"Sky burial" in Tibet (contains graphic images) | Hacker News Reader

"Sky burial" in Tibet (contains graphic images)

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33 pointstoxicflavor16 comments

Zoroastrians have a similar process to get rid of dead bodies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence

For those who don't know, Zoroastrians are mostly found in Iran

Heinrich Harrer wrote an interesting account of a Tibetan sky burial in his book "Seven years in Tibet".

He wrote of a young girl dying of small pox. Men took the corpse to a high plateau and dismembered it, crushing the bones. The birds apparently knew what was going on and gathered all around. The birds were given the least desirable parts first to ensure the entirety was eaten. The girl's young age had a large effect on the men, they sang songs and were given beer to help them through the task.

That's how I remember it at least.

I tried to find the particular section on Google books but I could not find a preview.

Seriously, this is not for the faint-hearted.

Yeah, but have you ever seen how bodies are prepared for burial in the western world? What would a Tibetan think if he popped into a funeral home in New Jersey and saw an embalming?

photographing sky burial is disrespect to the dead and illegal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_4600000/newsid_...

Seems like a good way to recycle the dead.

I'd prefer to donate their organs to science/living people who need them more.

This is neat, and I'm sure the tradition behind it is interesting, but there's far more useful things to do with the dead.

Do you mean you prefer to donate your organs to science/living people?

What's wrong with that? I certainly intend to donate my organs. I'm mostly healthy person so I hope they'll be in a good condition when time comes.

Nothing wrong, just that it is a difference to donate somebody else's organs.

Soylent Green for example.

While somewhat shocking to see this, it's a practical and efficient means of disposing of a body where it's often hard to find burning material or a section of land in which a grave can be easily dug.

"Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms." --The Outlaw Josey Wales

Sorry to spoil the party, but why on earth is this on HN?

Yeah, I flagged the link too. Seems completely off-topic to me.

Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals especially to birds of prey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

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