Month: December 2021

This blog is aimed at guiding you towards making appropriate funeral arrangements Singapore so that you can bid a nice farewell to the deceased, be able to make financial decisions, and cut yourself slack to mourn for your loss.

1. Initial Stages:

As soon as someone passes away, the government requires you to register the death and obtain an official document certifying the demise, known as the Certificate of Cause of Death.

The certificate displays technical information regarding how the death occurred and is mandatory for further legal proceedings in Singapore, such as closing the deceased’s bank account, executing his will, distributing his property, etc.

If the death occurred in the hospital, you could obtain the certificate free of any charges as the doctors there will examine the body and testify for the death. But if the death occurs at home, you will still have to engage medical personnel to issue a death certificate, which you will be charged for.

If the cause of death is natural such as a disease or an accident, a death certificate will suffice, but if it is mysterious or hints at criminal contempt, the authorities might order an autopsy to investigate the cause of death.

You can also request an autopsy yourself if you have any concerns, which will have its charges, Otherwise if ordered by the authorities, you will not be charged for it.

Afterward, you will be required to register the death with the concerned authorities.

2. Arranging a Funeral:

After you are done with the legal formalities, the next step would be to make funeral arrangements Singapore.

The arrangements can vary depending upon your belief system, religion, your or the deceases’ preferences. But for a typical funeral, you will do some mandatory things.

 

What You Will Need? 

 

1. A Ceremonial Space:

Family, friends, and other acquaintances will start gathering when they find out about the death. So the first thing that you will need is a place to conduct the ceremony and seat the people.

For this, you will need a dedicated space that has appropriate arrangements for a funeral. Typically, it requires tentage to set up a funeral area with proper lighting, ventilation, and other facilities. You will also need the furniture.

Or you can rent an already prepared place for funerals. Engaging a funeral service provider or funeral director can be a good choice as he can help you with all the steps.

2. Casket:

The next thing you would need is a casket and other related goods because, for most of the funerals in Singapore, the dead body is washed and wrapped up in a clean white dress.

The body is then put into a casket for everyone to have one final look at the deceased. You will need services for washing, dressing, and preparing the body for this step, and you can get these services from a funeral company as well.

Choosing the right casket is also important as it depends upon whether you will go for burial or cremation.

Usually, there are either metallic or wooden caskets. Metallic caskets are more prestigious because they provide higher resistance against environmental elements and processes such as dust and corrosion, but they are only suitable for burial.

Wooden caskets are a better choice for funeral arrangements in Singapore as they are suitable for cremation and burial and are no less prestigious than metallic ones. Wooden caskets differ in manufacturing material as you can choose cherry oak ones that are more expensive or pine tree ones that are less expensive.

You can also choose the material for the inner lining and pick a color for it as per your choice.

3. Catering:

While arranging a funeral, another thing to take care of is to make catering arrangements, as a meal often follows most funerals.

You can order the menu of your choice while it is recommended to keep the preference of your attendants under consideration. You can also order the deceased’s favorite food items in his memory.

But make sure that you get the services from a reliable caterer as you do not want the attendants to starve or fall sick after eating the food.

4. Religious Leaders:

After taking care of more immediate matters, the next step is to engage appropriate religious leaders to lead the ceremony and perform the religious funeral rituals.

The leaders will guide you through all the mandatory steps. They will make sure that the ceremony goes as per the religious recommendations that often aim to ease the following stages for the deceased and hold vital importance.

Moreover, you can also consider the deceased’s preferences at this point and include or omit what he wanted or did not want for his last rites. It is subject to religion and family as well, so you can do as you deem necessary.

5. Religious Items:

Lastly, the religious leaders would require some religious items to perform the ceremony, such as Buddhist monks offering a piece of cloth on behalf of the deceased, so make sure you include such things in funeral arrangements Singapore.

This blog will discuss four major differences in the religions and explain how the confusion might have begun in the first place. 

1. Origin:

Buddhism and Taoism have two totally different origins and do not meet at any point in history. Buddhism is considered to have its basis in Hinduism and has its origin in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, where as Taoism originated from the philosophical concepts of Lao Tzu.

2. Human Nature:

Like any other religion, Taoism and Buddhism also have their concept regarding human nature and how human life came into being.

According to Buddhism, a human being is a combination of five basic and non-physical elements of life. These elements are the physical form, feelings, ideations, dispositions, and consciousness, referred to as rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, and vinnana, respectively.

Buddhism believes that there is no self or soul and human existence is just a composition that contains the elements mentioned above.

Where as Taoism believes that humans originated from nature and are a pure segment of it. But as life continues after birth, human nature is polluted by society’s cultivated beliefs, which has led to human beings becoming destructive for themselves and others.

3. God:

Another important concept of any traditional religion is the concept of God, a higher being that created humans, who control their lives and the rest of the universe and judge them on the concept of good and evil.

Both Buddhism and Taoism reject the idea of the presence of any higher power that controls their lives, which adds to the confusion, but if you get into a bit of detail, you will find out that their counter-concepts are completely different from each other.

Buddhists believe in a concept of Devas that are an equivalent of gods, but they believe them to be divine beings. They believe that the devas are not eternal and will eventually face death, but they serve the purpose of a guiding light and works for the betterment of humanity.

On the contrary, Taoists reject the idea of the presence of any superior being entirely and consider Tao to be the ultimate power. Tao is a natural sequence that exists under the apparent layers of the universe and controls how everything, including the universe, nature, and its beings, works.

4. Death:

As every traditional religion explains the fundamental concepts of the origin of human beings and the presence of a higher being, they also address the phenomenon of death.

Both Buddhists and Taoists believe in the concepts of reincarnation or rebirth, i.e., death is not permanent, and after a human dies, he gets a rebirth into a new life as a new person.

These beliefs have constructed the system for Buddhist funeral Singapore and Taoist funeral Singapore. Both of them include certain religious practices.

But both of them also believe in conclusion to life, and that is where the difference lies.

The Buddhists believe that life is suffering and reincarnation is the continuation of this suffering. They believe that the conclusion to this cycle is breaking the samsara, which is only possible by achieving the state of Nirvana.

Attaining Nirvana is the primary goal, and that’s what Buddhism guides its followers towards.

According to Taoism, the end goal is going back to the origin, i.e., Tao. They believe that the cycle of reincarnation continues until one becomes pure, and that’s when the process of reincarnation ends, and one is allowed to fulfill his purpose.

Conclusion:

Buddhism and Taoism do not only have their followers in Singapore; the religions are shared among all the East Asian countries, including China, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.

There is no denying that both religions share some superficial similarities, and the blog discussed how one might confuse them with one another.

But we also went through the fundamentals of each traditional religion to investigate the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Taoism.

After the arguments presented above, it is evident that Buddhism and Taoism not only have two different origins, they also have totally different concepts regarding human beings, their birth, their purpose, and the concepts of death.

Both religions motivate their followers towards a similar harmonious attitude and preach to them to do good and avoid evil, but if you look deeper, their belief systems do not cross each other at any point, let alone align with each other.

Buddhist Belief System:

According to the Buddhist belief system, when a Buddhist dies, it is not the end of his life but a beginning of a new chapter of his life. The concept is called “samsara” in Buddhism and is commonly known as reincarnation.

According to this concept, when a Buddhist dies, he gets rebirth in some form or the other. The samsara can either be immediately after death or after a transitional time.

The concept of samsara also includes the concept of “karma,” which is simply the law of cause and effect. Karma means that the deeds you will do will have their consequences in the future, and according to Buddhism, karma will decide how you will wake up in the next life.

The concepts of samsara and karma define how a Buddhist funeral Singapore is performed by a funeral service Singapore.

Types of Buddhist Funerals:

Though all the Buddhists believe in samsara and karma, there are little variations on when the rebirth will occur. These variations define how the funeral will be performed, laying the basis for Buddhism’s three different types of funerals.

Following are those three types:

1. Mahayana:

According to the Mahayana belief system, there is a certain transitional period before the dead gets a rebirth. They believe this transitional period is vital as it will decide the merits of the rebirth. Hence, the funeral services are focused on providing a smooth transition to the deceased.

Mahayana supports the transitional period through setup rituals that include the monks chanting Amitabha sutra.

2. Theravada:

According to the Theravada belief system, rebirth is immediately after death and no transitional period. They believe that the conditions of reincarnation will depend upon the deeds the deceased did when he was alive or based on karma.

The last rites are still vital and include the monks chanting Abidhamma Sutra, which is the Theravada religious scripture. The ceremony also includes offering a “forsaken robe” to the monks on behalf of the deceased.

The cloth represents shrouds that the monks used as robes in the period of Gautama Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion.

3. Vajrayana:

The Vajrayana funeral services are aimed at guiding the deceased and freeing him from the Samsara cycle.

The ceremony includes a reading of Vajrayana religious scripture, the Tibetan Book of the Death called the Bardo Thodol, along with some prayers, chants, and the name of Buddha. 

Steps of Buddhist Funeral:

Regardless of the belief system, a typical Buddhist funeral includes the following steps:

1. Preparation of the Body:

According to the Buddhist belief system, the soul does not leave the body immediately after death occurs, so they leave the body untouched and undisturbed for sometime.

After that, the funeral starts with the body’s preparation for his next journey after he passes away. The preparation includes thorough washing of the body and dressing it in a clean white cloth.

2. The Final Viewing:

Once the body has been prepared, it is time to take a final look at the deceased. The body is put in the casket through which one can see the face. The casket is placed in a respectful position, and everybody takes turns to have one last look at the deceased.

This step is important for two reasons. First, it serves a purpose of closure for the closed family members and as a reminder that death is inevitable for the rest of the participants.

3. Attires:

At a Buddhist funeral, attendants or participants follow a religious dress code. According to the dress code, the attendance should wear plain white clothesto look the same.

The purpose of the dress code is to ensure that nobody is drawing attention towards them and there is no display of wealth or anything that might disrupt the unity.

4. The Wake:

The wake is a ceremony held after the funeral, usually in the first seven days of the death, and is only held on odd numbers like three or five.

The family members, monks, and other people get together at an altar set up for the ceremony in the wake.

A picture of Buddha is placed at the front of the altar, and a portrait of the deceased is displayed in the ceremony. The attendants bring flowers, fruits, and candles while the family, relatives, and the monks chant prayers.

5. Burying or Cremation:

The Buddhist funeral concludes with burying or cremation of the deceased as Buddhismallows both.

Since 2007, there has been a hiking trend of cremation at Buddhist funerals as Singaporean authorities have set a definite period of 15 years for burial, afterwhich the remains will be removed from the burial ground and will either have to be shifted to a new burial ground oreventually be cremated.

After cremation, the ashes can either be scattered for green or sea burial or stored in a columbarium after buying a niche.

How To Conduct Buddhist Funeral Properly?

The most suitable way to conduct a proper Buddhist funeral Singapore is to hire professionals for funeral service Singapore as they are not only capable of handling all the funeral-related matters efficiently, they also make sure that each step of the funeral is properly followed as per the guidance of the religion, the belief system and preferences of the deceased and his family.1.

 

 

 

This blog will discuss all the available options to take care of the remains of your loved ones in Singapore, including the use of Nirvana columbarium Singapore. We will also include the factors that one must consider when he is facing such a situation.

Available Options:

Besides using private columbarian Singapore, there are multiple other options available to take care of the remains of your loved ones. The possibilities include cremation, burial, and other methods.

After cremation, there are several options that you can choose from regarding the disposal of ashes search as sea burial, green burial, or using an urn to store the ashes in Nirvana columbarium Singapore.

Costs of Each Option:

Cost is a factor that will help you shortlist the options to choose from as the last rites of your loved ones can cost you up to SGD50,000 in Singapore, depending on the option you choose.

If you decide to bury your loved one, you will have to pay an average of SGD940 for elders if you want the burial according to Christian, Chinese or Hindu religion. The cost will be less, but it will still cost you around SGD315 if you bury your loved ones Muslim, Parsi, or Bahai way.

But burial is also a temporary solution because, after 15 years, the remains will be removed. You will either have to buy a new plot for the burial or cremation to dissolve the remains.

Sea burial is relatively cheaper than buying a burial plot because you are only scattering the ashes after cremation on running water and not acquiring possession of any property. But still, you will have to account for the expenses of renting a boat and riding it to the sea for scattering. You will also have to pay for the type of urn you choose to carry the ashes.

If you choose to store the ashes of your loved one in aprivate columbarian in Singapore like Nirvana columbarium Singapore, it can cost you anywhere between SGD2000 to SGD50,000.

Government columbaria are a relatively cheaper option to get a niche, but the drawback is that you will not get the facilities in a private columbarium, such as a private space, regular maintenance, and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

But the downside of a private columbaria is that they often lease the niches, which have to be renewed after a period, and if you discontinue, you will lose your spot.

Other Factors:

Now that you are aware of the most commonly used options in Singapore and have understood their cost let’s move towards emotional factors that will hope you make an informed decision when the time comes. 

1. Memory:

For many people, letting go of their loved ones is not a solution as they want to keep their memory alive and want a place where they can visit them.

Burial might be the best solution if you think this way because you will have somewhere to visit when you miss your loved ones. With cremation, you will lose this privilege unless you store their ashes.

Green or sea burial might also provide you a place to visit them by visiting the site, but it will not be as personal as it would be with a burial plot.

But if you choose Nirvana columbarium, you will have a private spot where you can visit your loved one and get that personal feeling that you will not get with green burial.

2. Environment:

The second factor is the environment that you provide to your loved ones at their final resting place. Many people might find green or sea burial romantic and a way of letting their loved ones become one with nature, while others might find it disrespectful.

The same contradictions are regarding cremation, but this is a personal debate. The important point is that everyone wants to ensure that they provide their loved ones with a peaceful resting place.

A private columbarium is a good pay as Nirvana columbarium has a peaceful environment that is regularly maintained and looked after.

3. Religion:

Many might see death as a physical phenomenon, while the majority in Singapore see death as a religious matter, and they want to give their loved ones a religious farewell.

It does not only stop with the farewell, but it also includes involving elements in the final resting place that have a religious significance. This is the reason headstones have holy verses engraved on them, and the urns come with so many different options.

But as burial is not the ultimate answer and cremation has proved to be a more long-term solution, you can use Nirvana columbarium to store the ashes where the niches are themed according to each religion.

Conclusion:

After considering all these factors, it is evident that a private columbaria like Nirvana columbarium might be the ideal solution to take care of the remains of your loved ones regardless of your religion, culture, and believes.

It provides an ideal resting place for the deceased and favors his family in the long run.