Showing posts with label Buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddhism. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Japan Finds Story of Hope in Undertaker Who Offered Calm Amid Disaster
Buddhist Channel
<< A memorial in Koriyama, Japan, on Saturday was one of many to mark the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami. More Photos »
Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Atsushi Chiba used Buddhist rituals in caring for nearly 1,000 bodies in Kamaishi. “It's a way to comfort the living,” he said. More Photos »
Mrs. Arai did not know at the time, but the act was the work of a retired undertaker well-versed in the ancient Buddhist rituals of preparing the dead for cremation and burial. The undertaker, Atsushi Chiba, a father of five who cared for almost 1,000 bodies in Kamaishi, has now become an unlikely hero in a community trying to heal its wounds a year after the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast a year ago Sunday.
KAMAISHI, Japan -- Amid the grief of finding her mother’s body at a makeshift morgue in this tsunami-ravaged city last March, Fumie Arai took comfort in a small but surprising discovery. Unlike the rest of the muddied body, her mother’s face had been carefully wiped clean.
<< A memorial in Koriyama, Japan, on Saturday was one of many to mark the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami. More Photos »Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Atsushi Chiba used Buddhist rituals in caring for nearly 1,000 bodies in Kamaishi. “It's a way to comfort the living,” he said. More Photos »
Mrs. Arai did not know at the time, but the act was the work of a retired undertaker well-versed in the ancient Buddhist rituals of preparing the dead for cremation and burial. The undertaker, Atsushi Chiba, a father of five who cared for almost 1,000 bodies in Kamaishi, has now become an unlikely hero in a community trying to heal its wounds a year after the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast a year ago Sunday.
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