Terra-Cotta warriors and view of life-yizkor message

China's terra-cotta warriors descend on the British
By Robert Barr | Associated Press
September 27, 2007

In the former reading room of the British Library, where Karl Marx labored on "Das Kapital," visitors can stand almost face-to-face with commanding, life-size figures of warriors, archers, horses, musicians, acrobats and a charioteer.
Their faces are impassive; only a bronze goose turns an inquisitive eye toward the visitor.
The exhibition, running through April 6, includes 19 human figures selected from the more than 7,000 figures discovered in 1974 near the tomb of the emperor Qin Shihuangdi.

"It's all about the afterlife, that he wanted to go on ruling the universe in the afterlife," said curator Jane Portal.
The imperial tomb is a display of "funereal megalomania" on a scale never seen before in Asia, said Lukas Nickel, a lecturer on Chinese archeology at University College, London. Qin brought all of China under his rule in 221 B.C. and started the construction of the Great Wall. Coins on display point to his achievement of imposing a unified currency on the nation. He presumed not just to unify China, but the spirit realm as well."

I was in China with my daughter in 2001 and saw the 7000 figures. They are amazing. Some of the burial sites of the Chinese deceased emperers are as big as cities. They and the Pharaohs tried to take it with them, and have protection. A recent discovery of a Viking Queen buried in a 70 foot boat was made, and a small body was found near her, which scholars speculate mught be a servant killed to tend to her in the next world. Judaism embraces life, in this world but has no notion about ruling the after world. The focus is on this-world and judgement by God in the world-to-come. Yizkor reminds us firmly of the loss, that we can't take it with us except the memories and good we leave behind, and what we do take is our immortal soul.