Date: August 24th, 2010 (Tuesday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Need to Have Correct Beliefs and Practices 中元真義報親恩
Residents donate money or food to relieve sufferings in the seventh lunar month of Ghost Festival: “There are many people out there in need of help. We used to make offerings with chicken, duck, etc. But we don’t do that anymore. We now share what we have with the needy.”
A manager of Enhance Electronics Co., LTD., Ye Long Si: “We used to burn so much paper money. Now we donate the money to do good instead.”
Today is the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, traditionally know as the Ghost Festival.
The seventh lunar month is a month of gratitude, auspiciousness, joy and filial piety.
All these meanings behind this month originate from the Buddha’s time.
Back then, the monks would use the three summer months from the 15th day of the fourth lunar month to the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to piously and attentively listen to the Buddha’s teachings and practice what they’d learned.
On the 15th day of the seventh month when the three-month retreat ended, the Buddha would see how his disciples had grown in wisdom and be filled with joy.
That is why the seventh month is a month of joy.
Moreover, these monks’ awakening meant there were more sages and virtuous people in the world, which is very auspicious.
That is why the seventh lunar month, especially the 15th day, is a time of joy and auspiciousness.
In Buddhism, the Ghost Festival is actually the Ullambana Ceremony, when offerings are made to the Sangha as an effort to relieve suffering.
One time, during the retreat, Ven, Maudgalyayana thought of the gratitude he owed his mother for bringing him to this world.
Having behaved waywardly while she was alive, when his mother died, she was reborn into the hungry ghost realm, where she suffered great hunger and thirst.
The suffering she endured was like being tied up and hung upside down.
Ven, Maudgalyayana tried to save her with the supernatural powers he had, but it was not possible.
So, he went to seek the Buddha’s advice. The Buddha told him that he would need the combined strength of all spiritual cultivators praying together with sincere piety.
At the time, as the three-month summer retreat was about to end, many cultivators’ minds were most pure, prudent and sincerely pious.
Only the power of their virtues at this time could help Ven, Maudgalyayana save his mother from the hungry ghost realm.
So, Ven, Maudgalyayana made offerings to all the venerable monks and the Buddha.
First, he sincerely carried a basin of water before each monk so they could wash their hands.
Then, holding a bowl of delicious food, he respectfully offered the food to each person.
That was how he made offerings to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha with sincere piety.
With everyone’s sincerely pious blessings and their pure and clear minds, the power of their virtues shone through to the hungry ghost realm and saved all those who were suffering in the hungry ghost realm on the day.
So, we must understand that the purpose of the Ghost Festival is to relieve the suffering of those in the animal, hungry ghost and hell realms.
Yet, people nowadays are doing the opposite.
Instead of saving those in the three lower realms and relieving their suffering, people are instead creating more bad karma by killing animals for offering and acting against what is right and proper.
Such actions truly don’t make sense.
Everyone, think carefully about this.
If we sincerely wish to relieve the suffering of those in the three lower realms, why are we taking more lives by killing animals?
Just think, how many lives are being taken in the name of the Ghost Month?
I still remember an incident back in the early days of our hospital in Hualien.
There was a mother who was killing a chicken as an offering for the Ghost Festival.
After cutting the throat of the chicken, she threw it into a pot of boiling water before it had actually died.
As the chicken struggled, her child, who was just learning how to walk, wandered to where the pot was.
Seeing that, this mother panicked and called out for her child, but still, he tripped and fell into the pot.
When the child was rushed to our hospital, his skin was so scalded that it was hard to find a vein to make an injection.
Although this child survived, he was in intensive care for a long time.
Seeing the ordeal that her child went through, the mother wept all the time.
This is the hell that we’ve witnessed in our world.
See how her child cried out in pain and suffering every day.
Aren’t the physical pain of the child and the emotional suffering of the mother living hell for both of them?
So, how can we help to relieve the suffering of those in the three realms of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals?
We must make vows to do and carry them out in our actions.
We must also have correct beliefs, be sincerely pious, cherish all lives, take good care of our minds and head in the right direction in life.
This is how we can start to relieve suffering and truly benefit all living beings in this world.
We must abide by precepts, abstain from meat and give rise to wholesome thoughts every day.
Apart form that, we must always help others and love and respect Mother Nature.
A vice president of SINGTEX® INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD, Lai Mei Huei: “Many firms and factories in Taiwan believe that in the “Ghost Month”.
If they don’t burn paper money, it would be disrespectful to spirits and their business might be affected. However, ever since we stopped burning paper money last year, our business has been getting better and everyone has been working closer as a team.“
In fact, the practice of making offerings to spirits originated from Ananda, one of the Buddha’s principal disciples.
As Ananda was the Buddha’s attendant and had a very dignified appearance, he was very proud of himself and even believed that he could transcend the cycle of birth and death and maintain his dignified appearance forever.
One time, in his meditation, he saw a hungry ghost with hideous features.
The ghost was emaciated in appearance with long, sharp teeth.
Seeing that, Anada was greatly taken aback, so he asked about the cause of such frightening appearance.
The ghost replied, “I am the lord of hungry ghosts, I am here to show you that if you don’t take good care of your mind, the day will come when you will descend into the realm of hungry ghosts and look just like me.”
Terrified, Ananda quickly went to the Buddha for advice.
The Buddha said to him: “Ananda, you are too conceited. You must learn to love and respect Mother Nature as well as all spirits. Do not give rise to unwholesome thoughts or form bad affinities with others. Furthermore, you must make offering to all spirits
with respect and sincerity. Indeed, when we give rise to unwholesome thoughts. We’ll do wrong and descend into the lower realms when was pass away. That’s why we must take good care of our mind.”
This is how the practice of making offerings to spirits began.
But see how the practice has deviated and evolved into the Ghost Festival we see today.
So, I’m truly very grateful to our Tzu Chi volunteers for promoting right views and beliefs in their communities.
Every year for the past few years, a Hulu Temple in Taipei has allowed us to go there and share these ideas with people.
Because of this, many people now prepare fruits and vegetarian dishes as offerings and burn much less paper money than before.
However, there is more that we can do as I hope our volunteers can further guide people to pray together with sincere piety in more dignified ceremonies.
This is what I hope for.
So, we need to work harder to promote right views and practices during the seventh lunar month.
I must thank Tzu Chi volunteers for holding so many prayer gatherings in communities everywhere recently.
Step by step, I hope we can hold more prayer gatherings in more places and share with everyone about right views and practices.
(Source: Da Ai TV 人間菩提)
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