Two thousand years ago, there was such a solemn funeral: Jiezi pushed to live in seclusion in the mountains, refused to accept the reward, Jin Wengong had to personally lead the team into the mountain to find him, because of the desire to be eager and listened to the rumors of the villain, Jin Wengong ordered the mountain to be set on fire, and the fire burned for three days and three nights, and never even saw the shadow of The meson.
It wasn't until someone found a dead willow that he saw the bones of the mother and son and a blood letter that read: "Cut the flesh and serve the king with all his heart, and I hope that the lord and prince will always be clear... The subject has no shame in jiuquan, and is diligent and clear-sighted."
The grief-stricken Jin Wengong wept and worshiped Jiezi Tui and built a tomb and a monument for him; in the folk, people commemorated Jie Zi Tui by not making a fire and eating cold rice, which evolved several times to form the Qingming Festival.
Now, two thousand years later, Li Boqing, a master of bashu commentaries, told such an unserious funeral:
There are some, carrying a bag all day, if they see where there are wreaths, immediately put their eyes into the spiritual hall, first chanting Oh, I didn't expect it, after the incense, before the master can figure out who this is, they sat down to play a few rounds of mahjong, ate a few meals, and sneaked out with thousands of dollars they won.
China, and even countries and regions deeply influenced by Han culture, have paid attention to the tradition of caution and pursuit of the future since ancient times.
But today, the Jongmyo Temple in Seoul, South Korea, which originated from the funeral rites of the Zhou Dynasty in China, has been inscribed on the World Heritage List, but we are very unfamiliar with the traditional funeral rites, and even the chaos of funeral rites that Li Boqing called unserious.
Funerals have changed from solemn to unserious, and even treated in a playful and playful manner, which can't help but cause people to reflect on funerals and life and death.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the current unserious funeral chaos</h1>
From time to time to browse the social news, you will find that as Li Boqing pointed out, the chaos of unserious funeral rites has emerged in an endless stream.
For example, some media will impersonate the family of the deceased star to secretly take pictures of the remains, but more often happen around ordinary people, for example, hippie smiling faces, mixed eating and drinking at funerals, cheating, and using funeral money to pay bribes.
These chaos is so frequent that it is common for people to see similar news. After giving an example, Li Boqing said a sentence: "The grief of the present is not so sad", that is, people now no longer have so deep emotions about death, and they are no longer so in awe of funerals.
The loss of reverence is the main cause of chaos and absurd farce. Because there is no reverence, the funeral can become a joke, a business, a way and a means to cover up illegal acts, which are contrary to the original intention of holding a funeral and pursuing the distant future, and are disrespectful and blasphemous to the deceased.
There is also a manifestation of unseriousness that many funeral rites are chaotic, it can be said that it is both Chinese and Western, or it can be said that it is neither Chinese nor Western, and in any case, what is finally presented is a chaotic and complex ceremony that is not called a ceremony, which will give rise to many of the chaos and absurd farce mentioned above.
Many people criticize the current era of "liturgy and bad music", although this statement may not be timely, but it still exposes the current situation that Chinese civilization is famous for liturgy, while modern people already know very little about traditional etiquette.
People who have a little understanding of traditional culture know that the main traditional rituals are auspicious, fierce, guest, military, and jia, and the fierce ceremony is the funeral rite.
Many funerals today are said to be both Chinese and Western, neither Chinese nor Western, because many funeral ceremonies organizers want to have the complicated rituals in traditional Chinese customs, but do not understand the meaning of these ceremonies, only a Western-style simple funeral heart.
Therefore, in the end, while cursing the red tape and hastily doing things; or working hard for a month or two, and finally doing it is not the same, it is really a bamboo basket to hit the water.
Who is the organizer? Of course, in most cases, the children are doing this. It is human nature that no child wants their parents' funeral to end in an absurd farce, hoping that their parents can leave this world with dignity.
The first of the problems that has backfired is that the culture of filial piety has evolved more into a superficial form of filial piety in this day and age: children are willing to honor their parents' desire to hold funerals in traditional ceremonies, which they consider to be filial piety.
But they did not go to their parents to understand what this wish was pinned on, in their eyes, it was more like feudal superstition, and they had to reluctantly do it as soon as possible.
The second problem is that modern people have forgotten too much about traditional funeral rites, have more than enough and are not strong enough, listen to one sentence on the left and listen to one sentence on the right, and only do not think about which of these rituals should be had and which should not be.
Therefore, the reason why all kinds of unserious funeral rites are endlessly chaotic today is because superficial filial piety can only complete the funeral ritual process and cannot understand the meaning of traditional rituals, so that people who have lost their reverence have an opportunity.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, past serious funerals</h1>
To say that today's funeral is not serious, that corresponds to saying that past funerals were serious.
As one of the most important rituals in China, funeral rites have a complete set of procedures and requirements. The imminent death of a person is called "genus", which means to put the new silk on the mouth and nose of the dying person to see if there is a loss of breath.
At the beginning of death, people must summon souls and bathe after death; then there are "funeral" ceremonies wrapped in clothes and put into coffins, "funeral" ceremonies that stop funerals and take burials, and "burial" ceremonies that require white clothes and chanting elegy, among which the details are about seven or eight pages.
Serious traditional funeral rites are now very strange and strange in the eyes of many people, and even think that this is a feudal superstition, but serious traditional funerals are not equal to feudal superstitions, and each specific ceremony contains the painstaking intention of paying tribute to Dalai and educating future generations.
As recorded in the Book of Rites, after the death of parents, the grief-stricken children expect their parents to be resurrected so they will not be buried immediately, and after three days without resurrection, they accept the fact that people cannot be resurrected from the dead, and they can only be buried, which is full of sorrow and respect, and conveys filial piety and respect.
For people's requirements, in general, it is four words - cautious and long-term pursuit. "Zeng Zi said: 'Cautiously pursue the far away, and the people's morality will return to the thick.'" "The reason why the serious traditional funeral rites have a far-reaching impact and have been passed down for a long time is because the humanistic and moral values it contains have always been human nature.
No matter what form of funeral rites, it is to pay tribute to mourning, it is a person who expresses the emotional need to face death, and the seriousness not only reflects the simple and thick national characteristics.
It is also a kind of long-term consideration, only by treating funeral rites and treating death cautiously and seriously will we be filial, loyal, respectful and loving, and will we carry forward and inherit the traditional virtues of Chinese civilization.
The concept of prudently handling funerals and paying homage to ancestors is not only unique to the Confucian school, but the Mosuo people, who live in the southwestern frontier and still retain the traditions of the primitive matriarchal society.
The same approach to funeral rites is very serious. Their ancestors were Mongols who lived in the steppe and the desert, even if their descendants migrated to the shores of Lugu Lake in the mountains at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan.
After death, a pair of perforated cloth shoes should also be prepared so that the feet of the undead can be more comfortable when they travel long distances back to the ancestral land; during the funeral, the family will break a bowl, implying that from now on they will no longer eat in the same bowl as the deceased.
The dead are going back to their ancestral land, and the saints are still living in this world... They also have many rituals to take life and death seriously.
Having said that the serious traditional funeral has so many meanings and benefits, but it has always declined in modern society, it proves that it also has many unavoidable problems.
There are many funeral customs, in addition to too much red tape, there are also a lot of smoky miasma stereotypes, not only the solemnity of funerals, but also inhibit the development of people, especially women.
For example, the funeral dress system, where the wife lives for the husband for three years, the husband serves the wife for only seven years, and the chastity arch that people still see today, are all manifestations of the shortcomings of traditional funeral rites.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >3</h1>
With the development of society, the progress of science and technology and the renewal of ideological concepts, funeral culture has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Although there is no shortage of funeral rites mentioned above, there are also many new era funeral rites that are both simple and solemn, retaining the original intention of cautiously pursuing the future and abandoning stereotypes and bad habits.
If you've ever heard of "funerals" and death experience halls, you'll understand that this is not something that can be done better than ascending to heaven. Holding "funerals" for the living is now popular in some Western countries.
This trendy funeral rite gives terminally ill or dying elderly people the opportunity to meet with friends and family to express love and gratitude, which for young people makes them cherish life even more.
In Shanghai, there is a "net red" death experience hall called "Wake Up", where through psychological games and other means, the whole process from birth to death is condensed into three hours, which can explore death without shying away, face the fear of the heart, and help people resolve part of the fear of death through exploration and experience, and also cherish life and respect life more.
Funerals need to be treated seriously, there is no doubt that caution is always the attitude that people should maintain in the face of funeral rites.
But this also means that people should fully comply with traditional funeral rites, respect and inherit the good virtues in traditional funeral rites, improve the bad habits and inadequacies in them, put an end to unserious funeral chaos, and explore funeral rites in a new era of more civilized, more timely, and more respectful of life.
Of course, the most important thing is to respect life. After all, the deceased is long gone, and the living are like Sifu, which is the most long-term and valuable meaning that people need to take the funeral seriously.
Text/Nangong Qin