Koreans think burials as a traditional rite which has induced numerous uncountable graves, placed in unordered locales without any relationship to a general placement plan. Currently( the 1995 year), 982㎞^(2) of land is held as cemetery (19,612,000 ...
Koreans think burials as a traditional rite which has induced numerous uncountable graves, placed in unordered locales without any relationship to a general placement plan. Currently( the 1995 year), 982㎞^(2) of land is held as cemetery (19,612,000 grave sites). This equates to approximately 1% of the total land mass. 9㎞^(2) of land(200,000 grave sites) are added each year, on the average.
Because of the too many burial sites, damage to the nation's sceneries and a reduction in the utilization of land resource are becoming more serious day by day. And the shortage of grave sites in metropolis is emerging as a new urban problem. So it is believed that future urban planning should take into the worldwide tendency shifting urban grave sites to combined public park and grave site style compounds where only the cremated bones are preserved.
The conclusion of this "Study on the Improvement of the Cemetery System according to the Environmental and Ideological Investigation'!
Human beings are destined to die. After death, the dead body should be taken care of through certain procedures. There are various procedures by the environments of the region, ideology, cultural custom and the dead's social standing. Also they have greatly undergone changes by the demands of the times. People have chosen the cemetry system considering their economic and environmental, comfort of the dead, escaping from the fear of death.
There are many ways in cemetery system, when dealing with the dead body. But it can be classified into two large groups. One is the Burial in Wet-Condition, the other is the Burial in Dry-Condition.
In Wet-Condition are MAE-JANG, the Burial in the earth and SU- JANG, the Burial in the sea. And in Dry-Condition are HWA- JANG, cremation by the fire and P'UNG-JANG, the dealing by the wind and CHO-JANG, the dealing by the eagle
A funeral is held by a surviving family. Therefore survivor's emotion is very important. The procedures of funeral service should not only include the treatment of the dead body but also help the descendants to worship their ancestors and to have filial piety, solidification of blood-relationship and ostentation of lineage.
A lot of people believe that happiness for the posterity depends on the extent of scrupulosity in the selection of grave sites by the P'UNG-SU( Winds and Water) ' Geographical Theory with such special terminologies as "Blue Dragons to the Left" and White Tigers to the Right."
But present's burial is uneconomic and anti-environmental, and it is difficult to administer a grave. So present's grave site system must be changed to collectivization of scattered grave site, limiting burial time, making the list of the graves, getting rid of neglected graves.
So we need another cemetry system instead of the burial. Therefore it is necessary for us to understand the true meaning of the life and death, 'Pung-Su'(Winds and Water), a future life after death,
The cremation can be the substitute of the Burial. That was mainly practised in KORYO AGE, and at present in the oriental country in buddhism, and in many nations that are not compatible with burial. For example, Japanese, Thai, Swedish often use the cremation as one of the cemetry system.
Also the cremation have the economical and environmental merits. But cremation system must be supplemented by a certain ritual to give the family of the dead comfort and compensation. The facilities of a crematory and a charnel house must be changed into more high-qualified one to win the people's trust.
They manage the remains of the dead in various ways. It can be scattered, laid in a charnel house or in Napkol-t'ap, Yo^(˘)ng-t'ap, So^(˘)k-ch'ong.
Finally a cemetery- system-improvement-plan requires strong promotion from national leaders, active educational movement from religious leaders, an effort to change people's idea and a recognition of the problems among the policy makers.