Buddhism says that the essence of religion is non-attachment. Egyptian religion is vastly different in detail, but that one critical thought is captured in the weighing of the heart against a feather in the afterlife. This is explained as the final test in Going Forth into the Light, aka the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This achievement was understood at different times over about 1500 years as admission into their western or celestial Paradise with Osiris, or to continuing rebirth, or to becoming a star in the sky. Failing this test would result in being devoured by a monster named Ammit, a sort of crocohippoliondilopotamus, and ceasing to exist. Or else wandering eternally as a spirit in the underworld.
Weighing of the Heart
Anubis is also shown supervising the judgement scales. Hunefer's heart, represented as a pot, is being weighed against a feather, the symbol of Ma'at, the established order of things, in this context meaning 'what is right'. The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the seat of the emotions, the intellect, and the character, and thus represented the good or bad aspects of a person's life. If the heart did not balance with the feather, then the dead person was condemned to non-existence, and consumption by the ferocious 'devourer'
Hunefer was the scribe who owned that particular papyrus.
Egyptian Dharma
“What is right”, in both reality and human behavior, is one of the standard translations of Dharma. The weight of the heart symbolizes what we would call karma.
The western Paradise of Osiris has nothing to do with the Western Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha.
Now having a heart that weighs only as much as a feather, or in some versions even less than a feather, has nothing to do with the kinds of practice taught in Buddhism. It was originally only possible for Pharaohs, understood do be descended from their God Ra, and gradually extended to nobility and high officials, and in some versions to everyone. There was no explicit teaching about non-attachment, although sacrifices, as usual, were supposed to be of things that worshipers held most dear. Most of Egyptian religious practice centered on offerings and rituals, with a good deal of ceremonial magic mixed in.
The Egyptian Precepts
There was a decent set of precepts of Ma’at, but the dead had to memorize which God was responsible for which.
- Hail, Usekh-nemmt, who comest forth from Anu, I have not committed sin.
- Hail, Hept-khet, who comest forth from Kher-aha, I have not committed robbery with violence.
- Hail, Fenti, who comest forth from Khemenu, I have not stolen.
- Hail, Am-khaibit, who comest forth from Qernet, I have not slain men and women.
- Hail, Neha-her, who comest forth from Rasta, I have not stolen grain.
- Hail, Ruruti, who comest forth from Heaven, I have not purloined offerings.
- Hail, Arfi-em-khet, who comest forth from Suat, I have not stolen the property of God.
- Hail, Neba, who comest and goest, I have not uttered lies.
- Hail, Set-qesu, who comest forth from Hensu, I have not carried away food.
- Hail, Utu-nesert, who comest forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not uttered curses.
- Hail, Qerrti, who comest forth from Amentet, I have not committed adultery.
- Hail, Hraf-haf, who comest forth from thy cavern, I have made none to weep.
- Hail, Basti, who comest forth from Bast, I have not eaten the heart.
- Hail, Ta-retiu, who comest forth from the night, I have not attacked any man.
- Hail, Unem-snef, who comest forth from the execution chamber, I am not a man of deceit.
- Hail, Unem-besek, who comest forth from Mabit, I have not stolen cultivated land.
- Hail, Neb-Maat, who comest forth from Maati, I have not been an eavesdropper.
- Hail, Tenemiu, who comest forth from Bast, I have not slandered anyone.
- Hail, Sertiu, who comest forth from Anu, I have not been angry without just cause.
- Hail, Tutu, who comest forth from Ati, I have not debauched the wife of any man.
- Hail, Uamenti, who comest forth from the Khebt chamber, I have not debauched the wives of other men.
- Hail, Maa-antuf, who comest forth from Per-Menu, I have not polluted myself.
- Hail, Her-uru, who comest forth from Nehatu, I have terrorized none.
- Hail, Khemiu, who comest forth from Kaui, I have not transgressed the law.
- Hail, Shet-kheru, who comest forth from Urit, I have not been angry.
- Hail, Nekhenu, who comest forth from Heqat, I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
- Hail, Kenemti, who comest forth from Kenmet, I have not blasphemed.
- Hail, An-hetep-f, who comest forth from Sau, I am not a man of violence.
- Hail, Sera-kheru, who comest forth from Unaset, I have not been a stirrer up of strife.
- Hail, Neb-heru, who comest forth from Netchfet, I have not acted with undue haste.
- Hail, Sekhriu, who comest forth from Uten, I have not pried into other’s matters.
- Hail, Neb-abui, who comest forth from Sauti, I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
- Hail, Nefer-Tem, who comest forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
- Hail, Tem-Sepu, who comest forth from Tetu, I have not worked witchcraft against the king.
- Hail, Ari-em-ab-f, who comest forth from Tebu, I have never stopped the flow of water of a neighbor.
- Hail, Ahi, who comest forth from Nu, I have never raised my voice.
- Hail, Uatch-rekhit, who comest forth from Sau, I have not cursed God.
- Hail, Neheb-ka, who comest forth from thy cavern, I have not acted with arrogance.
- Hail, Neheb-nefert, who comest forth from thy cavern, I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
- Hail, Tcheser-tep, who comest forth from the shrine, I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.
- Hail, An-af, who comest forth from Maati, I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
- Hail, Hetch-abhu, who comest forth from Ta-she, I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.
Fair enough. You can’t keep the precepts above perfectly, but you can get yourself out of the way by methods that we have been discussing.
So the weighing of the heart should be seen as a koan known to some religious, even when kept from almost everyone. This is common in religions that have a public form and an esoteric form taught only to initiates. This often goes with a belief that human spirits or souls have forgotten their state as divine beings and are ignorant of the means of escape, as the Ari, Isaac Luria, taught in Jewish Kabbalah, or the Lotus Sutra taught in the Parable of the Hidden Jewel.
In a Museum
Now, let us have a look at a modern take on all of this, with Muppets. Lots of Muppets and other Sesame Street characters.
Sesame Street Special || "Don't Eat the Pictures" || Full Episode (1983), set to start at the ghost’s tests for the afterlife, including answering a demon’s question and then the Weighing of the Heart in the presence of Osiris
The ghost is Egyptian prince Sahu, who died as a little boy. In the story, he is stuck in the ancient Egyptian Tomb of Perneb, a major exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Book of Going Forth into the Light is also part of the exhibit, which I greatly enjoyed visiting.
