Buddhists clean remains to allow release of spirits

[yuiyoshida]

A group of Buddhist volunteers led by Wang Yi-sheng visited Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township on Monday morning to help clean the bones of unclaimed or unidentified bodies at the public cemetery, blessing them in a rite they say allows their spirits could move on.

The Chipingchiu public cemetery was busy on Monday morning as people placed bones from urns onto canvas-covered ground, while others cleaned them with brushes.

Gukeng Township Office official Tseng Chun-hun said the construction of the public cemetery and the Formosa Freeway overpass two decades earlier unearthed about 100 unidentified and unclaimed remains.

“We have been storing the bones in a shed next to the cemetery since unearthing them,” Tseng said, adding that the Wang family learned about the remains after attending a ceremony at the cemetery in 2014.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/01/14/2003637194