the last duties of families. Therefore retrieving victim's bodies should be prioritised above anything else, and the grieving families desperately try to find their body parts even if the death is due to an environmental hazard.They didn' believe in the death of a person until verifying or identifying the human remains.Becauseof these japanese particular thoughts or a sort of religious beliefs backed by budhism and shintoism the number of organ donors has not increased eventhough medical facilities are fully equipped and their are domestic demands of organ transplantation.

Dying practises: A japanese funeral includes a wake, the cremation of the diseased, a burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial service.While japan has a mixture of shinto and budhist beliefs funerals are almost always budhist ceremonies. After death the diseased lips are moistened with water in a ceremony called "water of the last moment". The household shrine is closed and covered with a white paper to keep out tthe impure sprits of the dead.A knife may put on the chest of diseased to drive away evil spirits.

The body is washed, and last clothes are usually a suit for males and kimono for females.Body is put on dry ice in a casket and a white kimono, sandals, six coins will be placed in the casket to symbolise crossing over into the afterlife.

In case of cremation, the coffibn is placed on a tray in the crematorium.The relatives pick the bones out of the ashes and transfer them to the urn using large chopsticks or metal picks.Hyoid bone is the most significant bone to be put in the urn.

Differences and similarities:Both neopaganism and shinto acknowledge that there are some forces in nature that can be harmful to us,but unlike other religions such as christianity ,neither necessarily accepts the idea of absolute good and evil. Either one would probably say that anything we consider good usually has a bad element to it,and anything we consider bad has something good somewhere.Many neopagans and shintoists would also argue that there is really no such thing as two opposing of "good and bad" or "light and dark"- they are merely perspectives. And on the subject of death,both shinto and western paganism are more concerned with life in the here and now, rather than what happens after death, and neither have clearly defined ideas about the after life.

Although western neopagans and shintoists may have similar ideas about "light and dark" aspects of life, this doesnot necessarily means theses things are treated in the same way by the two religions.

Neopaganism has a strong relation of not only accepting the "darker"forces of nature but actually celebrating them. Neopagan attitude towards death are a good example of this.Death may be one of the most unpleasant and frightening things humans must experiance but neopaganism teaches that death is simply a natural part of existance, a mere turn in the cycle of life.

In contrast despite accepting that "light and dark" are not really polarised,shinto in general tends to avoid images related to death and darkness.While black and other dark colours are commonly used by western pagans, shinto is usually associated with white.Traditionally shinto aesthetic strive to create an image of purity and serenity.Death is considered a form of impurity and so shinto shrines are kept free of emiting to do with death.Shinto funerals are rare for this reason,and japanese people purify themselves by throwing salt over their bodies,after atending a funaral or being in contact with the diseased. This is why most japanese turn to budhism for funeral rites and ideas about death, as budhism has a lot more to say are perhaps more comfort to offer,when it comes to grieving for loved ones as it expresses ideas about reincarnation and nirvana.Shinto prefers a focus on celebrating that which is living and positive, rather than dwelling on things that can cause sadness or discord.