Dalai Lama’s brother cremated Thursday

Thubten J. Norbu’s cremation Thursday morning was the first of its kind in the state of Indiana after getting approval from Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Norbu, a former IU professor and the eldest brother of His Holiness of the Dalai Lama, died Sept. 5 of natural causes.

Indiana law requires cremations to be performed by a licensed crematory, but Gov. Mitch Daniels gave the family authorization to perform this traditional ceremony.

Monks cremated the body in a dome-shaped structure, called a stupa, on the premises of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center.

The private ceremony took place at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Jigme Norbu, Thubten J. Norbu’s son, said he and his family were informed by funeral homes that the Buddhist tradition, which includes a cremation, was illegal because people cannot be cremated on public or private land.

The traditional cremation involves keeping the body on ice for days while it is prepared for the cremation. The body is brushed with religious liquids and is dressed in clothing a high lama would wear. He is then put in a lotus position, a crossed-legged pose that is often used for meditation.

The body is then carried into the stupa and closed.

Co-founder of the International Tibet Independence Movement and professor at Ball State University Larry Gerstein said the monks chanted for four hours prior to the cremation.

The Norbu family sought help from local politicians, who Jigme Norbu declined to reveal for their protection. They eventually helped get approval for the cremation from Daniels.

The cremation rarely occurs in the United States, and the ceremony was the first one in Indiana, Jigme Norbu said.

The family plans to use the ashes of Thubten J. Norbu to create statues the family can use as remembrance.