Funeral Service – Memorial Service – Switzerland – Funeral Officiant and Orator – Master of Ceremony – Zen Father Master Reding

Place of Burial - Scatter Ashes of the Deceased

Switzerland-wide & internationally: Determine the location and type of burial that is best for you. Whether the funeral should take place in the cemetery or whether the ashes of the deceased should be scattered (mountain, lake or forest), the ceremony will be carried out according to your wishes. In Switzerland, it is permitted to scatter the ashes of the deceased. On private property, the owner's permission is required to hold a funeral service.

Living Symbol - Secular and Non-Denominational Funeral Service

The funeral service is symbolic and non-denominational. Members of all faiths are welcome. Prayers and rituals from different religions can be included in the funeral according to your wishes.

The tragedy of our culture is that so many people no longer believe in symbolic language. And so they try to satisfy a spiritual longing with something physical, which never works. There is no saturation point for a spiritual longing with physical means. Until that symbol is alive as a living symbol, it cannot do its work of bringing us into our wholeness.

In this sense, the memorial service and funeral are carried out as a living symbol, with all those present becoming part of something greater.

Symbolic: unifying, bringing together, divine

Funeral Orator - Zen Father Master Reding

After ten years of intensive monastic training in Japan and Korea, Master Reding founded the christian Nigredo Order in Switzerland in 2014, supported by the mutual trust of lay people and clergy. In gratitude for this training, he made a 3,000-mile pilgrimage across Japan in the traditional alms round. As founder and abbot, he now leads the rustic, Christian-influenced Nigredo Monastery in Reichenburg. In the Nigredo Order, God is understood as religious experience and mysticism—the living core of every religion. It is not about dogma or mere knowledge, but about practice, realization, and the direct encounter with God.

Our family tradition is to find the "Church in one's own mind and God in one's own self." This is a traditional teaching of self-cultivation long forgotten by many in the East (Zen) and long lost in the West (mysticism).

Because the spirit of the times has diluted church, culture, and religion, and our society is increasingly losing its solid values—even to the point of disregarding femininity and dissolving the family principle—many people feel lost and abandoned. Master Reding therefore founded the Nigredo Monastery and the order—not to dictate to others, but to exemplify a path that leads back to faith, truth, and reason.

With this way of life, he honors his Zen masters in Japan and Korea by implementing and carrying forward the religiosity (Zen) he learned there in his own Christian tradition (mysticism).

Phoenix Ritual - Rebirth and Resurrection

The Phoenix Ritual: In a godless and fatherless time, we are often aimless and divided, especially when it comes to dying. To symbolize transience, relatives and guests burn a pinch of incense and sandalwood before the grave and during the burial. They are the relatives and acquaintances themselves who are part of the ceremony.

Annual Commemoration - Mourning & Gratitude

Anniversary (annual commemoration): We would also be happy to guide you through a memorial & remembrance ceremony. This can be held at the gravesite or at a location of your choice. Here you can find out more about customs after death...

Mandala Ritual - Return to God

The Mandala Ritual: If the funeral service takes place near a body of water (lake, stream or river), the Sand Mandala Ritual is ideal.

Fire Ritual - Purification & Peace

The fire ritual: Keepsakes, memorabilia, drawings or letters can be burned during the fire ritual at the funeral and symbolically given to the deceased person on their last journey.