09/28/2025
Nepal Retreat Day 4
Impermanence meets suffering meets survival.
I felt like this moment deserves its own discussion.
In Hindu and Buddhist cultures we speak a great deal about the 4 noble truths, suffering, and impermanence.
The ladies and I had a chance to see impermanence in its true authentic form in Nepal. The live cremation process of loved ones.
We speak of life often but we don’t always speak of death, the dying process, the rituals each culture has, and how the grieving process unfolds.
It was a very moving process to watch.
Someone had explained to us that in Nepal Grieving meets survival everyday. Time does not stop because we are grieving. We still have to live.
In Nepal the dying process unfolds
13 days the family grieves quietly with their loved one behind closed doors.
Then the public cremation process takes place where 100s upon 100s of people watch the live cremation process unfold.
The family members remove the loved one’s clothing, wrap the body in all white for cleansing and purification. They put the feet of the loved one in the river. Creating a rebirth of balance. They then place orange marigolds over the body. Specific family rituals begin. The family walks the body to the cremation platform where the undertaker places wood over the body and the live cremation commences.
Mind you, all of this occurs in a very public display while people all around you are selling items, beads, water, cotton candy, trinkets.
It was overwhelming for two distinct reasons. One, watching human physical life come to an end in a very public spectator display, and Two, watching people move forward in life as though it’s an everyday occurrence.
There was something refreshing about watching the Nepali people interweave life and death without skipping a beat.
When asked why people would be selling things at a funeral it was explained that in Nepal life and death are synonymous. They are circular. There is no end and beginning. Only a continuation. And within that continuation means the living still have to survive and provide in all aspects of life.
Very eye opening. Still processing this moment.
In the US we mostly grieve privately
