Search for Japan's Missing

Search for Japan's missing is stepped up as the 49th day nears since the tsunami hit Japan on March 11th. The importance of this day in the Buddhist belief is explained below:

Beliefs About Death

Buddhists believe in reincarnation, that they are reborn when they die - depending on their karma (the belief that all actions have either a good or bad effect and will affect your next life). Breaking free of the cycle of reincarnation is called Nirvana — the state of perfect peace and happiness, reached by people that have realized the true meaning of life and gained enlightenment. The Buddha taught that everything changes, nothing lasts forever and that dying is part of the natural process of change.

Mourning

It is believed that by the forty-ninth day after death, the karma of the deceased takes a certain form. During these 49 days the family observes a mourning period and they refrain from any merry-making. A memorial service is held on the 49th day, the one-hundredth day, the first, third, seventh, and twenty-third year anniversaries and ending on the thirty-third year - at which time it is believed that the soul has been assimilated into the collective ancestral soul.

References:
(Matsunami, Kodo, International Handbook of Funeral Practices. Greenwood Press, 1998) (Ganeri, Anita, Journey's End - Death and Mourning, Peter Bedrick Books. New York 1998)