What Chinese people think happens after you die.

Hi, this is Lin.

Recently a subscriber asked me to write a bit about reincarnation from the Chinese perspective.

I decided, why not make a short article explaining folk beliefs about the period directly after a person dies. This is an important idea in Chinese culture and I think it is very different from Western beliefs, so maybe we can do some cultural sharing.

I don't want to say that I believe every part of these ideas, but at the same time, it is part of the traditional culture and customs of Chinese people and most people in China share the same experiences around the ceremonies and beliefs we hold about death, so I think this can be very useful basic knowledge for you if you are studying Daoism, since the Daoist belief is based on Chinese cultural beliefs and influences Chinese culture too.

I hope you like the article, please drop a comment and let me know if there is anything you want to hear about in the next one.

Recently I attended the celebration of life of an extended relative in Canada.

One thing I noticed is that Western customs about death are totally different from China.

Usually in ancient times a person's body had to wait for at least three days to be buried or incinerated.

One reason was to make sure the person was really dead, but another part was to give enough time for the spirit of the dead person to leave the body.

In Chinese thought, the journey of the spirit leaving the body takes 49 days for the spirit to arrive at its next station.

The first seven days, especially the seventh day is usually spent by the spirit not knowing it has died.

They might go home with their family, but are confused their family do not talk to them.

At that time it is important for the family to instruct the dead person to go.

They can do this by putting special decorations and incense in various places around the house to tell them they are no longer in the world of the living.

Usually during these seven days, the dead spirit may communicate with the living family by dreams. There are many different stories in Chinese folk culture about similar dreams of passed family members. Since so many reports were similar over the centuries, this became a standard belief among Chinese folk.

After the dead person knows they are not in this world anymore, they will usually travel to all the places where they frequented in this world so they can see them for the last time. This might include people they don't want to forget, or places where they lived before.

Around these times people may have many dreams of their dead relatives and friends, such as sitting beside their bed and talking, but it is impossible to see their face.

In Buddhism this is called Zhong Yin Chu Qi which means the beginning time of entry into the yin realm.

At that time the relatives of the deceased can no longer see them in real life and can only talk to them in dreams.

Between the seventh and fourteenth days the deceased person begins to leave and people report that the spirits are walking with other spirits in a line and move very fast. The world is very bright and the colors are very vibrant. When the spirits are on the way there are many flowers, especially red ones called Bi An Hua.

The spirits are walking very fast, and it is important not to call the name of the deceased, or else the living relatives can also pulled into Yin realm because of their connection.

It is also possible the dead spirit could become stuck between worlds, so it is important not to be overly sad or weep constantly, since it will stop the dead relative form going to the next station.

The people in this world should burn incense and give offerings of food to their dead relatives. For instance, the East Asian taboo against setting chopsticks vertical in a bowl of rice is because this is a traditional offering for a deceased relative.

It is also common for the living to burn Shao Zhi, a kind of paper used to comfort their spirit, it is believed that the spirit can smell the paper and it comforts them.

At this time it is easy for the spirit to become lost and afraid, and they might perceive different parts of the afterlife which scare them.

On the 49^th day (seventh in the set of seven periods of seven days) some people reincarnate, but others refuse and their spirits stay in the mountains. Some of them are really lost and become wild ghosts, so they need to be led by ceremony or other methods. This is especially important in the countryside and can be part of folk or organized religious traditions.

Many Daoists say it is easy to find lost ghosts near a flowing river, especially during the Qing Ming and Zhong Yuan Jie holidays. These two times are when the Yin gate opens into the normal world, so spirits are more likely to be around at that time. Many people who are experienced in Daoism can easily find wild ghosts whispering near rivers around those times.

When the dead spirit is ready to reincarnate, they drink a special soup to allow them to forget their past life, so they can start the new life clean.

In Buddhism, it is common to recite the Jing Gang, Di Zang Jing and the Amitofou mantra for the dead every seven days during the 49 day period.

In Daosim they also practice virtue work every seven days in the form of large ceremony in order to help the spirit leave bitterness and arrive at the next junction.

In ancient books such as Tai Shang Gan Ying Pian and You Wei Cao Tang Bi Ji, Ji Xiaolan said the dead spirit usually after seven days will cause living people to dream of them, then the dream will include vibrant flowers everywhere, and a bridge with water, beautiful scenes of purple and pink clouds, and all the ghosts of the dead are lined up together. If you have this kind of dream it means the spirit is already at peace.

One reason why people practice inner cultivation is because life is already very difficult and when people die it is a stressful and confusing time. If we cultivate ourselves to be calm and have a good understanding of life and death, it makes the dying time easier to navigate whether it is for a relative who recently left us, or for ourselves, so that no one becomes confused or lost along the way to the next station.

It is a common belief that if people are very angry, or they are always fighting with others, or have bad behavior, when they die it is easy for them to become confused and go down the wrong path, resulting in more suffering from their ghost and their families.

I think even if none of this is true, it is still good to try to cultivate your mind and become a better person through internal practice, since you will leave behind a better impression on the world and people won't have complicated feelings about you after you leave.

It is easy to summarize it all in the saying “you reap what you sew.”