When somebody dies, their influence continues to live on in the world - this is common knowledge. Whatever actions we take (or fail to take) have an immediate impact on our environment, and this alters reality forever.
Everything we do has an effect, like ripples spreading through space and time. So, in a very real sense we shall all continue to exist - subtly influencing the universe - for all eternity. Once we have left our footprints in the sands of time, the universe can never be quite the same again.
And, on a more personal note, we cherish the memory of those whom we loved on Earth and continue to love despite their physical absence from our day-to-day lives. We keep them alive in our hearts, and can intuitively know what they would advise us to do, even when we ourselves are in a quandary. They may appear in our dreams at times of crisis or upheaval, guiding or goading our subconscious mind. And we can continually renew our relationship with them, particularly with our parents, as we grow in experience and, perhaps, become parents ourselves.
But the Chinese perspective has a feature that makes it radically different from this down-to-earth understanding of life-everlasting. The Oriental practice of ancestor worship not only commemorates the lives of one's forbears, but actively seeks to ensure that their living spirits continue to nurture their offspring from beyond the grave.
That approach appears to be little different from a Christian supplicating a sympathetic saint, and the similarities in terms of devotion, respect and expectation are of enduring interest to students of comparative religion. But the power that an ancestor wields can be malevolent as well as benign (in keeping with the personality they possessed during corporeal life), and some descendents go to extraordinary lengths to propitiate their more fearsome ancestors with offerings and the careful observance of hallowed rites. In general though, it is love and a sense of honour that motivate people to continue to revere and tend to the dead.
One fundamental way of ensuring the wellbeing of the ancestors is to position their graves and shrines in tune with age-honoured beliefs about universal harmony. Chinese tradition maintains that the method of choice for more than five millennia has been the Feng Shui of Early Heaven (also known as Yin Feng Shui).
Such was the respect for and fear of the ancestors, that even the revolutionary doctrine of Later Heaven could not usurp the established way of maintaining harmony in the afterlife. The sacred balance that grants comfort to their spirits simply could not be re-written, that would have been tantamount to demanding that the sun turn back in the sky.
Whatever your beliefs about the activities of spirits, or views on the ritual observances intended to maintain a healthy balance between the realm of the living and the afterlife, there is much of beauty in Oriental attitudes to the deceased, and an open mind can find much of lasting value without necessarily accepting the whole theory and practice.
There is no doubt that the Early Heaven mysteries have much more to reveal, both about the forces of fate and fortune, and also with regard to the key issue of life after death.
© Ken Taylor 2002 - 2006