Hungry ghost celebration

[Ensapa]

I read about this on Buddhistchannel.tv on how the Malaysians celebrate the hungry ghost festival where they burn offerings to benefit the departed. I am wondering how is it possible to benefit them with burnt paper offerings? would merits not be a better way? Perhaps it is a cultural thing but glad to know that this one originated from Buddhism and spread to the Chinese culture.

Acts of compassion
by Stanley Koh, FMT, August 30, 2012
The Hungry Ghost Festival is an occasion to harmonise separate dimensions of existence.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Chinese rituals to appease hungry ghosts, regardless of whether they are enacted within the Taoist or Buddhist tradition, express the desire of believers to live in harmony with aggrieved and neglected “wandering spirits”.

These rituals are regarded as acts of compassion from the living towards these unfortunate spirits because they enable them to “move forward” in their evolution.

Zhong Yuan Jie, known in English as the Hungry Ghost Festival, begins on the first day of the seventh Chinese lunar month, which coincides this year with Aug 30, today.

For one month, families pray on roadsides or at crossroads in a simple late evening ritual that feature the burning of joss sticks and offerings of food and paper money. Similar rituals conducted by business communities are often more elaborate. For example, the array of foodstuffs may be wider and richer and the programme could include an opera show or even modern dance and pop music.


 In the Buddhist tradition, the rituals include litanies that facilitate the “transfer of merits” to the unfortunate spirits, with the hope that they will have better “rebirths” or more comfortable lives thereafter.
The festival, to both Taoists and Buddhists, also has the function of teaching filial piety to the young. Furthermore, the rituals are supposed to ensure that the restless spirits do not intrude into the lives of the living or bring them physical harm or some other form of misfortune.

Who or what are these wandering, homeless spirits?

They are believed to be the ghosts of those who died violent deaths or died before fulfilling strong desires. Sometimes, though, they could simply be spirits whose living relatives have long neglected them.

Chinese folklore and some claimed Buddhist texts mention various types of wandering ghosts dwelling in hell, which is said to be a dimension close to that of the physical universe.

They are invisible in the daylight hours but become visible to some people after dark .

The origins

As to the origins of the Hungry Ghost Festival, there are several traditional versions, but we will deal here with the Buddhist version, which is interesting because it is traced back to one of the chief disciples of the historical Gautama Buddha himself.

This disciple’s name was Muadglayana. In Chinese, he is called Mu Lian.

Mu Lian, having learned from his deceased father that his mother was suffering in hell, sought advice from Gautama on how to deal with the situation. The Great Master told him that he could alleviate her torment by conducting, in the seventh lunar month, an elaborate ritual that would include the chanting of sutras, sacrificial offerings and the transferring of merits. Mu Lian did all these and saved his mother from further suffering.

As intimated earlier in this article, one of the key beliefs associated with the festival is that spirits can and do take revenge for injustices that caused the death of their earthly bodies. And neither is this belief confined strictly to Chinese tradition. It exists, with modifications, in the belief systems of various other cultures, both east and west. Connoisseurs of English literature, for example, are familiar with the story of Hamlet as told by Shakespeare. Hamlet is asked by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder.

What, then, is a sensible approach to take in considering this issue of spirits and ghosts?

To sceptics, perhaps no explanation is sensible if it does not include material evidence. Perhaps, in matters such as these, only personal experience can convince the cynic.

To me, ghosts are as real as anything that can be perceived with the physical senses. And that is because I have had a ghostly encounter. I was neither hallucinated nor drunk at the time. I was a Buddhist monk and alcohol was forbidden at the monastery.

I also had an out-of-body experience, during which time my physical self was as good as dead. However, my spirit soon re-entered my body – unfortunately, perhaps.

If we were to ponder upon the issue with an open mind, we will find that it is neither absurd nor illogical to accept the idea that there is a spirit world.

A human being is made up of three components – the physical body, the mental-cum-emotional body and the spiritual body – all with different levels of human consciousness. (According to many documented cases, this is true even with the lower animals.)

The “astral body”, as it is known to students of occultism and metaphysics, is the vehicle of emotion, passion and sensation.

Is an astral body equivalent to a “spirit” reborn after physical death?

Other dimensions of existence

In his book “The Astral Body”, A.E. Powell writes: “In the case of a man who has led such an evil life that his astral and mental bodies are torn away from the ego after death, the ego, having no bodies in which to live in the astral and mental worlds, must quickly form new ones.

“When the new astral and mental bodies are formed, the affinity between them and the old ones, not yet distinguished, asserts itself, and the old mental and astral bodies become the most terrible form of what is known as the ‘dweller on the threshold’.

“Thus chained, [the dweller] cannot go onward to rebirth. He is conscious in the astral world, has his human faculties, but cannot control the brute body with which he is connected, nor express himself through the body on the physical plane.

“Such an imprisonment is not reincarnation, though it is easy to see that cases of this nature at least partially explain the belief often found in Oriental countries that man may under certain circumstances reincarnate in an animal body.”

We have to acknowledge that we are in spirit form encased in a physical body. If that is the case, is it not logical to say that there are spirit worlds which we will eventually realise after our death?

Psychiatrist Brian L Weiss, who wrote the bestseller “Messages from Masters”, speaks of different dimensions of existence. “When I talk about other dimensions, I mean other energetic states or even different levels of consciousness, not necessarily other planetary systems or galaxies,” he writes.

“Heaven can be considered another dimension, since energy transformation beyond three-dimensional consciousness is undoubtedly involved.”

And Weiss is just one of an ever increasing number of scientifically minded professionals who believe in multi-dimensional worlds and their interpenetration.

[sonamdhargey]

In addition to the topic:

The Buddha told Maudgalyayana that on the 15th day of the 7th month, the sangha should fill clean basins with fruits and other food, along with offerings such as incense and candles. All those complete in the pure precepts and the virtue of the way should come together in a great assembly. The Buddha instructed the assembled sangha to place the basins in front of an altar and recite mantras and vows.

Then seven generations of ancestors will be released from the lower realms -- hungry ghost, animal or hell -- and they will receive the food in the basins and have blessing for a hundred years.

Hungry Ghost Festivals Today

A wealth of folklore and traditions have grown around hungry ghosts. In the Obon festivals of Japan, for example, paper lanterns are floated down rivers to symbolize the ancestors' return to the dead.

In China the dead are thought to visit their living relatives throughout the 7th month, and prayers and incense are offered to placate them. The dead also are gifted with fake paper money and other presents, like cars and houses, also made of paper and burned in bonfires. On festival days in China, often an outdoor altar is built to hold food offerings. Priests strike bells to summon the dead, followed by chanting by monks.

Source: http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddhistholidays/a/hungryghosts.htm

[Tammy]

Dear Ensapa,

Some facts about hungry ghosts festival :

(1) it is celebrated in majority of Asian countries, predominantly Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
(2) people in that parts of the world were brought up believing that the 7th chinese lunar month is the month souls or spirits that are kept in hell were given a month-long 'parole' when they are allowed to wander freely.
(3) offerings made of papers (mind you, the variety does keep up with fashion and technology trends) were often burnt
(4) Chinese operas were performed (nowadays with pop music as prelude!!) to please the ghosts, fondly known as 'good brothers'
(5) generally people avoid adventurous activities in this month for fear of disturbing the wandering spirits

This is a pure Taoist heritage which is heavily commercialized! Personally I think it is extremely irresponsible for these people to burn offerings made of paper - wastage of resources, destroy the rain forest and at the same time instantly pollute the air. while exactly HOW do those burnt ashes transform to the real thing when they supposedly reach the 'other side' ?!

My observation is that this ritual is performed mainly by the elder folks and the younger generations do not follow suit. I do hope this unhealthy culture would be extinct in the next decade, if not sooner.

[Rihanna]

In Taiwan, The Hungry Ghost Festival often begins with a parade with decorated lanterns in various shapes, including boats and houses, are placed atop decorated floats. The paper lanterns are then carried to the water, lit, and released. The glowing lanterns and boats are meant to give directions to lost souls and help ghosts and deities find their way to the food offerings. The paper lanterns eventually catch on fire and sink.

It is believed that ghosts haunt the entire island of Taiwan during the seventh lunar month. The first day of the celebration is inaugurated by the opening of the gate of a temple which symbolizes the gates of hell. All the lamps on the main altar are lit during the twelfth day of the festival. On the thirteenth day, a procession of lanterns is held. A parade is held for releasing water lanterns is done during the fourteenth day of the festival. During the duration, incense and various foods are being offered and spirit paper money is burnt in order to please the wandering spirits. It is also believed that the addresses of houses being visited by the spirits should not be named.

At some Hungry Ghost festivals, like in Keelung, Taiwan, a Chinese character of a family’s last name is placed on the lantern that the family has sponsored. It is believed the farther the lantern floats on the water, the more good fortune the family will have in the coming year.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is held on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month (August 14, 2011) during the month-long Ghost Month. One of the most famous Hungry Ghost Festivals is held Badouzi, a small fishing harbor in the northeastern port city of Keelung, Taiwan.

Originally the Hungry Ghost Festival was a day to honor ancestors, but once Buddhism was introduced in China, the holiday was called Yu Lan Pen Festival, a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit term Ullambana. Taoists refer to the festival as Zhongyuan Jie. Both Buddhists and Taoists attribute the origin of the Hungry Ghost Festival to Buddhist scriptures.

One story of the Hungry Ghost Festival’s origin is that of one of the Buddha’s disciples, Mulian or Maudgalyayana. He tried to save his mother from hell where she had to compete with other hungry ghosts for food. When he tried to send his mother food, it would burst into flames, so the Buddha taught him to make food offerings to the ghosts to keep them from stealing his mother’s food.

Another version says Mulian traveled to hello on lunar July 15 to offer food and ask that his mother be released. His filial piety paid off and she was released, leading to the tradition of burning incense and offering food during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

My personal opinion of this festival is very simple. This is a practice by my great grandparents (they were fishermen in Keelung), and that was passed down to my grandparents and now my parents. All my generations have lived out their lives peacefully. I intend to carry on this practice and pass it down to my children and grandchildren. I do not wish to 'rock the boat' and if anything untoward happens, I would be blamed and carry the guilt.

[Jessie Fong]

The Hungry Ghosts festival or the Ghost Festival falls during the 7th month of the Chinese calendar.  The gates of hell are opened and ghosts are free to roam the earth, looking for food and entertainment.

It is believed that these ghosts are ancestors of those who did not get a proper ritual send-off.  Family members offer prayers to these deceased, some offer drinks and food and hell bank notes and joss sticks and papers and are also burnt.
 
In some East Asian countries today, live performances are held and everyone is invited to attend. The first row of seats are always empty as this is where the ghosts sit.

[Tenzin K]

The Ghost Festival celebrated among ordinary people is amazingly similar to the Hungry Ghost Festival and the Ullambana Festival in terms of spiritual essence. They are all under the theme of "respecting parents, honoring the elderly and blessing the people". These festivals are combined to have formed the present-day Hungry Ghost Festival.

Today, the Hungry Ghost Festival is a grand folk festival with cultural richness and features sacrifice offering to the dead and ghosts, suffering relieving and forgiveness of sins. One of the most important customs is floating lanterns on the river. The lanterns are usually made of paper, in the shape of a lotus flower, with a light or candle at the bottom. They are put on the river to drift wherever possible, serving as guiding lights for wandering ghosts. Meanwhile, various activities for ancestor worshiping are held everywhere, such as repentance chanting, giving food to starving ghosts and staging operas for the occasion. 
Traditional Ghost Festival puts emphasis on filial piety and philanthropy. It no longer has religious meanings, just a festival for remembering ancestors and relatives passed away and for family gathering.

[RedLantern]

Hungry ghost festival is a popular occasion that is taken very seriously by the Chinese.Just as Halloween is to American,the "hungry ghost festival" is for the Chinese.This festival that falls on the 7th month of the lunar New Year is celebrated mainly in China and other countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
It is believed by the Chinese that during this month ,the gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghost who then wonder to seek food on Earth. Some even believe that the ghost would seek revenge on those who had wronged them in their lives.The reason why the Chinese celebrate this festival is to remember their departed family member and pay tribute to them.They also feel that offering food to the deceased appeased them and wards off bad luck.Another belief  among the Chinese is that the dead return to visit the living relatives during the 7th month and thus they prepare a sumptous meal for the "hungry ghost" in order to get good fortune and luck in their lives.

[Q]

This is a very unique practice... though I'd say it's more cultural influenced than Buddhist tradition.

I do not think bad of this practice, but in my opinion, I don't see how burning all these 'offerings' to the dead will benefit the deceased. This purely shows the Chinese mentality somehow... thinking that money can buy anything, even their way out of the lower realms. After all, even if somehow burning these 'hell money' reaches the deceased in these lower realms, how can these 'hell money' make their lives better?

What would be most beneficial is to sponsor pujas, monasteries etc and dedicate the merits to the deceased... this way, through the merits gained, they can decrease the duration and length of being reborn in the lower realms. This will be the most ideal practice.

[Barzin]

I heard much about this practice and celebration... It was shown in many Chinese movies.. haha...  I guess it has been a cultural tradition since the older days.  This is what I like about Chinese culture, they preserved the culture so well and even at modern time and yet people have the freedom to believe in any religion and yet still get together in exchanging culture traditions and practices.

After reading what everyone had posted, i am wondering do the spirits or ghosts really "let out" from hell?  And I also read about stories that this the time that the ghosts will get people so they can use their body to get rebirth?  Well, urban legend.. but during this time, indeed there are a lot of reports on dead and mysterious accident?  Is it only in Asia?  I also remember someone said before spirit can travel at the speed of thought.. So imagine it is a practice that everyone called upon them?  No wonder they are all around at the same time!

[Big Uncle]

It is really neat that a folk belief in the supernatural finds its source in Buddhism. I believe the Buddha spoke about the 6 realms as real concrete places we can take rebirth as a direct repercussions of our actions and behavior. I believe thats what the Buddha taught. Although we cannot see spirits but the belief in its existence occurs in all human cultures on earth. So, even if you don't believe in them, there's a possibility of its existence as the belief in spirits pervades all human culture.

Most of the teachings on the lower realms are meant to be cautionary tales. Those who are very attached or who are extremely miserly creates causes towards taking rebirth in such an existence. The characteristics of the hungry ghost realm is that of extreme hunger and loneliness. The level of suffering incomparable to anything we can imagine. Unlike animals who do not possess intelligence, spirits are intelligent to comprehend the Dharma but their suffering is too distracting.

To the Chinese, this is the period where the gates of the underworld open for its denizens to roam free. However, this is also during the time where most people make offerings to them. That's why supernatural activity is particularly active during this period.

[DS Star]

When we look at the term 'Festival' and 'Celebrating', we will most likely think of' happy' and 'fun' event. Honestly I can't really associate 'happy' or 'merrymaking' with this particular 'ceremony' or act of offerings to hungry ghosts; or its Buddhist influenced version i.e. the Ullambana (as explained in the started post).

To say it is an event the Chinese "celebrate to remember their departed family member and pay tribute to them" (as stated by RedLantern) would not justify for its 'important' status because Chinese do had a very specific 'festival' for that in Qing Ming.

I tend to believe that Chinese make it such a big event to avoid from being disturbed by the hungry ghosts 'liberated' from 'hell'.

Sharing Barzin's question:  "do the spirits or ghosts really "let out" from hell?"

If we are to refer to Buddhist explanation then we willl know that "Hell" and "Hungry Ghost" are from two different realms of existence, so how can 'Hungry Ghosts" released from "Hell"  

I do really understand another issue regarding this so-called 'festival', why so many live stocks need to be sacrificed to offer to 'hungry ghosts' when they cannot eat those poor animals?

Roasted pig offered during Hungry Ghost Festival:


Extensive offerings to wandering ghosts:

[vajratruth]

I too do not see how burning paper offerings can benefit the deceased but then I do appreciate the idea behind us doing something good for those who are in the ghost realm. Being human gives us a lot of advantages to learn and practice the Dharma and I can only imagine that it would be a lot more difficult to do so if you are a wandering  homeless and hungry spirit. Therefore it would make a lot more sense for those who can, do perform meritorious acts and dedicate the merits to the deceased.

The Festival Of The Hungry Ghost should also serve as a reminder that there is every likelihood for a lot of us to be heading there as well unless we learn to let go of our attachments and move away from our samsaric thoughts and actions. It is quite strange how people can take the making of offerings to wandering ghosts so seriously(meaning that they do acknowledge the presence of spirits and hungry ghosts), how people do acknowledge that Hell is not just a fake place made up to scare people  and yet never ever thought how wandering spirits and hungry ghosts come to be so.

Until I starting learning Buddhism, I thought one can only go to hell if one is wicked murderer. Many of the causes to go to the lower realms are such mundane, senseless but seemingly natural things that we do daily out of ignorance  and delusion.

[WisdomBeing]

I don’t really understand this hungry ghost tradition. Perhaps my only comparison is Halloween, or All Souls Day, which is basically so commercialized that it has lost its original intent. It originally was a pagan festival which was adopted by the Christians.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Falling on November 1 and 2 respectively, collectively they were a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach heaven. By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing bells for the souls in purgatory and "souling", the custom of baking bread or soul cakes for "all crysten christened souls". It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving onto the next world. To avoid being recognised by a soul, Christians would wear masks and costumes to disguise themselves, following the lighted candles set by others to guide their travel for worship the next day. Today, this practice has been perpetuated through children guising (trick or treating).

I think it is an interesting parallel that in this Christian/Pagan festival, we also offer food for the souls. In that sense I can relate to the offering of food to the hungry ghosts in this Asian festival, but I don’t get the burning of hell money. That must be just pure superstition? Does any Buddhist actually believe that this benefits a spirit?

I’ve heard that hungry ghosts have huge stomachs and mouths the size of a pin head, so they are always starving. During this hungry ghost month, are the hungry ghosts able to consume food more easily?

Anyway, thanks for sharing this interesting post.

[buddhalovely]

During this month, it is believed the king of hell opens the gates of hell to allow ghosts to visit the living world. It is the only time of year that ghosts are released to freely roam the Earth.

The hungry ghosts, also called good brethren, are believed to be ancestors of people who were not given a proper funeral or burial. People also give sacrifices to anonymous ghosts to keep them away and from harming them.
Ghost Month festivities begin at midnight on July 1 of the lunar calendar (July 31, 2011) when the gates of hell are open. Many temples across China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan hold ceremonies which include incense burning, food offerings, prayers and lantern lighting. Red lanterns bearing the names of the deceased are switched on and remain on for the duration of the festival.

Daily rituals during the Hungry Ghost Month include offering sacrifices to the ghosts so the hungry ghosts won’t harm them. The sacrifices include rice, meat and fruit. Red candles, joss sticks, incense, and paper money are burned daily until the end of the month when it is believed the ghosts return to hell. Miniature paper items like cars, houses, and clothes are also burned as the living want to ensure the deceased have all the material goods they need for the coming year.

Some families eat vegetarian meals and set an extra place settings for each deceased family members.

[pgdharma]

The Hungry Ghost Festival is mostly celebrated by the Taoists who belief in the afterlife. They believe that the gates of Hell open on the 7th lunar month, freeing the spirits of the dead to roam in the world of the living. The living, in turn, must make offerings of food and burnt prayer money to the souls of the dead to appease them. The ghosts in question inspire both pity and fear. The spirits who roam the earth during this time have been denied access to Heaven for some reason, or have no descendants on earth to make offerings on their behalf. The former will look for any living being to take their place in Hell. The latter are starved from their year-long stint in Hell, and seek sustenance during their earthly furlough.The spirits of dead ancestors, though not as needy as the ghosts described above, are also celebrated by their living descendants during this time.

To satiate their dead relatives, Chinese will offer meals and burn joss sticks, "hell money" (wads of fake paper money), and assorted paper versions of earthly goods like TVs, cars, and furniture. The Chinese, who believe that the ancestors can help them and their businesses from beyond the grave, do this to ensure continuing blessings and protection from beyond. Food offerings are also left along roadsides and street corners, and outside houses. The latter theoretically prevent hungry ghosts from entering residences - after all, with food just waiting outside the door, who needs to go inside.

On the 30th day of the seventh moon, the ghosts find their way back to Hell, and the gates of the Underworld are shut. To see the ghosts off, paper offerings and other goods are incinerated in a giant bonfire. The Taai Si Wong effigy is burned along with the rest of the goods to send him back to Hell.

Hungry Ghost Traditions

The month of Hungry Ghost Festival is, generally speaking, a bad time to do anything. Many significant milestones are avoided at this time, as people believe it's simply bad luck.

Chinese believers avoid traveling or performing any significant ceremonies throughout the festival. Businessmen avoid riding in airplanes, buying property, or closing business deals during Hungry Ghost Festival.

Moving house or getting married are frowned upon during this time - it's believed that ghosts will mess up one's plans during the festival, so your house or your marriage may be jeopardized at this time.
Swimming is also a scary prospect - children are told that hungry ghosts will pull them under, so they will have a soul to take their place in Hell!