Mask Shinje Chögyel

The "God of Death" Shinje Chögyel, known from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is the central apparition that every soul encounters between death and rebirth in the "realm of death". He presides over the court of the dead, which judges the good and bad deeds of the deceased in life and passes them on to various hells or paradises. This is also where the judgment on the next rebirth is passed. Masks depicting apparitions from the realm between death and rebirth are intended to prepare the audience for their future encounters in this realm and thus take away the fear of seeing them.