The four steps of life, birth, old age, sickness, and death, are unavoidable natural laws. We understand this truth, but when a loved one passes away, our hearts are still filled with deep grief and cannot let go.
Especially in modern funeral procedures, the crematorium has become the last journey of life, making people both reverent and fearful of it. However, as part of the laws of nature, we can't completely avoid this place.
* The helplessness of the crematorium, the laws of nature cannot escape. The cycle of life and death, everything has a fixed number, spring goes to autumn, flowers bloom and fall, all are the trajectory of life. Life is short, prosperity is like a dream, success is fleeting, and failure is inevitable.
Fame and fortune will eventually pass, the years are ruthless, and youth is no more. In the face of life and death, we can only laugh about the past and the present with a glass of turbid wine, and sigh at the impermanence of life. This is the helplessness of the crematorium, a journey of life that everyone has to face.
There are many philosophical sayings in traditional Chinese culture that reflect people's respect and respect for their deceased loved ones. For example:"The deceased is great, and the earth is peaceful"This is actually an attitude of reverence for the death of the ancestors.
In agrarian societies, people believed that man was a product of the earth, no different from rice, sorghum, poultry, and beasts of prey. Therefore, it is believed that the burial of the deceased is a way to return to nature.
As a result, funeral procedures or funeral culture have also emerged. In theory, the traditional burial ritual is very detail-oriented and scientific. For example, the coffin, as an important burial utensil, fully embodies the humanized design concept.
For example, why is the design of the coffin presented with a large head and a small tail, wide and narrow? In fact, all this is customized according to the body structure and activity habits of the deceased.
Considering the large range of motion of the head and upper arms, the design pays special attention to the practicality of life. The wide end is to accommodate the deceased's upper limbs, while the narrow end is reserved for the lower limbs.
This design fully reflects the humanized care, and fully considers the activities and behavior of people before their death. Although people always want to live forever, in long-term social practice, people have recognized that this is unlikely.
However, this idea of pursuing immortality as an obsession has been pursued by people since ancient times.
During the time of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor was keen on alchemy in pursuit of longevity, and later sent Xu Fu to the East China Sea because he believed that Xu Fu was seeking the art of immortality. Xu Fu felt deeply guilty and left with the boy and girl.
This situation is not limited to the time of Qin Shi Huang, the pursuit of long live by the monarchs of all dynasties has actually continued this obsession, such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who did everything in this regard, but eventually came to naught.
This evolution of the worldview of fear of death and admiration for the deceased is actually a realization that death is inevitable, so people use their brains on the question of how to accommodate the deceased.
For the royal mausoleum and Kong Lin, this represents the respect and pursuit of life and death for nobles and scholars, and for ordinary people, they may be more concerned about letting their deceased relatives rest in peace, choosing a feng shui treasure with a coffin, which is their deep attachment and respect for their relatives.
Driven by social progress, funeral culture is also constantly evolving and changing. The emergence of crematoriums has injected new elements into the traditional funeral culture. While the traditional concept of burial is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, cremation can also allow the body of the deceased to be properly disposed of without fear and worry.
Whichever way is chosen, the body of the deceased is just a way of being. Buried in the earth or cremated into ashes, all just so that the deceased can rest in peace and achieve their final destiny.
This is not an extravagant request, but a respect and cherishment of life. Therefore, we should face life and death calmly and do a good job in the present. Whether it is between life and death, or in dealing with the aftermath, we should follow our own beliefs and values, respect the deceased, and cherish life.
In modern society, people often hold cremation memorial services for deceased loved ones, which has also become a revolution in traditional funeral rites. In this ceremony, various couplets are used to express people's mourning for the deceased.
Therefore, setting up a universal elegiac couplet at the entrance of the crematorium can not only express people's admiration for the deceased, but also soothe the soul of the living, which has become an important topic for contemporary literati and ink writers.
For example, in a certain crematorium, there is a striking elegy, the upper couplet expresses that the crematorium is not a special place, and people will come sooner or later; The next link has aroused people's deep thinking.
The upper link shows that the crematorium is an essential part of life, while the lower link needs to express respect for the deceased and encourage the living, while maintaining the correspondence with the artistic conception, feelings, words and rhyme of the upper couplet.
Therefore, it is difficult to create the next link, and many factors need to be considered, such as the fit of the theme, the battle of the text, and the evenness of the rhyme.
Pairs are a common art form for literati and ink writers to test their talents, especially the requirement that the couplet must be perfect, and the artistic conception must complement the couplet.
Couplets are unique cultural carriers in China, expressing the idea of duality in straightforward language. According to historical records, Meng Xu was the originator of the couplet culture, he was not only the last emperor of Hou Shu, but also made remarkable achievements in governing the country, and created this cultural treasure.
During the Spring Festival of the New Year, Meng Xu initiated the idea of replacing peach charms to promote Spring Festival couplets.
The emperor's initiative immediately aroused an enthusiastic response from the literati, among whom the scholar Xing Xun's writing was the most outstanding. His Shanglian intends to welcome last year's Yuqing at the New Year, and the celebration of the New Year heralds the arrival of the New Year.
There are countless stories of couplets in history, for example, Zhu Yuanzhang's teacher gave the upper couplet "three soils", and Zhu Yuanzhang came up with the lower couplet "Five Emperors Make Pipa", which can be called a must, rich in far-reaching artistic conception.
Returning to our topic, the upper link given by the crematorium also triggered people's responses, in response to the meaning of early and late, the lower link is "first come, first come", the upper link is "come early and late", and the lower link is "first come", which is very fair and has a strong sense of involvement.
The conclusion is that although people are essentially repulsed by the crematorium as a destination, from the point of view of the laws of nature, some things are inevitable, so people express their feelings by placing their emotions in couplets.
Yes, since you can't change the arrangement of fate, then the best choice is to cherish everything in front of you, which is responsible for your own life, and it is also to transmit positive power to the living, which is to seize the present and grasp the present.