We know very well that even if one is a wealthiest person, on death one can’t carry even a tiny needle. It is a universal fact. The final journey is an act of only returning the element back to the earth. Means the body after cremation turns into ashes and ultimately goes back to the earth.
Nonetheless, it is widely believed that the deceased can carry with them the Yang (wealth auspiciousness of the house) if certain Yang retaining ritual is not performed before dead body is taken from the house to the cremation ground. If the deceased carry the Yang of the house, then it will lead the surviving family to a poverty.
To counter this, there is a post death ritual, which is known as Yangcha. The procedure involves using a Khadar which is wiped on the body reciting “May you go to Sukhavati heaven, may you leave all the Yang back to us”. The elaborate procedure is given below. This prayer will help to retain back the prosperity auspiciousness of the family. “Yang” means wealth auspiciousness and “Cha” means wipe.
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The procedure:
Get some jewelry and tie it in on a Khadhar (white scarf) and placed near the dead body. An arrow with five different colored cloths, representing five essential elements of nature (Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Space) are tied to it and placed nearby.
When the body is taken out, the bundle of the cloth containing jewelry is brought out along with it. Then before the start of the funeral procession the lama takes it out from the body with the recitation of prayer and hands it over to such a boy whose parents are alive. He takes it inside the house and hands it over to the head of the family.
It is believed that with this all the virtuous qualities of the departed soul and the prosperity of the household is retained there.
So please see that it is done and yang of the house is retained.
Phub Dorji Wang
