Oh dear. I feel sorry for the family. Sadly, they have already cremated therefore I think this would be the best time still to make offerings to the Buddha and Sangha on behalf of Ms Tan and collect the most merits for her so that she may have a good rebirth.
In Buddhism, death marks the transition from this life to the next for the deceased.
Among Buddhists death is regarded as an occasion of major religious significance, both for the deceased and for the survivors. For the deceased it marks the moment when the transition begins to a new mode of existence within the round of rebirths. When death occurs, all the karmic forces that the dead person accumulated during the course of his or her lifetime become activated and determine the next rebirth.
Bad karma may await a Manhattan funeral director — but right now he’s facing one hell of a lawsuit.
A Buddhist family says a Chinatown funeral home mistakenly cremated their elderly mother’s body — which they intended to bury after an elaborate religious ceremony — condemning her soul to “live in poverty and shame” for all of eternity, new court papers say.
Mei Xian Tan, 87, died from cancer complications in a Canarsie nursing home on Jan. 19, and her three children had already made careful arrangements with a Chinatown funeral home for her body to be handled in accordance with Buddhist and Confucian traditions, the Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit states.
Tan’s children had signed a contract with the funeral home for a pre-burial cleansing ceremony, where their mother’s embalmed body would be displayed in an open casket wearing makeup and clothes and surrounded by a Buddhist monk and her loving family, the suit states.
But the funeral home accidentally cremated the retired Chinatown factory worker’s naked body without telling them — days before the agreed-upon cleansing date — depriving her soul of the crucial ceremonies necessary for a pleasant afterlife.
“They feel as if they’re responsible for their mom going to hell,” said attorney Daniel Gregory.
“According to the plaintiff’s cultural and religious beliefs, the plaintiffs and their descendants would be cursed by their mother’s soul, unless the pre-burial cleansing ceremony was performed,” the suit states.
“Their mother’s soul would be unrecognizable to anyone she encountered in the afterlife, if her body was buried without makeup and clothing.”
Religion experts said Chinese Buddhists have very specific traditions to ensure dead loved ones are properly sent off into the afterlife.
“They believe it’s important you be dressed in a certain way, you have money and equipment,” said Robert Thurman, professor of Buddhist studies at Columbia University.
“Otherwise the person is embarrassed. They’re traveling [through the afterlife] naked and broke, which is not agreeable.”
Wah Wing Funeral Corporation funeral director Gordon Wong called Tan’s family on Jan. 23 saying that their mother’s body had been cremated the day before by another funeral home after the body somehow ended up there, the suit states.
After Wong told Tan’s children about the mistake, he allegedly tricked the non-English speakers into signing a “cremation permit” in order for them to receive their mom’s ashes, according to the suit.
Gordon told Tan’s children he wouldn’t charge them for the cremation, but they insisted on paying the bill, “Because they believed it would be bad karma if they did not,” the suit states.
Tan came to New York City from China in 1983 and worked in a Chinatown factory while raising her three children – son Kok Chuen Yuen, 52, and daughters Yue Chang Ruan, 55, and Yue E. Ruan, 50.
She loved spending time with her family, cooking, and playing mahjong, Gregory said.
