Have any of our world-travelers here experienced a sky burial?

[Nero]

Hey guys and dolls,

While doing research for a paper, I came across descriptions of Tibetan sky burials. I'd never heard of this before (I'm sadly lacking in Eastern knowledge). So, has anyone ever been to one and what was it like?
Do you think it would be a good way to go - sustaining living birds as you go out or not?

[Bellaon7]

Hey guys and dolls,

While doing research for a paper, I came across descriptions of Tibetan sky burials. I'd never heard of this before (I'm sadly lacking in Eastern knowledge). So, has anyone ever been to one and what was it like?
Do you think it would be a good way to go - sustaining living birds as you go out or not?

I've not even heard of this. I'd picture ashes ascending via paper lantern's, but that wouldn't do much for birds. So I cannot even imagine what this would entail, but I would be fascinated to learn more as well. 

[Cindy]

I have seen one on a documentary.

The body was cut into quite small parts and spread over rocks. The eagles would come and feed on them. From what I remember it was used because the earth was too frozen to dig and there was too little wood to build a fire.

It was carried out with reverence and the filming was very discreet.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has seen one first hand. However I got the impression that it was a (understandably) very private occasion.

Cindy

[jesse]

as cindy said a spiritual leader hand feeds your corpse to the birds until nothing is left freeing your soul to the four winds if you will.
jessica

[Bellaon7]

This for me brings up the issue of what would you want done with your body post mortem? The worst thing I can come up with is being put into an airtight box to make sure I can never be of any use. I would gladly donate my body to science even if it was to be direspected. I'm not offended by the idea of my shell being rolled into a frat party.

[Nicky]

I'm thinking of donating myslef to one of the med schools in my country. It is one of the few places where they still do human disections as part of their Doctor training. I saw a doco on it and it looked like a worthy thing to do. They work on the body for two years and it was done with respect and they even had a memorial at the end and the deceased family to attend. The students talked about the donor and what it has meant for them.

[tekla]

I took anatomy as an undergrad at the local DO Med School, we used bodies, I'm pretty sure all med schools in the US use bodies.  It's too hard to fake.

[Hannah]

Oh heck yeah, Anatomy&Physiology was the best thing I could have done for my education, and I'm very grateful for the lady who donated her body. I learned things that you just can't learn out of a book.

Of course the most interesting part to me was the brain. It was already removed and halved, I don't think they would have let a sophomore do that and I don't think I would have anyway, lol.



Ya know, I took this picture almost as an afterthought, but these days I'm glad I have it because it brings back some fun memories.

I remember sitting there touching that thing and feeling it, look how well defined the parts are! They are a lot firmer than one might think. I was struck with a sense of awe, think about it, right there in front of me was someones entire life. Every moment of every memory is encoded on those tissues. I was fascinated with her liver and lungs too but this brain really left me speechless.

[tekla]

Because I took it at a med college we did the cutting, or at least I did - my lab partner was a bit squeamish about the entire using a saw to cut someones head open, couldn't even watch me do it as I recall - but hey, I'm pretty good with power tools, and they were dead already, so its not like I could hurt them.

I think the weirdest deal was we all named our corpses.  Give 'em that personal touch.

[jesse]

Oh heck yeah, Anatomy&Physiology was the best thing I could have done for my education, and I'm very grateful for the lady who donated her body. I learned things that you just can't learn out of a book.

Of course the most interesting part to me was the brain. It was already removed and halved, I don't think they would have let a sophomore do that and I don't think I would have anyway, lol.



Ya know, I took this picture almost as an afterthought, but these days I'm glad I have it because it brings back some fun memories.

I remember sitting there touching that thing and feeling it, look how well defined the parts are! They are a lot firmer than one might think. I was struck with a sense of awe, think about it, right there in front of me was someones entire life. Every moment of every memory is encoded on those tissues. I was fascinated with her liver and lungs too but this brain really left me speechless.

yuck becca lol

[tekla]

I'm with 'becca here.  Its about the most interesting thing I learned in college - except for the chemistry courses that taught me how things explode, and the engineering course that taught me where to put that explosion.

[deviousxen]

i dont like to remember that my brain may one day look like lumpy hummus... But it is awe inspiring...

[tekla]

Don't worry, your brain is not nearly that big.

[deviousxen]

Don't worry, your brain is not nearly that big.

;__;

... What?

[tekla]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Good answer!

Dont' worry.  My brain ain't that big either.  It's 25% 'where the hell's my money', 50% 'can you take your clothes off' and the rest is spend reading stuff on left wing web sites.