we are coming to the end of the second (of the traditional seven) weeks of mourning and funerary rites. they say a man's spirit remains on earth for 49 days after death - seven sets of seven days - the first and last set being the most important, and i've been doing much bowing, walking, kneeling, chanting and offering of joss sticksin those first seven days. buddhist chants are very calming, although it all went by so fast i haven't really time to think about them, except for the one i already knew (the heart sutra 般若波羅蜜多心經 - text in chinese (that's the, or rather, The 玄奘 (xuanzang) translation) and in english here.) my aunt was together and organised and heroically gracious to all until the moment the coffin lid was being shut and became hysterically upset and collapsed. she had such courage and strength to hold herself together all that time, making arrangements for all the visitors flying in from several countries, and i feel such fierce love for her. my parents left for singapore the night before last (they'll come back for the seventh week rituals i think) and minyin swung by glen waverly after attending a lecture by barry marshall at monash and drove me back to carlton. i'll go down again tomorrow maybe. (i've extended my stay in melbourne so i'll see people at home when i get back, and i'm definitely missing sarah's birthday and julian's farewell party, sorry, but have a good time darlings.)