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one simple funeral service which consisted only of basics, like the three bows and the last glance, with no monks chanting mantra or prayers. It is true Foscolo describes 'religious frills' in his poem as inutil pompa (useless pomp). But most people are left with horribly empty feelings after atheistic services. After a beautiful funeral of a friend who achieved something in life most are left with a self-righteous glow.
The author recalls comrades buried during a lull in battle during World War II - a single prayer said over the body of a dead soldier, in his blanket shroud, before he was slid over the side of the troopship into the ocean. These simple ceremonies had considerable meaning.
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Francis Bacon, the Irish artist, who died in 1992, was not a theatrical man. He insisted he wanted no memorial service, the barest formalities, no crowd weeping around his grave. 'I came into the world with nothing, I want to leave with nothing,' he insisted. These views differ from those of the average Chinese with their Taoist philosophy. But both they and westerners should find solace in the following, the author of which is unknown:
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there,
I do not sleep:
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain,
When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night... Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there,
I did not die.
Acknowledgements
This paper was presented at the 34th International Congress on Asian and North African Studies, organised by the University of Hong Kong, from 22 to 28 August, 1993, and further presented to the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, on 20 January, 1995.