It
was Sunday morning, it was 7am, and it
was a cloudy day, yet 100,000 people in Shanghai had already begun to
arrive at the outdoor memorial service
site on Jiaozhou Road in Jing'an District
in front of the 28-storey apartment
building destroyed in the fire 7 days ago on 15
November, 2010.
At
around 2pm, when 7 days ago the fire
started to engulf the residential
high-rise, the sky started to drizzle -
was this the reflection of the human mood
or an expression of the beings above?
Touqi (头七), the 7th Day
after death, marks the first
milestone on ones' journey
beyond, as after a 7-day circle
most deceased are said to have
overcome the initial confusion
and begin to realise what have
happened to them, thus would
return to bid farewell to their
loved ones.
Many Shanghai residents purchased a large
quantity of white and yellow
chrysanthemum, a traditional
symbol of mourning in Chinese
culture, to distribute to
mourners for free.
The words on the
plate read: Don't cry, Shanghai. Free flowers for
memorial service.
A man bowed in a
typical Chinese mourning fashion
in the middle of the road leading
to the destroyed residential
building.
The front of the
burned apartment building was
transformed into a giant outdoor
memorial service site.
A girl broke down
sobbing before the photo of her
loved one.
子欲养而亲不在. What can be more
lamentable for a grown up to find
that she has no more chance to
repay the kindness of her parent?
A granny broke
down wailing before the items
tributed by mourners to her
friend.
音容宛在，阴阳两隔。 What can be more
forlorn for an aged to attend the
funeral of her old pal?
Toys were
presented as offerings to a
16-month old baby perished in the
fire.
你来过，你很乖. He came to this
world, he was a good boy and he
left in hurry.
Mourners came from
all walks of life, some are not Shanghai residents, most never met
the victims and their families.
大火无情人有情! Our thoughts are
with you on your journey to other
worlds.
This is
the ending of Chinese film Tangshan
Earthquake, and Bodhisattva
Guanyin's Heart Sutra
was sung by China's most popular Buddhist
singer Wang Fei. Please allow us to
present this as our tribute to the 58
victims of Shanghai Fire.
According
to Sutra Of the Great Vows of Earth
Store Bodhisattva (地藏经), the end of the earthly
existence could arrive unexpectedly. When
thrown into the wheel of transition
without warning, one could be so
traumatised to the point where he might
lose his consciousness completely.
However, after an initial shock, he would
slowly recover the old memory but feel totally
disoriented in a new reality. Unaware his
changed circumstance, he keeps wandering
around the site where he passed away and
trying to resume the communication with
the loved ones.
After
one basic cosmic circle which is 7 days,
the power to cling to this physical world
through pure strength of consciousness
without support of solid form begins to
crumble, at this stage most deceased
would understand that his existence in
this realm is no longer sustainable thus
consider to gesture a formal farewell
before his final departure.
During
this conclusive communication between two
different forms of existence from two
different types of reality, a positive
human willpower, in particular from those
closely linked to the deceased or those
highly cultivated in spiritual dimension,
would have a constructive impact on the future aspects of the
deceased
and be a timely help to his pressing task
of selecting the best new form of
existence allowed by his karmic composition.
That
is why the 7th Day Memorial Service is so
important, and Chinese know it, as
always.
Photo courtesy of
钮一新,
范筱明,
裴鑫(新华社),
潘索菲
(中新社) and other
attendents of the memorial service whose
names we are unable to identify
The
family members of the
fire victims attended the
7th Day Rite taken place
in Shanghai's biggest Buddhist
monastery Jing'an
Temple from which the
name of the district was
derived.
The
leaders of Shanghai
government attended the
outdoor memorial service.
The
leaders of Jing'an
District attended the
outdoor memorial service.
The
abbot of Jing'an Temple (静安寺) and the
dean of Shanghai Buddhist
College Master Huiming (慧明大和尚) hosted
the 7th-Day memorial rite
which was attended by
over a thousand monks and Buddhist followers
along with the victims'
family members.
