What Is the Average Lifespan of American Women?

[Moonbear]

Sorry to be so tardy...
Saint, my condolences on your loss. It sounds like your grandmother lived a long life and it was her time to go. I've been fascinated reading along and learning of the Buddhist funeral traditions. I like that the religions recognizes it isn't as sad for an older person to die, and even signify it by wearing different colors. What is in the bowls during the cremation ceromony, and what does that signify?

 

[Saint]

the bowls contained some food,
chinese believes that dead people's souls need to eat too.

 

[Smurf]

Good gracious, tumor! Why are you making those assumptions? Have you not ever lost someone you loved? How can you be so callous?

It's tumor. He was that way when he came out of the production line.

 

[tumor]

the bowls contained some food,
chinese believes that dead people's souls need to eat too.

This is going into the oven too?... what a waste.

 

[Saint]

This is going into the oven too?... what a waste.

So, burning candles also a waste?
Giving offering to churches also a waste?

 

[tumor]

So, burning candles also a waste?
Giving offering to churches also a waste?

You have a point there,but i think giving to churches at least in greedy N.America is a HUGE waste.

 

[Saint]

You have a point there,but i think giving to churches at least in greedy N.America is a HUGE waste.

you think the money goes into the pocket of pastors/priests, it was not used for public wellfare.

 

[franznietzsche]

you think the money goes into the pocket of pastors/priests, it was not used for public wellfare.

Yeah, pretty much.

 

[Smurf]

That's a pretty well known fact.

 

[tumor]

you think the money goes into the pocket of pastors/priests, it was not used for public wellfare.

Pastor, priest or rabbi for me means thief.

 

[Smurf]

Con-man, Scammer, Exploiter of the middle class.

 

[tumor]

It is easy money though.Especially here in the land of brave and stu...!
I wish I had the talent to talk gibberish , maybe should i read more Biblie?

 

[franznietzsche]

It is easy money though.Especially here in the land of brave and stu...!
I wish I had the talent to talk gibberish , maybe should i read more Biblie?

But then you might become a bible hump...thumper!

 

[Smurf]

I tried reading the bible once.. I didn't get much farther than "There was Light"...

 

[tumor]

Advice#1 . always keep bible handy, in case you run out of toilet paper.

 

[Moonbear]

Guys, you're being awfully callous here! I asked Saint to share with us some of the rituals in a Buddhist funeral, and here you're mocking him when he's just come from the funeral of a loved relative! That's just cruel. Whatever your differences, this is not the time or place for it.

I think it's interesting that they leave food for the deceased. Didn't ancient Egyptians have similar rituals? I love to learn of cultural differences, similarities, and how traditions have spread throughout cultures.

 

[Physics_wiz]

Not sure about the food for Egyptians but I think when an Egyptian pharaoh died, they killed his servants with him so that they could serve him in the after-life.

 

[tumor]

Moonbear? don't blame me , nietzsche and smurf started it

 

[Saint]

I did hear a pastor said this on the podium "If you do not give 1/10 offering, you are actually Stealing from God ; if God can't get what he wants, the Devil will come to take it from you; you may lose your money due to sickness or other misfortunes".

What do you think about his talk?
An intimidation?

 

[Saint]

The true Buddhism is vegetarian,
only fruits and vegetables will be put to worship their Buddha/Bodisatwa,
for chinese,
we put chicken, pork etc. for our ancestors.

 

[tumor]

Well..if pastor says something like that, it must be truth.

 

[Moonbear]

I did hear a pastor said this on the podium "If you do not give 1/10 offering, you are actually Stealing from God ; if God can't get what he wants, the Devil will come to take it from you; you may lose your money due to sickness or other misfortunes".

What do you think about his talk?
An intimidation?

I do think that was intimidation, and not very Christian sounding for a pastor. The 1/10th offering is straight from the Bible, but not many people really adhere to that much anymore.

 

[Moonbear]

The true Buddhism is vegetarian,
only fruits and vegetables will be put to worship their Buddha/Bodisatwa,
for chinese,
we put chicken, pork etc. for our ancestors.

Is there a reason for including meat now when Buddhism is traditionally vegetarian, or just a shift from older traditions to newer ones or relaxing the rules?

 

[tumor]

The true Buddhism is vegetarian,
only fruits and vegetables will be put to worship their Buddha/Bodisatwa,
for chinese,
we put chicken, pork etc. for our ancestors.

So this is Buddhism a-la Chinese edition? In this case you are going to hell.

 

[Saint]

Buddhism came from India to China,
traditional chinese does not follow everything of buddhism.
It is common that chinese worship their ancestors with meat.
But buddhist chinese will not do this.
In my grandma funeral, there was no meat, only vegetarian food.

 

[Entropy]

I'm sorry man. My grandmom is terminally ill and she is 83. She has had a bad series of strokes the past year. She lost some of her memory and for awhile was totally out of it. For a few weeks she thought she was 13 and didn't remember any of my relatives. Its really painful to see someone you love like that. We're going to see her for Thanksgiving. It will probably be the last time I see her, she is probably only live a few more months. I keep telling myself that she has lived a better and longer life than most people.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm sorry, Entropy. That's a shame, and I am really sorry to hear that.
I am going through the same thing with my grandpa right now. My grandma died a couple of years ago, but he doesn't remember her death so he keeps asking my family what happened to her.

 

[Moonbear]

Entropy and MIH, that's really rough. The dementia is the hardest to deal with. When my grandmother passed away, several years ago now, it was a bit of a blessing. She had been suffering from episodes of dementia, not just forgetfulness, but hallucinations (I think some of it was brought on by her addiction to percoset at the end...she was in such pain from another illness, and so old, that it was hardly worth putting her through withdrawal symptoms too to get her off the percoset, though her doctor was an idiot not to monitor her usage more carefully sooner). She had periods of lucidity in between, and those were the hardest, because she KNEW her mind was going and to her, that was far worse than her body failing. Mostly my aunts took care of her toward the end, but it would get to be too much for them at times, especially when she was really badly hallucinating and calling them at all hours of the night. When they stopped answering their phones because they couldn't take it anymore, I got the phone calls (she usually had a visiting nurse overnight, but those nurses aren't really equipped to handle mental illness like that, they can just ensure the patients are fed and have help getting to the bathroom if they need it and keep her from falling down stairs as she wanders the house, and my grandmother was so obnoxious to them, none of them lasted long). Anyway, there was nothing to be done. Sometimes if I called her back, that would help snap her out of it because there was some part of her that could still reason that if I knew where to call her, she must still be safely in her house even if she thought she was somewhere else.

So, it's rough. The more people you have around to share the burden, the better.

 

[tumor]

Thanks guys! I'm sooo depressed now

 

[Saint]

Thanks guys! I'm sooo depressed now

Crocodile's tears

 

[tumor]

i'm not kidding
by the way Saint, how much did you get it(cash)from grandma RIP?

 

[Saint]

i am able to earn money for myself, i don't hope anyone to give me money.

 

[Smurf]

Crocodile's tears

I've never heard this expression before, what's it mean? where'd it come from?

 

[tumor]

I've never heard this expression before, what's it mean? where'd it come from?

It means to be insincere.
In older times people believed that crocidilles weep when eating their prey,some form of liquid must be coming out to protect eye of crocodille when exposed to the hot weather.
Shakespare and other literali started using this expression and the rest is history.

 

[Moses]

Ha ha I guess this one is widely spread in Asian Cultures [from China to Palestine]

Wel, Smurf, this means a fake tears/cry about something, and mostly as well means that that person was the cuase of the "sad/evil" which he "cry" about.

Coming from the Crocodiles who starts tearing after eating an animal! Since it is odd to interpret there tears as if they are sad about the that animal death which they croc have just killed and ate.

[BTW: I guess the scientific exp for that is the croc is getting the salt away from his body in this way to keep the salt level in the blood balanced and in its norm levels...since animals are "salty" according to his taste mood ]