Sky Burial near Ganden Monastery

SKY BURIAL
One kilometers east of Sera is an isolated rock where SKY BURIALS take place at dawn-Tibetans learned to break the bodies of their dead into small pieces and feed them to the birds. Thus their last earthly act is to make a compassionate gift of their body to feed other creatures. Vultures, ravens and kites swoop down when the body breakers, called dolmens, have done their work. The whole gruesome process takes about two hours, the dead Tibetan literally vanishing into thin air. In the past thrill seeking tourist have outraged local feeling by arriving in Car and demanding to take photos and videos, and so tourist are now banned by law from intruding.