Garden burial

In the Jātaka story, a young woman tells her mother: "after I die ... collect my bones and bury them, and there plant a kaṇikāra tree. Then, as the winter comes to an end, and when the tree breaks into blossom in the spring, you will remember me and say: 'Such was my daughter’s beauty.'"
(Ja.V,302)

Ever since I read that story, I'd thought that when I die, I would like to be buried under the tree too. No tomb. No urn. No tablet. Just bury the ashes into the earth. Ashes to ashes. The garden shall be my cemetery. The tree be my tombstone.

I was thus fascinated to read that this is actually being done in Taiwan. The Taiwanese government had been promoting green burials. These includes mass cremations which are conducted twice a week and funded by the government, promoting a quiet and dignified funeral that minimize wastage, as well as sea burial and "garden burials".

Garden burials include "tree burials" (树葬) and "flower burials" (花葬). The government had allocated
land as burial gardens. The ashes are buried around the trees or flowers. The Taipei municipal government first experimented this in 2003. It has proven to be successful and has since allocated more land. One of these garden cemeteries is in the Yangmingshan national park, which I would be interested to visit the next time I go to Taipei.

While sea burial (scattering ashes into the sea) is occasionally being done in Singapore. I don't think there is such tree or flower burials.

Hopefully, when it is my time, there will be such burial grounds...