Be quiet — children learning sadness at funerals

Related stories

• The jarrah boat coffin that stuck halfway

  In brief: A white-water rafter's family make his coffin as a boat with paddles — out of jarrah, so heavy ten people lift it. At the committal the…

  Read full story▾▴

  Because there was an open funeral at Fremantle cemetery, you know. Not one of the chapels you've got like… you do the ceremony here and you take the box over to Fremantle. They're just outside. They've got a little conveyor belt. You put it on there, do your stuff and it just goes inside and gets cremated. But at the time it's actually my fault. Because I found out legally you don't have to buy a coffin. You can make your own. But it has to be a certain size. And because this fellow was into white water rafting he made it in the shape of a boat with little paddles on the top. It was him. It was who he was. The trouble was they made it out of jarrah which is incredibly heavy wood. So just getting it out of the the hearse and onto the it took about 10 people to actually lift it up and put it on there. That was okay. But after the saving when you do the commitment of the coffin you press the little button and the conveyor belt sort of goes and the little glass partition moves back, all synchronized, it goes through and the glass partition closes. What happened, it was so heavy that poor motor was struggling to move the conveyor belt. So it only got halfway through when the glass door closed and jammed against it. Halfway in, halfway out. You know what the wife did? The wife grieving for a lovely husband, she jumped on the conveyor belt and started to push. And everyone said “are you trying to get rid of him that much?” And it was a big mistake. But instead of getting embarrassed everybody started laughing. One of his friends reminded everybody that, you know, he knew him before he got married, you know, when he first got his first car he crashed his first car on his first day driving it. Just like the first day and his coffin is crashed out too. Typical of Steve. That was such a memorable funeral.

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• Waving from the stretch limo

  In brief: A Buddhist family's first child, born with complications, dies after a few months despite the doctors' best efforts. The parents are too…

  Read full story▾▴

  I went into a stretch limo once you know the occasion I was in the back of a stretch limo because part of being a monk doing funeral services and it's the only time I've been in a limo because what actually happened it was it was a sad occasion because this family of Buddhists you know the first child you know died you know was born with complications and after a few months they tried their very best the doctors gave 100% ENT trying to keep this kid alive but you know sometimes it doesn't work so the child died and the parents they were just too upset actually to go to the funeral service so they asked me can I just go uh with the casket you know to the um pratorum and just do a little bit of bush chanting and just me myself the two funeral directors and the coffin and of course you know they wanted to send their kid off in the best possible way so they hired a stretch limo for it so there was like you know have you ever been in a stretch there most huge car and this these two seats like facing each other so you know in the front was the little coffin which was only a tiny thing no one could see that and I was in the back and these two uniform drivers were in the front and so every time we stopped the traffic lights this was about made 20 years ago when the first stretch lios came people actually you know look through the window to see who was this guy with two uniform chauffeurs in a stretch limo and of course when they look through the window they couldn't see the coffin they could just see me so I waved regally everybody

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• The conservative parents who became friends

  In brief: One of Ajahn Brahm's first Perth funerals is for a young British Buddhist of 23 or 24 who dies of cancer at Bethesda hospice. His very…

  Read full story▾▴

  there was this young guy he was from UK and he he's only about 23 24 he developed cancer his terminal and he was over in one of the first hospices which was I was at um over in Netherlands by the river the old hospital over there somewhere what was it called again Netherlands or Del Keith somewhere Betha okay that sounds right Betha anyway so I went to see him in there and you know there's nothing you could really do you know he was dying but he was a Buddhist so when he actually died and I would did the funeral service his parents came over from UK and his parents were just this quintessential like um country folk from from UK you know they lived in a village they were very very formal very um conservative very Christian and when they saw me come into the the room for the funeral of their only son just their drawers dropped oh God what's what's doing the funeral for our only son and that's actually what I started off with you could see just it was almost like disappointment very severe disappointment this was their only son who died tragically of cancer and this guy in a funny robe was doing the funeral service for them at the end of the funeral service about 25 years ago they were so impressed they gave a $500 donation you know just out of joy and they they um made a decision that when they die that I have to do their funeral service for them and also that their ashes would get spread at bodana Monastery they became really really good friends the mother died her ashes were spread over bodana Monastery uh he's getting a bit old now he'd always come every year to our bana Monastery became a really really dear friend

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• The bikies' funeral

  In brief: A young bikie hits a lamp post and dies; his Buddhist mother asks Ajahn Brahm to support her, and he ends up conducting the funeral in…

  Read full story▾▴

  I remember going to a funeral service. I mentioned this because I was at a funeral service over in Freo um last Wednesday and it was for a bikey funeral. You know, it was real bikes. One of their members had hit a lamp post and died. And the m their mother was a Buddhist and invited me to come to the funeral to, you know, support her. In the end, I ended up doing the funeral service. One of the best funerals I've ever done cuz no bikes. They came in all their leathers and chains and whatever else they had on. and all their their girlfriends again came as if they were going to a dance or a nightclub, not a funeral. They're all dressed up. That was their culture. But I looked a bit weird as well to them cuz I was dressed in brown. And I ended up doing the funeral service. But there was so I always remember it because after the funeral service was concluded, they all came up to me, nice service, sir. Thank you for that, sir. They were just so polite. It totally changed my idea of a, you know, bikey just I was on their side that day

  Open story page·Watch this telling