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Sky burial (, lit. "bird-scattered"〔http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/cultural-traditions/sky-burial.htm〕) is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds. It is a specific type of the general practice of excarnation. It is practiced in the Chinese provinces and autonomous regions of Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia, as well as in Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal, and parts of India such as Sikkim and Zanskar. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the Vajrayana Buddhist traditions as charnel grounds. Comparable practices are part of Zoroastrian burial practices where deceased are exposed to the elements and birds of prey on stone structures called Dakhma.〔''BBC''. "(Zoroastrian funerals Towers of Silence )". 02 Oct 2009. Accessed 08 Sep 2014.〕 Few such places remain operational today due to religious marginalisation, urbanisation and the decimation of vulture populations.〔''New York Times''. "(Giving New Life to Vultures to Restore a Human Ritual of Death )". 29 Nov 2012. Accessed 08 Sep 2014.〕〔''npr''. "(Vanishing Vultures A Grave Matter For India's Parsis )". 05 Sep 2012. Accessed 08 Sep 2014.〕 The majority of Tibetan people and many Mongols adhere to Vajrayana Buddhism, which teaches the transmigration of spirits. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it or nature may cause it to decompose. The function of the sky burial is simply to dispose of the remains in as generous a way as possible (the source of the practice's Tibetan name). In much of Tibet and Qinghai, the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and, due to the scarcity of fuel and timber, sky burials were typically more practical than the traditional Buddhist practice of cremation. In the past, cremation was limited to high lamas and some other dignitaries,〔http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/tibet/sky-buria.htm〕 but modern technology and difficulties with sky burial have led to an increased use by commoners.〔''China Daily''. "(Funeral reforms in Tibetan areas )". 13 Dec 2012. Accessed 18 Jul 2013.〕 ==History and development== The Tibetan sky-burials appear to have evolved from ancient practices of defleshing corpses as discovered in archeological finds in the region.〔PBS. ("Cave People of the Himalaya" ).〕 These practices most likely came out of practical considerations,〔.〕〔.〕〔.〕 but they could also be related to more ceremonial practices similar to the suspected sky burial evidence found at Göbekli Tepe (11,500 years before present) and Stonehenge (4,500 years BP). Most of Tibet is above the tree line, and the scarcity of timber makes cremation economically unfeasible. Additionally, subsurface interment is difficult since the active layer is not more than a few centimeters deep, with solid rock or permafrost beneath the surface. The customs are first recorded in an indigenous 12th-century Buddhist treatise, which is colloquially known as the ''Book of the Dead'' (Bardo Thodol).〔.〕 Tibetan tantricism appears to have influenced the procedure.〔.〕〔.〕 The body is cut up according to instructions given by a lama or adept.〔.〕 Mongolians traditionally buried their dead (sometimes with human or animal sacrifice for the wealthier chieftains) but the Tümed adopted sky burial following their conversion to Tibetan Buddhism under Altan Khan during the Ming Dynasty and other banners subsequently converted under the Manchu Qing Dynasty.〔Heike, Michel. "(The Open-Air Sacrificial Burial of the Mongols )". Accessed 18 Jul 2013.〕 Sky burial was initially treated as a primitive superstition and sanitation concern by the Communist governments of both the PRC and Mongolia; both states closed many temples〔 and China banned the practice completely from the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s until the 1980s.〔.〕 Sky burial nonetheless continued to be practiced in rural areas and has even received official protection in recent years. However, the practice continues to diminish for a number of reasons, including restrictions on its practice near urban areas and diminishing numbers of vultures in rural districts. Where the vultures remain, they often react badly to corpses treated with medicine and disinfectants at modern hospitals. Finally, Tibetan practice holds that the yak carrying the body to the charnel grounds should be set free, making the rite much more expensive than a service at a crematorium.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sky burial」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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