You can’t take it with you. Or can you? Buddhist culture has got it all covered just in case we need some bank notes or underarm deodorant in the afterlife. Shops such as San Francisco Chinatown’s First Incense Corp. are well supplied with “Hell” brand cigarettes (complete with matches) and French fries and Big Macs too in case your cravings get the best of you whilst traveling through the Bardo looking for your next incarnation. Of course, these goods are made of paper, which is probably best considering smuggling a real hamburger with you into your death could get messy. Then again, the Egyptians wouldn’t have batted a hennaed eyelash at tossing a few steaming burgers into the chamber with some slaves, cats and piles of golden kitchenware…but those guys were pretty darn literal when it came to their afterlife theories.

burnt offerings

Burning Desires
(by Ellen Warren for A Chicago Tribune Web log)

“Everything in the store was highly flammable. A hand-written sign in English, obviously designed for clueless Westerners, explained why: “… papers are burnt to the Buddhists ancestors for a good fortune, luck, health, etc.”

Relatives buy these items for the deceased, then burn them to assure that their loved ones are well-supplied in the afterlife. Not limited to necessities, there was a miniature paper yacht for $88, a BMW for $45 and mansions for under $100.” (Read the rest of the article at The Chicago Tribune website.)

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