I'm going to write about a Buddhist practice today, though it's hard for me to express Buddhist terms in English. More than a year has passed since my father passed away. His ashes have been placed in the family altar since. Ashes, in general, are placed in the tomb within a few weeks after the cremation. My parents built the family tomb around 20 years ago on a hillside from which you can command a panoramic view of the hometown. They must have wanted their ashes to be placed in this tomb, but the tomb is rustic and looks desolate and I placed his ashes in my house. He had been hospitalized for his last three years and strictly limited to receive visitations by his friends and even family members due to the abhorrent COVID-19 pandemic. He would have been lonely and I felt sorry for him and placed his ashes in my busy house.
Now, the equinoctial week is coming just around the corner. This week carries significance in Buddhism. Lots of families pay a visit to their ancestral grave during this week and put up a "Sotouba" wooden tablet, which came from stupa in Sanskrit, and give more than a passing thought to ancestors.
On Sunday last week, I visited my father's original house, a historic old temple, with his ashes and walked around the grounds in which my father would have spent his childhood, and offered a prayer to the ancestors' graves on a hill behind the temple. Once his ashes were placed in his tomb, he couldn't be moved.
Then, today, I had a Buddhist priest, who is a nephew of my father, down and a Buddhist memorial service of putting the ashes into the tomb. The door of the tomb was closed and my father's life was also closed today.
(Vocabulary)
ashes (pl.)遺骨
place sb's ashes in a tomb 納骨する
family altar, Buddhist household shrine 祭壇
cremation 火葬
halfway down the hill 丘の中ほどで
halfway up a hill; on a hillside 丘の中腹に
hillside 丘の斜面[中腹]
command a panoramic view of ～を一望できる
rustic 飾り気のない 素朴な
desolate 〈場所などが〉人気 (ひとけ) のない ; 荒れ果てた; 活気のない
〈人が〉孤独な , 寂しい, わびしい, 心細い; 惨めな; 〈事が〉陰鬱な, 寂しい
equinoctial week 彼岸
stupa 卒塔婆 wooden grave tablet
give more than a passing thought to ～に思いを馳せる［致す］
a passing thought 一時的な考え
have ~ down（客を）招く
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