It has been 6 years since my grandma passed away, and because we are entering the 7th year without her, we had a special ceremony at home. A local monk came to do some readings for my grandma. The readings are chanted and Rob said he found the chanting very soothing.
According to my dad,in Shin-Buddisum dead people go back to a place called ‘ojoudo’, which is like heaven. So Buddhist remembrance services are held on the first, third and seventh anniversaries. These ceremonies are held to mark the different steps the soul takes in it's journey to heaven and are followed by further ceremonies on the 13th, 17th, 23rd, 27th and 33rd anniversaries.
My family is not a strong religious family, so I cannot tell you a lot about Buddhism; sorry. All I know is that it is important to recognize our evilness and self-interest, and the limitations of our abilities to counter these. After recognizing our weaknesses, we then live life trying to overcome them and become a ‘good’ person.
After the ceremony, my father and his older brother’s family ate lunch together and then we played dominoes and other games. Every one had a really good time chatting and being social. I am not very close to my dad’s side of the family. In fact, I have only met one brother out of his 7 siblings. So it was really great to see how much my dad enjoyed this special day with his brother.
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