清明节 -
worship or remembrance of ancestor according to Taoism belief 道教 or 于蓝节
(Ulabamma) according to Buddhism 佛教 - an Arahat who upon attain Arupa
Jhana scoured the 6 realms to look for his mother who passed away - and
found his mother in the Hungry Ghost realm 饿鬼界 suffering and not able to
consume food.
Despite his supernatural power, he is unable to help his mother - due to
his mother negative karma manifesting.
The Arahat then ask Buddha for help on how to rescue his mother from the
Hungry Ghost realm.
The Buddha told the Arahat that all attained Arahats and monks to chant
metta sutra (Compassion sutra) to soothe the sufferings of the Hungry
Ghost realm and to help the Arahat mother to burn out all her negative
karma in her past lives.
There after, her mother passed away in the Hungry Ghost realm upon her
repentance of her past wrong doings and the burning out of all her past
karma and reborn into a better realm.
Hence 于蓝节 (Ulabamma) is also known as 孝亲节。
For this 7th month - it is Taoism to celebrate the opening of Hungry
Ghost Realm.
Commentary: Finding filial duty, spiritual charity in Hungry Ghost Festival rituals
Roadside offerings spring up and people
burn paper effigies. Terence Heng explores the deeper meaning behind
these practices of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
Returning Da Shi Ye, the King of Ghosts, to the underworld, completed through this paper effigy burning. (Photo: Terence Heng)
Read more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-finding-filial-duty-spiritual-charity-in-hungry-ghost-9188394
SINGAPORE: If you’re Chinese, or ascribe to Chinese beliefs, you know it’s that time of the year again.
You’ve
probably already heard one or more of the usual advice from
well-meaning relatives: Go home early, don’t buy a new flat, don’t hold a
wedding, and if someone calls your name from behind, don’t turn around.
That
last one would be particularly hard if your mother was asking for help
to carry the groceries and you ran away. “Ah Boy, help!” “You’re not
getting me this year she-demon!”
In Singapore, regardless of race,
language or religion, you are also likely to have become highly adept
at side-stepping various incense sticks, candles, food and wayward ashes
on the street, on grass slopes, and near your favourite hawker centre.
Finally,
if you live on the lower floors of an HDB estate, you probably have
developed significant levels of tolerance for the copious amounts of
smoke and ash that permeate the air. EVERY SEVENTH LUNAR MONTH
The Hungry Ghost Festival is a religious and cultural event that
happens on the seventh lunar month. Because of a quirk in the lunar
calendar this year, we have had the sixth month repeat, so festivities
have started a little later.
Exact beliefs vary from individual to
individual and religion to religion, but the general idea is that the
spirits of the dead are released from the underworld to roam the earth
for a month.
During this period, the living and the dead
intermingle, and the former are expected to care for the latter through
offerings of food, drink, entertainment and money.
If these
spirits are not cared for, there is a chance they could turn malicious
and harm you. However, if you appease them, there is also a chance you
might be blessed with good fortune in the form of winning 4D numbers, or
a good business climate going forward.
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
A temporary altar table set up at North Bridge Road by a Sintua, or
spirit altar, a collective of devotees, who are preparing to burn hell
money and make offerings to the dead. (Photo: Terence Heng)
As such, many Chinese individuals in Singapore, as well as
the surrounding region, engage in a number of practices. First, there
is a profusion of makeshift altars and roadside offerings, sometimes for
wandering spirits (termed as “Good Brothers”), and sometimes for the
spirits of one’s ancestors.
Secondly, individuals burn paper
effigies of things needed by spirits to live their everyday lives. These
include money, a passport to get out of the underworld, coloured paper
symbolising cloth to make clothes, and sets of toiletries and other
essential everyday items. EXPRESSION OF IDENTITY AND FILIAL PIETY
Over
the last five years, I have spent much of my time observing and
photographing the Hungry Ghost Festival, from more mundane roadside
offerings to larger, more organised events in Bukit Brown Cemetery and
HDB estates.
Much of that work has focused on understanding
the festival as a social process, in which different kinds of identities
are expressed through material and performative cultures.
For
instance, Hungry Ghost rituals and the presence of spirit mediums,
particularly deities from the underworld, during the festival reveals,
in part, many of our Chinese ancestors’ migratory journeys from China to
Singapore, where Chinese folklore religion was particularly prominent.
In a way, these represent slices of the cultural forms that our
ancestors have carried over to Singapore, which continue to be shaped in
the digital era.
But it is easy to dismiss much of these
practices as mere superstition, historical or otherwise. And like many
other things, that perception is exacerbated by social media and
click-bait articles telling you about haunted spots and ghost stories.
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
Devotees engage in a Seventh Month Yew Keng (tour or walkabout) rituals at a void deck in Bukit Batok. (Photo: Terence Heng)
What is less known is the tremendous amount of filial
piety, personal sacrifice and devotion that some individuals and groups
put into rituals. Rather than simply being about wandering spirits and
the encounters the living have with them, the Hungry Ghost Festival is
also about praying for the salvation or release from pain and affliction
for one’s ancestors.
During this period, Buddhists take part in
the Ullambana festival, commemorating the principle of filial piety.
Ullambana recalls the story of the monk Maudgalyāyana who, unable to
feed his tormented mother’s spirit in the underworld, consults Gautama
Buddha who instructs him to care for the Sangha of the Ten Directions.
In doing good deeds, Maudgalyāyana was able to redeem his mother’s soul, releasing her from her punishment.
The Taoist version that some may be familiar with is the story of Mu Lian who descends into hell to save his mother.
Because of this, both Buddhists and Taoists practise salvation rituals for their ancestors. Calling it Chao Du,
Taoists also lay out food and drink, and invite their ancestors to be
preached to by priests, imploring them to let go of their anger so that
they may be released from purgatory.
My research has also taken me
into the homes of spirit mediums, particularly those with an affinity
to the underworld deities. Most recently, I witnessed a Chao Du ritual that also included a ritual cleansing of an HDB block said to be afflicted with recent suicide cases.
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
Two tangkis, or spirit mediums, cleanse a common area. Such rituals are
sometimes done on request for no sum of money. (Photo: Terence Heng)
Whether such cleansing is “effective” is not the point
here – rather it is symbolic of the time and effort made by some of
these individuals to make a better city for the living – a collective
act of spiritual charity.
Like many religious practices in
Singapore, the Hungry Ghost Festival is an amalgamation of many social,
cultural and religious beliefs that have been, and continue to blend
over time.
It is true that many superstitions permeate the
activities that we witness and experience, but it is also true the same
activities are intimately connected with Chinese diasporic histories,
and like other festivals from other religions, add to the texture and
fabric of our global city.
When the seventh month is over and the
drums of hell money stop burning, we’ll breathe a little easier – both
literally and metaphorically – and start loosening our belts for
mooncakes for the mid-autumn festival.
But after that, keep an eye
out in October for people dressed in white and carrying sedan chairs
adorned with LED lights. It’s time for the Nine Emperor Gods Festival! Terence
Heng is an assistant professor at the Singapore Institute of
Technology, where he studies the changing identities of Chinese
Singaporeans through ritual and religion.
Source: CNA/sl Read
more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-finding-filial-duty-spiritual-charity-in-hungry-ghost-9188394
By Opalyn Mok,The Malay Mail Online
Fri, 8 Sep 6:55 AM SGT
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