2.a) Where do you go when you die?
I hope I will go to heaven. In Japan, I think many people believe that when people die, they go to heaven or hell. I believe transmigration of the soul.
b) Explain why do Japanese have death memorial services 1 month, 1 year, 3 years, 7 years, etc. after a person's death?
Buddism holds that after a person dies he or she is reborn but not reborn at the exact moment of death. There is a certain prosess which needs forty-nine days. The forty-ninth day, where the person reborn is decided, so we hold special memorial service on this day. When this custom was transmitted from India to China, three dates were added: one handred days, one year and three years. Then, when Buddhism reached Japan, ceremonies were added for the seventh, thirteenth and thirty-third anniversaries and then, there were thirteen ceremonies.
("英語で話す「仏教」Q & A" 参照)
