The concept of death and dying amongst the Vietnamese differ vastly from that of their American counterparts. With the exception of the Vietnamese Christians, (Catholics and Protestants), the other seventy percent of the Vietnamese people are deeply rooted in Buddhism; those believe in reincarnation, in the indestructibility of their souls and that after their death, they will come back evolved into a higher or a lower form of life depending on how they have behaved during their previous lives.
According to this doctrine of reincarnation, it is interesting to note how those Vietnamese view the universe:
“ It is like a wheel, round and round it turns and never stops. It is the wheel of Brahman. As long as the individual self thinks it is separate from Brahman, it revolves upon the wheel in bondage to the laws of birth, death, and rebirth. But when through the grace of Brahma it realizes its identity with him, it revolves upon the wheel no longer. It achieves immortality. Consider how it was with the forefathers; behold how it is with the later (men); a mortal ripens like corn, and like corn is born again.
Katha Upanisad (Radhakrishnan), I.1.6
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So the Vietnamese believe:” As you sow, so you will reap. Nothing is lost due to this law of karmic compensation. If you do not get what you have given out in this world, then you will be compensated in some future life “.
K. L. Sheshagiri Rao, in Pappu, 23
Let us examine how death is viewed from this mindset:
“ Just as a leech (or caterpillar) when it has come to the end of a blade of grass, after having made another approach (to another blade), draws itself together towards it, so does this self, after having thrown away the body, and dispelled ignorance, after having another approach (to another body) draw itself together (for making the transition to another body).
