When someone passes away, in addition to a funeral service that
usually occurs three or seven days after the death, we have a
ceremony on the 49th day. Traditionally, the period of 49 days
after someone dies is seen as a time for that person to check
their consciousness and digest their karma. According to
Buddhist teaching the bodhisattva Ji Jang Bosal helps the
deceased during these 49 days to perceive their karma so when
they return they are reborn to help this world, rather than
continue in the cycle of birth and death. Religious Buddhism
teachers that there is a life in this body, then a time of
investigation or consideration, and then a new life in a new
body. But the truth is, we don’t know what happens when we die.
The Buddhist teaching about death can be helpful in that it
gives us a good feeling, some sense of comfort in this mystery.
This framework that can be helpful in the grieving process, but
the Buddha taught that originally there is no life or death. Our
true self is infinite in time and spac