Begin this day at dawn.
Pashupatinath Hindu cremation ceremony along Bagmati River.
Shiva is the destroyer and creator.
Wood pyres. A woman kisses her shrouded husband goodbye.
Light his fire.
Fire is the beginning and end.
Fire is your rosé flame.
Stir his bones.
His ashes flutter with death and mortality.
Silence. Solemnity. Serenity. Grounded and transient. Flowers. Offerings.
Glorious color dancing fire.
Return to Source.
In a remote Cambodian jungle village along The River of Darkness they carve images of their dead.
The Chunchiet animist people bury their dead in the jungle.
Life is a sacred jungle.
Animists believe in the universal inherent power of nature world. The Tompoun and Jarai, among animist world tribes have sacred burial sites.
The Kachon village cemetery is one hour by boat on the Tonle Srepok River from Voen Sai. It is deep in the jungle. Many go in. Few come out.
The departed stays in the family home for five days before burial. Once a month family members make ritual sacrifices at the site. The village shaman dreams the departed will go to hell.
In their spirit story dream the shaman meets LOTH, Leader of the Hell who asks for an animal sacrifice. The animist belief says sacrificing a buffalo and making statues of the departed will satisfy LOTH. It will renew the spirit and return it to the family.
After a year family members remove old structures, add two carved effigies, carve wooden elephant tusks, create new decorated roofs and sacrifice a buffalo at the grave during a week long celebration with food and rice wine for the entire village.
New tombs have cement bases and carved effigies with cell phones and sunglasses. Never out of touch. See your local long distance carrier for plans and coverage in your area.
The future is brighter than a day in a sacred jungle.
I dream the Sun Dance of the Plains people.
Nations gather in late spring celebrating a four day cycle of rituals and creation dances.
Dancers choosing self torture will have their chests pierced by skewers.
They will hang under the weight of buffalo skulls for 24 dances.
Their sacrifice will be successful if they have a vision during their trial.
The sun is going home to the earth.
One vision is all you need.
Namaste noble warrior of the Zen path,
Your haiku writing is inspirational.
Farewell little French traveller someone whispered.
The father asks me if I have a (wi-fi) signal. You have three signal children and a beautiful signal wife.
You don't need an electronic signal. He laughed with this small realization.
The crazy anxious German man insists on knowing the cremation cost.
I don't want to die, he said, The water is too dirty.
He needs medicine. He needs to slow down. His energy is a violent fireball.
It consumes his desire.
He creates his personal cremation ceremony in public places.
In dawn light women inspect orange and yellow flowers.
Men haggle over chickens for the new year sacrifice.
The chariot collided with a wall. Wooden wheels are pinned to stone. Towers shift toward gravity.
Boys play with tower brass bells, women offer fire flowers.
Men discuss future engineering projects.
Your Sakura cherry blossom are sublime.
Seasons bloom with love, beauty.
Metta.
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