According to celebrity gossip site TMZ, comedian and self-described “serious dharma student” Garry Shandling, who died last week, had arranged for a Buddhist funeral, and this will take place in April. TMZ, on what sources close to Shandling said to expect from the “small, private ceremony”:
We’re told the decedent is dressed in casual clothes [and is] then laid to rest with a card detailing the “Five Precepts of Buddha.” Finally, a monk leads a chant while the congregation lights incense to help guide the spirit to the next life.
Shandling was a practitioner of Zen and mindfulness and felt deeply connected to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. For more on Shandling and his connection to Buddhism, read Lion’s Roar‘s “The Mindful Comedy of Garry Shandling.”
