Does Buddhism allow cremation?
Yes. Buddhism allows cremation, and most Buddhists around the world choose it, following the example of the Buddha himself, whose body was cremated and whose relics were shared among his followers. Cremation is a long custom rather than a religious requirement, and Buddhist teachers accept burial as well.
Buddhism has no single authority that issues rulings for every Buddhist, so the answer comes from the early texts, from respected teachers, and from the living customs of each tradition. Those customs differ more than most people expect. Theravada communities in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Mahayana communities in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and Vajrayana communities in Tibet and the Himalayas each have their own rites, their own sense of timing, and their own answer to what should happen to the ashes. What they share is the conviction that the person is not the body left behind, and that the moment of death and the days that follow matter more than the method.
Key facts at a glance
- Official position: Every major Buddhist tradition permits cremation and most practice it. Teachers say no doctrinal weight attaches to the method, and burial is also accepted.
- Since: The Buddha's own funeral, recorded in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, where his body was cremated and his relics were divided into eight shares.
- Burial preferred? No. Cremation is the norm in most Buddhist societies, but burial is accepted, and in Vietnam it is more common than cremation. Tibet traditionally practiced sky burial.
- Scattering ashes: Accepted. Thai families often place ashes in a river or the sea, and Tibetan teachers advise blessing the ashes before scattering them.
- Keeping ashes at home or in jewelry: No Buddhist teaching we found forbids it. Ashes are most often kept in an urn, a temple columbarium, or a stupa, and some teachers caution against holding on too tightly.
- Funeral with remains present: Yes. The funeral is usually held with the body before cremation, and memorial rites continue afterward, often over 49 days.
- Who decides: The family, guided by the monks, priest, or teacher of their tradition.
Pending review. This page was researched against the teachings, temples, and texts of each Buddhist tradition and is now awaiting review by Buddhist monks, priests, and practitioners. Until that review is complete, please treat it as a careful starting point and confirm details with your own temple or teacher. If you see something we should correct, we would be grateful if you would tell us.
On this page
- What Buddhism teaches about cremation
- How Buddhist families approach cremation today
- Common questions families ask
- Where personal choice and memorial keepsakes fit
- Related traditions
- Update history
- Sources
What Buddhism teaches about cremation
The Buddha's own funeral
The pattern for Buddhist funerals comes from the account of the Buddha's final days in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali Canon. Asked how his body should be honored, the Buddha told his attendant Ananda that the monks should not occupy themselves with it: "You are not to be concerned about the Tathagata's funeral" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation). Devoted lay followers would see to it. He asked that his body be treated as the body of a great king would be, cremated on a pyre, with a memorial mound, a stupa, raised where people could visit it.
After the cremation, eight groups of followers asked for a share of the remains. A brahmin named Dona settled the dispute by dividing the Buddha's bone relics into eight equal shares, asked to keep the urn for a ninth monument, and a group that arrived too late was told, "They have been divided. Take the embers from here" (Mahaparinibbana Sutta, chapter 6). Ten monuments were raised in all. From the very beginning, then, Buddhist tradition has accepted both cremation and the sharing of remains among the people and places that loved someone.
Why the method matters less than the moment
Buddhism does not teach that the condition of the body affects what happens next. Rebirth is understood to follow from the karma of a lifetime and the state of mind at death, not from the treatment of the remains. The Theravada monk Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda put it simply: "Buddhists are not very particular regarding the burial or cremation of a dead body," adding that cremation is customary in many Buddhist countries and that the consciousness of the departed person "has no connection with the body left behind or his skeleton or his ashes" (What Buddhists Believe). A Theravada funeral guide by Ven. Suvanno says the same: "Burial or cremation is optional, though the latter would be more practical, less expensive, and preferable," and "The person is not the bones or ashes" (How A Theravadin Buddhist Chinese Funeral May Be Conducted, 1996). A 2020 guidance paper by the International Committee of the Red Cross, written with Buddhist advisers, summarizes the consensus: "No major doctrinal significance is attached to cremation, however, and Buddhism permits both cremation and burial" (ICRC, Buddhist Management of the Dead).
What matters instead is care for the person at the end of life and in the time after it. In every tradition, monks or teachers chant, the family makes offerings and good deeds, and the merit of those acts is dedicated to the one who has died. A verse from the Pali Canon about dedicating merit to the dead compares it to rivers filling the sea: "As rivers full of water / fill the ocean full, / even so does what is given here / benefit the dead" (Khuddakapatha 7).
Theravada Buddhism
In Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, monks are at the center of the funeral. As Dr Rita Langer of the University of Bristol, who studies Theravada funerals, put it, "Even the most secular Buddhists would not opt for a funeral without monks being involved at least for part of the proceedings" (University of Bristol, 2009). Monks chant over the body, food and offerings are given to the monks in the deceased's name, and in Thailand memorial services are held "on the seventh, fiftieth, and hundredth days after the death" (BuddhaNet). Cremation usually follows within days. Afterward, practice varies by country. BuddhaNet notes that "the ashes may be collected and kept in an urn"; in Cambodia urns are usually cared for by the family, who may bury them with the person's belongings or place them in a stupa at a temple or in the village (Sleuk Rith Institute, 2015); and in Thailand ashes and some bones are often placed in a river or the sea, a custom one Thai newspaper explains with the words "Not keeping all ashes helps reduce attachment" (Thairath, 2026). Ven. Suvanno adds that Myanmar families often leave the ashes at the crematorium, and that even when ashes are placed in a columbarium, "there is no need to make any offerings or perform any rites or rituals over the urn."
Mahayana Buddhism in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam
In Chinese Buddhist families, prayers are traditionally offered "every seven days for 49 days," with the first week considered the most important (BuddhaNet). Cremation has become the norm in much of the region: in a Pew Research Center survey published in 2024, large majorities in four of the East Asian societies studied said they cremate deceased family members. Some of the most respected teachers have pushed for simplicity. Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan opened its Life Memorial Garden in 2007, where ashes are returned to the earth and "There are no tomb stones or worshiping rites" (Dharma Drum Mountain). Its founder, Master Sheng Yen, asked in his will that his followers not "build the grave, stupa, or monument, erect my statues, or collect my relics, if any" (The Will of Chan Master Sheng Yen), and after his death in 2009 his ashes were buried in that garden with no relics kept (Western Chan Fellowship). Vietnam is the notable exception to the cremation norm: in a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, "Vietnam is the only place in the region where burial is more common than cremation (91% vs. 28%)" (Pew Research Center, 2024).
Japanese Buddhism
Japan cremates almost everyone: 1,674,137 of the 1,674,520 people who died in 2024, or 99.98 percent, according to the Cremation Society's international statistics. Most funerals are Buddhist. After the cremation, "family members use special chopsticks to place pieces of bones in a small urn (kotsutsubo)" (Nippon.com), and memorial tablets are kept at the butsudan, the household Buddhist altar (Britannica). Japanese Buddhism also has an accepted practice of dividing remains, called bunkotsu. The Higashi Honganji branch of Jodo Shinshu, for example, accepts remains at Otani Sobyo, the grave of its founder Shinran (Otani Sobyo guide), and its application guide describes families who place part of a loved one's remains at the head temple in Kyoto and the rest at Otani Sobyo (Higashi Honganji application guide).
Tibetan and Vajrayana Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism places great weight on the moments after the breath stops. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, longtime spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), taught that "for ordinary people the mind can stay in the body for up to three days after the breath stops," so families should leave the body undisturbed as long as they can (FPMT, 2015). Rites continue for 49 days, the period of the bardo between death and rebirth. In Tibet itself, cremation was historically uncommon. Britannica notes that "tradition calls for the corpse to be fed to the vultures, a practice named sky burial," and that "The customs of interment and cremation exist but are seldom practiced" (Britannica); one scholarly study notes that cremation was reserved for incarnate lamas or for winter (Goss, Death Studies, 1997).
In the West, where cremation is the practical choice, FPMT teachers give detailed advice on the ashes. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised first blessing them in a ritual called jangwa, then placing much of them in the ocean or a lake, and noted that "A small amount of the ashes can be placed in the base of a stupa" (Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2005). He also recommended tsa tsas, small clay images of stupas or buddhas: "The other good thing you can do is make tsa tsas and put some of the ashes inside" (Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2019). The Rubin Museum describes tsa tsas as "sometimes made from clay mixed with the ashes of a deceased" and placed in stupas (Project Himalayan Art).
How Buddhist families approach cremation today
Buddhists are a small community in the United States and a varied one. Pew Research Center's 2023 to 2024 Religious Landscape Study found that "1% of U.S. adults identify as Buddhists" (Pew Research Center, 2025), and a 2026 Pew analysis adds that "64% of U.S. Buddhist adults are Asian by race," while around 3 percent of American adults consider themselves Buddhist "aside from religion" (Pew Research Center, 2026). That means an American Buddhist funeral might follow the customs of a Thai temple, a Japanese American Jodo Shinshu church, a Vietnamese pagoda, a Tibetan dharma center, or a Zen community, and each will feel different.
Across East Asia, Pew's 2024 survey found that among families who cremate, "Keeping ashes in a particular location is the most common approach," reported by 92 percent in Japan, 87 percent in Taiwan, and 74 percent in Hong Kong (Pew Research Center, 2024). American temples reflect that. The Midwest Buddhist Temple in Chicago, part of the Buddhist Churches of America, tells families that "The Buddhist tradition is to cremate the body of someone who has passed away" and offers its own nokotsudo, a columbarium, for the urn (Midwest Buddhist Temple). The Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple maintains a columbarium "designed as a permanent repository for over 3,000 sets of cremated remains" (Nishi Hongwanji Los Angeles). In Zen communities, the traditional funeral includes "the ceremony of interring or scattering the ashes of the deceased" (Tricycle, 2015).
A Buddhist funeral in the United States usually begins with chanting by monks or a priest while the body is present, followed by cremation and a series of memorial services. The Midwest Buddhist Temple lists services on the 49th day, the first anniversary, and in later years. The wider American trend points the same way: the Cremation Association of North America reports that the US cremation rate reached 62.8 percent in 2025 (CANA).
Some of the most beloved modern teachers have used their own deaths to teach about letting go. The Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh asked his students, "Please do not build a stupa for me," and if they had to, to put a sign on it that says, "I am not in here" (Buddhistdoor Global, 2022). He was cremated in January 2022, and his ashes were carried to his root temple in Hue, Vietnam (Plum Village).
Common questions families ask
Can Buddhists scatter ashes?
Yes. No Buddhist tradition forbids scattering, and in several it is the usual practice. Thai families often place ashes and bones in a river or the sea, a Theravada funeral guide says that "Leaving the ashes behind or strewing them into the sea or river is also fine," and Tibetan teachers in the FPMT tradition advise blessing the ashes and then offering much of them to the ocean, a lake, or the wind from a mountaintop. Zen communities hold a ceremony for interring or scattering the ashes.
Can we keep a loved one's ashes at home?
We found no Buddhist teaching that forbids it. Keeping ashes in an urn is a long custom in many Buddhist countries, and in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong most families who cremate keep the ashes in a particular place rather than scattering them. Some teachers encourage eventually placing the ashes in a temple, a stupa, or the earth, partly as a practice of letting go. Ask your temple or teacher what is customary in your community.
Can the ashes be divided among family members?
Yes, and Buddhism has unusually deep precedent for it. The Buddha's own relics were divided into eight shares among the communities that loved him. In Japan, placing part of a person's remains at a head temple or a second resting place is an accepted practice called bunkotsu, divided remains. Tibetan teachers likewise speak of dividing ashes among a stupa, the ocean, and tsa tsas. Treat each portion with the same care as the whole.
Is cremation jewelry acceptable in Buddhism?
No Buddhist tradition we reviewed has issued guidance on memorial jewelry, for or against. Tibetan Buddhists have long worn small amulet boxes called gau around the neck holding relics and other sacred objects, but we found no source describing them holding a relative's ashes. Some revered teachers, including Master Sheng Yen and Thich Nhat Hanh, asked that their own remains not be kept or enshrined, as a teaching on impermanence. For most Buddhist families, a keepsake is a personal decision; if your family belongs to a temple, it is worth asking the monks or priest first.
How long should we wait before cremation?
It depends on the tradition. Tibetan teachers advise leaving the body undisturbed for as long as possible, up to three days, because they hold that consciousness may remain in the body after breathing stops. In Theravada countries, cremation usually happens within a few days after monks have chanted. Your temple or teacher can tell you what is customary in your community.
What happens during the 49 days after death?
Many Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhists understand the 49 days after death as an in between period before rebirth, and families hold chanting or memorial services each week, with the 49th day often marking the end of formal mourning. Thai Theravada families hold services on the seventh, fiftieth, and hundredth days. Japanese American temples continue with services on later anniversaries.
Can a Buddhist be buried instead of cremated?
Yes. Buddhist teachers treat burial and cremation as equally acceptable, and burial is the majority practice in Vietnam. A Japanese American temple's funeral handbook lists both cremation and burial among the arrangements a family may choose (Reedley Buddhist Church). If a loved one asked to be buried, nothing in Buddhist teaching stands in the way.
Where are Buddhist ashes usually kept?
Most often in a temple columbarium, a family grave, or a stupa, and sometimes at home. Many American Buddhist temples maintain their own columbarium, and Tibetan centers may place blessed ashes in the base of a stupa or in tsa tsas. Some Buddhist communities return ashes directly to the earth or to water instead.
Where personal choice and memorial keepsakes fit
Buddhism leaves a great deal of room here, and it also offers a gentle caution. The room comes from the tradition itself: the Buddha's relics were shared, some Japanese families divide remains between a head temple and a family resting place, and no teacher we found forbids keeping ashes close. The caution comes from the heart of the teaching. Everything changes, and the people we love are not the ashes. Many Buddhist teachers would say that how you carry someone matters more than what you carry: the kindness you do in their name, the merit you dedicate to them, the way their habits and sayings live on in your ordinary days.
If your family keeps a small, symbolic portion of ashes, Buddhist teaching does not stand against it. Some families place most of the ashes in a temple or the earth and keep a portion close. Cremation jewelry is one way to do that; our pendants are laser engraved in Oregon, and you can see how they work in our cremation jewelry collection. If it does not feel right, other keepsakes fit just as well: a piece engraved with a name, a date, or a line of dharma; a lotus or a simple stupa shape; a donation to a temple in their name. There is no right or wrong way to carry a loss.
If you are choosing a memorial gift for a Buddhist family
Ask before giving anything meant to hold ashes, because Buddhist families differ widely: some keep ashes at home, some place every bit in a temple, and some return them to the earth or the sea. A piece engraved with a name or a date, a lotus, or a simple design is a safe choice for nearly any Buddhist household, and a donation to the family's temple or an offering of flowers is a kind gesture in any tradition. Avoid crosses and other symbols from a different faith.
Related traditions
- Religious Views on Cremation: What Every Major Faith Teaches
- Hinduism and Sikhism (summaries on the main page)
- Shinto and Japanese Buddhism (summary on the main page)
- Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese traditions (summary on the main page)
- Compare two traditions side by side
- Memorial Gifts by Faith
Update history
October 12, 2026: Moved the pending review notice below the key facts so the direct answer comes first. No content changed. (source)
October 11, 2026: Added photographs of Theravada monks at prayer in Laos, the Swayambhunath stupa in Nepal, incense drying in a Vietnamese village, the Okunoin cemetery on Mount Koya in Japan, and a lotus bud to break up the longer sections. No content changed. (source)
October 11, 2026: Page published with a notice that it is pending review by Buddhist monks, priests, and practitioners. The notice will be removed, and any corrections dated here, once that review is complete. (source)
October 11, 2026: Page created. Positions verified against the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Theravada teachers and funeral guides, Dharma Drum Mountain, Higashi Honganji, Jodo Shinshu temples in the United States, the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive and FPMT, Plum Village, and Pew Research Center surveys published in 2024 to 2026. (source)
Sources
- Mahaparinibbana Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Total Unbinding (DN 16), chapters 5 and 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 1998
- What Buddhists Believe: Buddhist Funeral Rites, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda
- How A Theravadin Buddhist Chinese Funeral May Be Conducted, Ven. Suvanno, revised edition 1996
- Buddhist Management of the Dead and COVID-19, International Committee of the Red Cross, 2020
- Khuddakapatha 7: Tirokudda Kanda, Hungry Ghosts Outside the Walls, dhammatalks.org
- Funeral Rites, BuddhaNet
- Buddhist funeral rites, University of Bristol, 2009
- The Urns, Sleuk Rith Institute (Documentation Center of Cambodia), 2015
- Why Must Ashes Be Scattered After Cremation? A Ritual Rich in Philosophy and Moral Teachings, Thairath, July 16, 2026
- Traditional Chinese Funeral Arrangements, BuddhaNet
- Grand Opening of the Life Memorial Garden, Dharma Drum Mountain, 2007
- The Will of Chan Master Sheng Yen, Western Chan Fellowship
- Ancestor Veneration, Funerals and Afterlife Beliefs, Pew Research Center, 2024
- International Statistics 2024: Japan, The Cremation Society
- Funerals in Japan, Nippon.com, 2015
- Butsudan, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Otani Sobyo guide, Higashi Honganji (Shinshu Otani branch)
- Application guide for placing remains at the head temple and Otani Sobyo, Higashi Honganji
- Burying Shifu's Ashes: Ceremony for Chan Master Sheng Yen, Western Chan Fellowship
- How to Help Your Loved Ones Enjoy Death and Go Happily to Their Next Rebirth, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT, 2015
- What to Do with a Deceased Person's Ashes, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2005
- What to Do with the Ashes of a Loved One, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, given 2019, published 2021
- Death and Rebirth, Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum
- Tibet: Government and society, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Tibetan Buddhism and the Resolution of Grief: The Bardo Thodol for the Dying and the Grieving, R. Goss, Death Studies 21(4), 1997
- Religious Landscape Study: Buddhists, Pew Research Center, 2025
- 5 Facts About Buddhists in the United States, Pew Research Center, 2026
- Funeral Services and Memorials, Midwest Buddhist Temple, Chicago
- Nokotsudo, Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
- Buddhist Funeral Procedure Handbook, Reedley Buddhist Church, second edition 2015
- Flowers for the Dead, Wendy Johnson, Tricycle, 2015
- Goodbye, Thay, Buddhistdoor Global, 2022
- Memorial for Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village
- Industry Statistical Information, Cremation Association of North America, 2026
If you are choosing a keepsake, for yourself or for someone you love, we would rather you get it right than get it from us.
This page is educational and reflects the teachings and customs published by each Buddhist tradition at the time of the update. Temples, teachers, and families may follow stricter or different practices. When in doubt, ask your temple, monks, priest, or teacher.