The Buddha Bone: A Short Story and a Very Interesting Tradition (Patreon)

Hey hey, Everyone, How are you all? I've been quite busy, and I might have some exciting news on the horizon. But before that, there is one bit of news I can share. I had another short story accepted by Undertow Productions Weird Horror Magazine #7 ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪. It'll be coming out later this year. I'll let you know. The Table of Contents is the photo above. 

This will be my third story coming out in 2023, and I'm very excited about that. It feels like all those years I was only concentrating on Uncanny Japan and not much else was in effect filling the proverbial writing tank, and now I have loads of ideas and half-started stories, and I plan to work on as many as I can while doing all my other stuff, too. I also opened the file for my middle grade novel and try to get a couple hours in on that as much as I can. That's another project I'm determined to finish by the end of the year. 

The story  that I wrote for Weird Horror is called the Buddha Bone and it's based on a real tradition here that I wanted to share. In Japan, the Adam's Apple is called the Nodo Hotoke/喉仏/ lit. Throat Buddha. Which I always thought was just adorable but never understood why. Well, you just need to go to one funeral (and cremation) and you get the story real quick. 

While placing the not completely incinerated bones into the urn (putting the feet and leg bones in first so the loved one isn't upside down in there), the person who is overseeing the whole thing will pluck out the Buddha Bone (also called Bukkotsu/仏骨/Buddha Bone) and show it to everyone commenting on how it looks like a image of the Buddha meditating. Like this:

It's thought to seat the soul of the person and is the most important bone in the body. I'm sure this probably varies from region to region and by the sect of Buddhism. Jodo-shu/Pure Land seems to hold this belief all over the country. 

Some say that if the bones isn't very blemished it means the person led a good life and will be reborn in the Pure Land. Every time I've seen it, it has been placed on the very top of the remains in the urn. #mostimportantbone

What's interesting though is that bone isn't the Adam's Apple or Nodo Botoke/Throat Buddha at all. I mean, that would be cartilage and most certainly gets burned up on cremation. But it is from the same area of the body. It's actually the second cervical vertebrae. So I wonder if this was originally a mistake that's been passed down for hundreds of years. Don't know. But my story "The Buddha Bone" is weird and it will be available online, so I'll let you know when it's up. Stay well, XO, 

terrie