Although, there are various burials of form such as cremation, inhumation, and burial at sea. Tibet has a traditional but special burial, where vultures eat a dead body and is known as the sky-burial.
It is a common ritual in Tibet.
Every town has their own ceremonial rock table for the sky burial. Bodies of deceased are dissolved into the nature as if it is supposed to be. It is believed a soul which left a body will reincarnate into a new life, the endless circle of birth.
A soul is considered as life in Tibet, therefore a body of a deceased without a soul is only an empty vessel. Offering own empty vessel to fuel the other lives may be a way to return the favor for the lives taken for the survival of the person. Sky burial is deeply connected to the Buddhist belief.
I went to Litang in western of China where they have a strong Tibetan culture and took pictures of it in 2011. The route to go there was inaccessible and was a 48 hour trip by bus.
The Sky-burial takes less than 30 minutes for the vultures to devour the whole human body including all of bones.
Thorough the photographs I took, the sky-burial ceremony gave me a deep thought about what is life and death, and I realize how natural the huge world we are living in.
