BUDDHISM FAVORS CREMATION AS THE MOST NATURAL WAY TO DEAL WITH A CORPSE

While funeral rites and ceremonies vary according to country and culture, Buddhism strongly favors cremation as the most natural way to deal with a corpse. The Buddha, himself, was cremated and his cremains divided among his key disciples. Cremation is preferred for a variety of reasons including:

• financial considerations - burial requires the expense of preparing the body such as embalming, the purchase of land, paying for coffins, tombs as well as markers and monuments;
  
• issues of land use - cremation eliminates conflicts over land for the living or land for the dead;
  
• as an act of compassion and generosity - sky burial is common in Tibet, Mongolia and parts of China where a body is placed on a mountaintop to be consumed by hungry birds and animals. Remaining bones are allowed to decompose naturally.
  

Buddhism stresses that funeral rites and ceremonies remain simple, uncluttered and inexpensive. When a body is to be cremated, a monk may be present to lead chanting and meditation and a few family members may speak about the deceased before the cremation process is started. When the cremains are collected they may be kept by the family in an urn, scattered, or enshrined at a temple or monastery.