"Hungry Ghost Rituals" posters deemed too scary for MRT passengers
By Heidi Hsia | From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo Newsroom – 5 hours ago
ricky l • Remove
Many people has confused "Hungry Ghosts Realm" with "Hell Realm".Reply
Hungry Ghosts Realm - are make up of sentinent beings who exist in this realm due to karma associated with Extreme Greeds or Strong Attachment to Sensual objects, people, environment etc (1 of the 3 inherent evil roots).
Hell Realm - are make up of sentinent beings who exist in this realm due to karma associated with Hatred, Anger that has result in murder, killings, mass killings, cruetly, ruthlessness etc (Another 1 of the 3 inherent evil roots).
Hungry Ghosts Realm sentinent beings coexist with Human realm and Animal realm - except we can't see them. But some Human and Animal are able to see or sense their presence - due to their extra "divine eyes or ears" - when Hungry Ghosts sentinent beings mainfest themselves.
Hell Realm sentinent beings are being kept captive in the various Hells - minor or major Hells and unlikely Human will see them even with extra "divine eyes or ears". Only Humans who have attained Jhana Samadhi &/or Nirvana in meditative mode can transcend to the Paranormal Hell realm.
Thus when people say to have see "Ghosts" - they are refering to "Hungry Ghosts" associated with the karma of Greeds or Strong Attachment not "Hell realm beings who are kept in captive and does not coexist with Human realm and Animal realm".
ricky l • Remove
Hungry Ghosts - can roam around in the Human and Animal realms often in the proximity of those objects, environment or people they have strong attachment with.
Hell realm beings - are kept in captive in the various minor or major hells subjected to sufferings and punishment - the like of sufferings in the prison.
ricky l • Remove
Hungry Ghosts sentinent beings will only demise and leave the Hungry Ghosts realms to be rebirth into a better realms - when their negative karma expired, and after they fully repented from their Extreme Greed or they have cut their strong attachment to the sensual object they are attached to.
Hell realm sentinent beings will only demise and leave the Hell realms to be rebirth into a better realms - when their negative karma expired, and after they fully repented from their Hatred, Anger that result in killings, murder, mass killings, cruelty, ruthnessness that have caused them to fall into Hell realm - some are a very long duration of sufferings.
ricky l • Remove
That is why Religions does not preach "killings, murder, mass killings, cruelty, ruthlessness" - because it is directly associated with the karma of Hell.
That is why Spiritual Supramundane (Religion) and Secular Mundane (Governance) - have to be kept apart as 2 distinct entities under the Universal Law of Relativity or Dualistic Law (Form vs Formless, 色 vs 空，Nama vs Rupa).
That is why under the Legend of Journey to the West - the Jade Emperor that rule the Celestial Heavenly that is support by His 文武百官 has to be a separate entity from the Buddha (His Bodhisattva, Pacceka Buddha, Arahat) of Nirvana.
That is why under the Legend of Journey to the West - the Emperor that rule a Country have to be separated from the Venerable Monk that run His Monastery - where the Venerable Monk (that preach Spiritual Enlightenment) cannot be at the same time, an Emperor.
Thus Buddha as a Prince has to leave and forsake His Kingdom before He can attain Enlightenment - to keep the Spiritual and Governance as separate Entity.
Otherwise, Buddha preach to gain Enlightenment, disciples have to rid of 3 inherent evil roots :-
(1) Hatred / Anger - so as not to break the 1st and basic precept of No killings
(2) Greed / Attachment
(3) Ignorance of Universal Law
But what happen if people are threatened and need to protect their lives? Then Government will have to come in to protect, enforce the law or even to administer capital punishment for those who commit killings, murder - as part of Human legal law of karma.
But Religion will have to uphold the precept of "No killings" as the 1st basic precept - due to its association of "Hell bound karma".
(So Capital Punishment, carrying arms to protect the Country under National Service or Policman - is a dilemma for Religion and Government - and Government will have to enforce it, not Religion)
Monks and Nuns need to maintain celibacy to faciliate Enlightenment - due to the need of sensual restraint to reduce stray thoughts of procreation.
Government however have to emphasize procreation to ensure Economy and Country continue to have enough population for Economic Growth.
(So Procreation - is a dilemma for Religion and Government - and Government will have to enforce it, not Religion)
There are many dilemma of running a Country (mundane world) and Spiritual (Supramundane world).
It is thus not practical for a Religious Leader to be a Government as well - because a Spiritual Leader - will have to foster Compassion, No-Self and Panna Wisdom.
When a Spiritual Leader issue the order of killings - he lost his credibility as a Religious Leader - because it is the great sin associate with the karma of hell - and it contradict the preaching of Compassion, instead He is preaching Hatred - which is a Satanic Act.
ricky l • Remove
BTW, when a human is connecting and is about to "see" or "hear" the Hungry Ghosts sentinent beings, a special nauseating smell that feel like about to puke will emerge - and then a human with divine eyes and ear will either see or hear the Hungry Ghosts sentinent beings, where the background sometimes turn spooky and sometimes not.
Many HK ghosts movies quite accurately depict such scene.
ricky l • Remove
The Venerable monk Xuanzhang is say to be a historical events. Xuanzang (602 - 664) who was a monk at Jingtu Temple in late-Sui Dynasty and early-Tang Dynasty Chang'an.
But His 3 disciples are legend - which represent a Human's 3 inherent roots of Anger/Hatred, Greed/Attachment, Ignorance of the Universal Law.
The Monkey God represent the 1st inherent root of Anger/Hatred.
The Pig monk represent the 2nd inherent root of Greed/Attachment,
The Sandy monk represent the 3rd inherent root of Ignorance of the Universal Law.
Venerable monk Xuanzhang is an Arahat (a Smaller Vehicle, the Theravada Sect, the Elder Sect of Buddhism) - who has attained the Enlightenment of Nirvana through self-attainment based on the Teachings of the Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha).
However, Venerable monk Xuanzhang aspire to be Bodhisattva, that is after self-attainment, He aspire to help others to attained Enlightenment of Nirvana as well - and thus He travel to the West to India to collect the Mahayana Script (the Larger Vehicle) - and thus He become a Bodhisattva (self-attained and then help others to attain).
But to be a Bodhisattva, He will have to undergo alot of trials and tribulations - that will test His attainment of No-Self, Compassion and Panna Wisdom to the macimum - to demonstrate that He has fully eradicated His Human's 3 inherent roots of Anger/Hatred, Greed/Attachment, Ignorance of the Universal Law.
Thus, the Journey to the West - though a Legend that He faces tremendous challenge in his Journey - testing His Resolve to be a Bodhisattva which spice with many dangers - where many difficulties He face were life-threatening.
His preseverance, patience, tolerance and refusing to give-up finally won Him the Bodhisattva status - with great tests, trials and tribulations along the Journey - many a time, He is able to escape harm ways through Divine Protection from the Mundane and Divine Dharma Protectors.
Thus the Legend to the West - seems like a ficition in its literal form - but in Spiritual Supramundane - He indeed had overcome tremendous life-threatening challenges to successfully attained the Mahayana Bodhisattvas - and in China indeed Mahayana Script had been collected from the mystic Amitabha Buddha Pureland Mahayana Teachings (mainly transmitted by the Silent Teachings Zen) and other Mahayana Teachings - not recorded by the Theravada Sect recorded in Pali Canon.
ricky l • Remove
The trials, tests and tribulations that Venerable monk Xuanzhang undergo throughout his Journey to the West come from all 10 Realms before He succeeded attaining Bodhisattvahood （菩萨）and collect the entire Mahayana Script to be brought back from India to China.
The 10 Realms of trials, tests and tribulations come from :-
(1) Buddha
(2) Bodhisattvas
(3) Pacekka Buddhas
(4) Arahats
(5) Heavenly Celestial Realms - 玉王大帝，天兵天将。
(6) Asura Realms - the Realm of the Titans
(7) Human Realms
(8) Animal Realms
(9) Hungry Ghosts Realms
(10) Hell Realms
Only when He succeeded in passing the trials, tests and tribulations of all the 10 Realms - did He finally attain Bodhisattvahood （菩萨）and bring the entire Mahayana Script to be brought back from India to China - a daunting and formidable task indeed to Bodhisattvahood （菩萨）conquering all His 3 inherent evil roots of Hatred/Anger, Greed/Attachment and Ignorance of the Universal Law.
ricky l • Remove
Thus taking Bodhisattva Vows to be an aspiring Living Bodhisattva - to self-attain and then help others to attain - is really not a joking matter, no mean feat and even sometimes can be life-threatening.
An Aspiring Living Bodhisattva upon fulfilling His or Her Bodhisattva Vows - will have attain 2 times Perfection of No-Self, Compassion and Panna Wisdom - where His or Her attainment of Arahathood is 1 time Perfection.
.Dp. • Report Abuse
@Ricky. I read your writing here with great interest. I believe Xuanzhang's journey was true. And the disciples were legends, as you mentioned, in order to make us (of later generations) to understand no matter how difficult a formidable task is, we can still complete it in our lifetime IF our hearts are pure.
However, I got a question. Procreation is natural to all sentinents. Life is about making a copy of itself. At the same time, procreation is considered stray thoughts to Monks and Nuns. I don't think it is right to say that religion is trying to stop normal beings from associating with natural thoughts (i.e. procreating). Does Buddhism teach us to let go everything we have in this materialistic world, meditate to attain nirvana, do more good deeds to accumulate good karma. Not to rebirth into any realm (i.e. human or animal) would be preferred as a mean to end suffering as a sentinent?
ricky l • Remove
@ .DP - I will like to make this comment about your queries on procreation.
Nirvana is a phenonmenon, whereby a person in meditative mode - has attained a State whereby "no stray thoughts" arises from within the mind - whether unwholesome (arising from Hatred, Greed or Ignorance of the Universal Law) or wholesome; and no stray thoughts that can penetrate the mind (made up of 3 attributes of No-Self, Compassion, Panna Wisdom) - the Dharma Wheel pictorial representation of core hub, spokes and rim of the Dharma Wheel is a full depiction of this State.
Both Arahats & Pacceka Buddhas attain this Nirvana State through 1 time Perfection.
Bodhisattvas - in fulfilling His/Her Bodhi Vows attain this Nirvana State through 2 times Perfection.
Buddha - in fulfilling Arahathood or Pacceka Buddhahood & Bodhisattvahood attain this Nirvana State through 3 times Perfection.
All 6 sentinent beings - cannot achieve this Nirvana State - even the Highest Heavenly Formless Realm - are not able to achieve this State.
No one single human or any 6 realms can have no even a single stray thoughts except a person in meditative mode who attain Nirvana can.
Even a person in meditative mode who attain Jhana Samadhi cannot achieve this State of Mind with no stray thoughts because Samadhi Jhana is just suppressing stray thought from arising like in Black Hole, But the moment the Jhana power weaken, stray thoughts will arise.
Nirvana State is thus known as a State of Emptiness (空) - that enwrap the Whole Universe by the Dharma Wheel as depicted in the diagram at the top left corner.
Human like other 5 sentinent beings (which include Heavenly realm, Asura realm, Animal realm, Hungry Ghosts realm, Hell realm) - are all in Samsara (色) World - that will undergo the vicious cycle of birth, living, sickness, old aged, demise and rebirth.
Human lifespan is about 100 years.
Heavenly realms run into millions and billions of years that seems eternal in Bliss and Happiness.
Hell realms are also equally long depending whether on minor or major hell in Sufferings.
Like any trees that will be recycled through seeds, saplings - that will continue to thousands of years or more. Like water that will recycled through cloud, sea, river, drink become urine and vaporate and recycled again.
Thus Procreation - that fall under vicious cycle of rebirth - trigger by 12 Dependant Origination of Life （十二因缘法）until Nirvana is attained where all Karma cease as 3 inherent evil roots of hatred, greed, ignorance (贪嗔痴）are eradicated, as 3 wholesome roots of No-Self, Compassion, Panna Wisdom (大舍 or 无我，大慈大悲，般若智慧）are attained.
Where there are no birth, no death.
Where there are only Eternal Bliss, Eternal Peace.
Where Law of Impermanency will not apply - where Law of Permanency replace Impermanency.
Where OmniPresence, OmniScience, OmniBenevolence arises - minus OmniPotent.
ricky l • Remove
Where even ONE STRAY THOUGHT （起心动念）arises, the person is destined to be rebirth in any of the 6 realm sentinent beings - through the Volition of Karma (good or bad).
Have anyone have no stray thoughts ever in our life - in mundane life or in meditative mode?
If a person ever experience no stray thoughts for a prolong period - not by deliberately suppressing them - but is one of the inherent nature - especially in meditative mode - then congratulations, he/she has attained Nirvana.
ricky l • Remove
When Sakyamuni Buddha told His disciples and Arahats not to use His Image or Buddha Image for reverence and practice when He entered into PariNirvana (passed away), but use the Dharma Wheel instead - the Buddha has His Profound meanings.
At the Dharma Blossom Age - His Disciples where many are Arahats understood the Buddha's profound intention - because all the Arahats understood the profound meaning of Dharma Wheel - which is a Nirvana State.
However at the Dharma Maintenance Age - attainment of Arahats are few and far in between, thus many has used the Dharma Scripture and Books for reverence and practice (thus collection of scripture become dominant at that Age). The profound meaning of Dharma Wheel has been lost and not highlighted.
At the Dharma Ending Age - where we are in now, Buddha Images start to sprout out, as many people needs the Buddha Images for reverence, for guidance and for practice - and the profound meaning and the mystery of Dharma Wheel is lost and not known because Arahat are extremely rare and few and far in between.
Thus do understand the profound meaning of Dharma Wheel - it is a Nirvana State - a State that is the opposing pole of Samsara.
ricky l • Remove
The Dharma Wheel - is also profound symbol - that will unlock the Mystery of the Origin of Universe.
The Universe start from Black Hole - and explode a massive SuperNova into the vast and profound Universe we see today.
The Dharma Wheel :-
(1) Core hub is the 1-pointedness Samadhi Jhana.
(2) The spokes - is the massive explosion into Arupa formless Jhana that cover the whole Universe.
(3) The rim or outer crust - is the shield that form the circumference of the Universe and enwrap the whole Universe.
No stray thoughts arise within the Dharma Wheel.
Stray thoughts depicted by the outer spoke of the rim or outer crust - try but unable to penetrate the Dharma Wheel.
The Dharma Wheel is the Nirvana State Mind of the Meditator.
The core hub - is No-Self.
The spokes - is Compassion.
The rim or outer crust - is Panna Wisdom.
ricky l • Remove
The Core hub is the 1-pointedness Samadhi Jhana - correspond to the Universe Black Hole.
The Spoke is the massive explosion into Arupa formless Jhana that cover the whole Universe - correspond the SuperNova explosion into the vast, profound Universe.
The rim or outer crust - is the shield that form the circumference of the Universe and enwrap the whole Universe - correspond to the current mature Universe today.
Where the Mind of 5 Mental Aggregates of 5-sense consciousness, feelings, perception, judgement, mental formation (五蕴皆空) correspond with the Material Universe of 4 Great Elements of Air, Temperatures, Matter, Liquid（四大皆空）.
ricky l • Remove
Science today - are getting closer and closer to prove the above hypothesis.
Albert Einstein is head over heel about the hypothesis above.
The Universal Truth or Universal Law mystery unraveling is very close today.
When this happen, Religion = Science. Science = Religion.
ricky l • Remove
If the bible acknowledge Jesus when young has undergo practice and training with 2 Indian Arahats - the lineage between the above hypothesis and the spread through Silk Road - will have unified all faiths.
ricky l • Remove
Sigh, but we are still seeing many bloodshed today over the disputes of the various faiths ..................... where there is only One Universal Law or Universal Truth.
David • Report Abuse
@Ricky L, very good! Its showed you have study well but do you considered all of these were just intellectual knowledge and not experienced that comes from your own insight?
I will advised you to leave the talking of ''Nibanna'' ''Peace'' "Wisdom'' aside and spend more time concentrating on the practice itself, practice constantly and be aware of what was happening within our body and mind within the present moment, learning how to simply watch and let go. Meditation, like what Ajahn Chah say, was not getting things, but getting rid of things. Even when asked about the peace one could attain through practice, he would instead rather speak of the confusion that one should first get rid of, for, as he put it, peace is the end of confusion. May you and others be well and happy!
David • Report Abuse
Alright Ricky, not to argue but just to shared on what i had experienced of what i realized through meditation observation, whatever knowledge that i had learned from the books will never ever catch-up with the reality if we do not understand what is happening within our body and mind within that present moment. For e.g all of us know what the words ''Hate'' means but are we be aware of it when it arise in our body and mind? Can we transcends it and see that all of it were just the phenomenon of the cause and condition, its impermanence, there are no self in it. As what you had said, if you know, you know. But knowing is one thing, letting it goes is another, it really beyond words of explanation, like a glass of water, hot or cold only the ones that drank knew himself.
ricky l • Remove
Now let us discuss when someone tell us to be aware of our present moment - what does it mean?
There are 2 goals we want to achieve; specifically :- Concentration and Mindfulness.
1st thing, we need to attain Concentration first. But to attain right Concentration, the technique is Continuous Mindfulness on the object of meditation. In meditative mode, the object of meditaion is on our Breath - in Anapanasati. The close to perfect result of Concentration in Anapansati is proximate nimitta of bright light. The perfected right concentration is - 1-pointedness Conentration of nimitta - known as Jhana Samadhi.
With such a State, Continuous Mindfulness of mental phenonmenon (stray thoughts) that arises or bodily phenonmenon that arise - that see from its arising, that see its transformed state and to its demise state with distinct, discrete entity - able to differentiate each consciousness, feelings - without attachment to it - then we are say to be practising Vipasanna or Insight meditation.
Each discrete consciousness, feelings, mental phenomena can be ascertained and understood distinctly.
Thus by being aware of the present moment - we are actually practising Concentration and Mindfulness at the same time.
And when present moment are aware distinctly, discretely - Right Concentration, RIght Mindfulness arises - due to the exertion of Right Effort - where the foundation is relying on Sensual Restraint - that constitute Right Moral or Right Discipline.
When this happen, all stray thoughts become slow down - where every arising - mental noting through Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness can mentally note - from its arising and its falling with certainty, where its characteristics can be noted and diagnose with Insights and Understanding.
When stray thoughts turn from coarse, to subtle and eventually did not arise, Jhana Samadhi is said to have attained if 1-pointedness Conentration of nimitta become predominant.
When Jhana Samadhi is no longer predominant as the Nirvana Fruition (or the Dharma Wheel) has bloom and enwrap the Universe and where Nirvana Fruition become predominant and stray thoughts are eradicated and will no longer arise.
The stray thought no matter how one force will not arise, and the external stray thoughts that want to penetrate the Nirvana Fruition (or the Dharma Wheel) is strongly defended by the outer rim or crust of the Dharma Wheel.
When this happen, no stray thoughts become the inherent natuere of Nirvana Fruition - where in Samsara, stray thought is part of the inherent nature of Human, albeit all 6 realm sentinent beings.
ricky l • Remove
To put it simply in layman term :-
When a Zen Master ask you, what are you doing when you are walking:-
If your reply is :- "I am walking, lifting my left leg, puting it forward, putting it down."
Then you are "Aware of your present moment" - that is Right Concentration through Right Mindfulness.
But if your reply is I am going to buy something - than you are not aware of your present moment - you have stray thought to buy something - but you are not aware your present moment is lifting your leg and walking. That means you are not practising the Right Concentration, with the Right Mindfulness through the Right Effort.
ricky l • Remove
Then people will ask - why do we practice "Aware of Present Moment" with emphasis on developing Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness?
Simply put, each 10 realms have different characteristics, with different subtle consciousness, sub-consciousness, feelings, mental phenonmena and physical phenonmena.
The aggregates and combination of different mental aggregates and physical phenonmena - will determine which realm a sentinent being is destined to.
Thus able to develop the Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness - to be aware of ourselves - will develop insights of other realms - so finite and minute - that one will be able to get in synch with the other realms.
David • Report Abuse
Firstly i don't think this is the right place to talk about all these and secondly i have to admit that im not that educated and knowledgeable than you do, my command of English is very limited and do forgive me on that, i only practiced and know one thing, all things that arises are due to the nature of causes and conditions, with mental objects, the six senses contact and the mind, when we put meaning into it and attached to it, thats where the becoming started, to be mindful we must understand 4 things, if we can understand that the (1.Mind) is simply the mind, (2.Mental object)is simply mental object, (3.Body sensation) is simply the body sensation, (4.Emotion feeling)is simply emotion feeling, if we see them as they are(it is what it is) and not biding them together, then all these phenomena things that arises will just fall back to it own nature self. I only see the rising and falling of all phenomenon, they changed again and again and its impermanence, that''s my realizing and understanding.
ricky l • Remove
You are talking about 4 Foundation of Mindfulness - a process to develop Concentration and Mindfulness - in understanding Law of Impermanency. This is the practice of Satiphattana - or Mindfulness training.
Jhana Samadhi is not yet attained.
Arupa Jhana is still not yet attained.
Nirvana Fruition is still not yet attained.
But the process is correct and on the right path. Just strive along this path.
ricky l • Remove
Actually what I mean is that, in perfection you will be able to attain :-
(1) 1st Jhana with proximate nimitta - but not the full-blown nimitta of 4th Jhana.
(2) You will not be able to develop the 5th Arupa Jhana of Samadhi
(3) But you will be able to develop Nirvana Fruition - using your 1st Jhana nimitta as your home base for Concentration while doing mindfulness on the 4 Foundation.
Lastly, check your heart base to verify your attainment of 1st Jhana with proximate nimitta and your attainment of Nirvana Fruition - where your heart base is link to your Mind attainment.
(Heart - is where Compassion attribute is)
(Mind - is where Panna Wisdom and Insight attribute is)
(All distinct and discrete mental and physical phenonmena - is where No-Self attibute is).
David • Report Abuse
Btw thanks for the sharing and Sadhu!Sadhu!Sadhu! May you be well and happy.
ricky l • Remove
Unfortunately, people have little understanding of a Living Bodhisattva that have attained the Nirvana Fruition - and may wrongly assume that a Living Bodhisattva has a mental condition and thus done injustice to him/her and inheriting negative karma that people may not know. Sigh .....
But there are also some hidden (Human) Dharma Protectors around secretly dropping hints and helping when the going (trials, tests and tribulations) get very tough - because Living Bodhisattva is also make up of human flesh and blood and will suffer like any other humans.
If the going (trials, tests and tribulations) get too tough - and when real crisis come, the Living Bodhisattva may not be able to respond in time and it may become a disaster.
Because people do not know & understand the real meaning of the following Zen :-
不修禅时，看山是山，看水是水。
修禅时，看山不是山，看水不是水。
修禅后，看山是山，看水是水
不修禅时，看山是山，看水是水。(mundane)
修禅时，看山不是山，看水不是水。(supramundane) - many people mistaken this Bodhisattva has a mental condition because He has extraordinary vision or insights that see what mundane cannot see. But people misjudge that He has a mental condition. People did not know that He has Concentration and Mindfulness that mental patients do not have.
修禅后，看山是山，看水是水。(mix of mundane and supramundane).
Unfortunately, people have little understanding of a Living Bodhisattva that have attained the Nirvana Fruition - and may wrongly assume that a Living Bodhisattva has a mental condition and thus done injustice to him/her and inheriting negative karma that people may not know. Sigh .....
But there are also some hidden (Human) Dharma Protectors around secretly dropping hints and helping when the going (trials, tests and tribulations) get very tough - because Living Bodhisattva is also make up of human flesh and blood and will suffer like any other humans.
If the going (trials, tests and tribulations) get too tough - and when real crisis come, the Living Bodhisattva may not be able to respond in time and it may become a disaster.
Because people do not know & understand the real meaning of the following Zen :-
不修禅时，看山是山，看水是水。
修禅时，看山不是山，看水不是水。
修禅后，看山是山，看水是水
不修禅时，看山是山，看水是水。(mundane)
修禅时，看山不是山，看水不是水。(supramundane) - many people mistaken this Bodhisattva has a mental condition because He has extraordinary vision or insights that see what mundane cannot see. But people misjudge that He has a mental condition. People did not know that He has Concentration and Mindfulness that mental patients do not have.
修禅后，看山是山，看水是水。(mix of mundane and supramundane).
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