The first seven will hit seven. What does that mean?

This is a folk superstition, and not only in China. It can be said that wherever there are people from China, there is such a saying.

Before the spread of Buddhism to the East, there was a custom in China that people would mourn for seven days to 7749 days after death. After the spread of Buddhism to the East, in Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the prosperity of Buddhism, the funeral ceremony system became more and more complete, and the "July 7th" funeral ceremony system was formally formed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to the biography of consorts in Northern History, after Hu Guozhen's death, the emperor set up a thousand monks to fast for him on July 7, and seven people became monks. According to the records of mkas-pavi-dgav-ston and the Prince of Tibet, after Princess Tang Jincheng entered Tibet, this funeral etiquette was brought into Tibet and spread, forming a "seven-stage" funeral in Tibet.

There is a folk saying that "I bump into someone's house to do seven funerals (every seventh day of July)", and there is also a saying that "men are afraid of bumping their heads (seventh) and women are afraid of bumping their feet (seventh)". It is unlucky for no one to bump into seven. In some places, there are even "seven songs" to guide others to hit seven, such as "the first seven hits seven, the deceased is wronged, and the second seven hits seven." In fact, this is a misunderstanding and misinformation of ancient law, which is obviously suspected of superstition, and it is difficult to justify it from the perspective of orthodox law.

In the true sense, hitting seven refers to "the intersection of seven and seven in time", which is a popular saying of "crossing seven" The seventh day of every seventh week is the seventh day of the seventh day, while the last day of the first seven (commonly known as the first seven) is the seventh day of the seventeenth day and the seventh day of the seventh day, and so on, a total of six seven days. On the seventh day of handover, because the last bardo of the deceased was about to be destroyed and the next bardo was about to be born, the ancients thought that this day might be the last time for the deceased to go home, so they paid special attention to the commemoration and crossing of this day. According to "On the Ancient Posha" for fifty-three years: "The venerable and the bearded say: There are sentient beings in the world, and their life span is seven days, so what's the harm? He is tired and weak. " An article in On Yoga says, "If you don't get your destiny, you will live for seven days; if you don't get your destiny for seven days, you will come back from the dead, you will live for seven days; if you turn around, you won't get your destiny, or even you will live for seven days." On the Bodhisattva's Original Wish: "The Virgin asks again: Why is this water boiling? More sinners without evil beasts? The poison replied, "this is Jambu-Di^pa, who caused many evils and new deaths." Forty-nine days later, there was no heir, in order to do merit and save suffering. "When you were born without a good career, you felt hell according to your industry. "

Second, the "July 7th" principle of crossing the river

Buddhism believes that most people have a transitional state before they die, except that the great good and the great evil are directly reincarnated because of the great traction of karma, which is the stage of "Yin in the body" (or "Zhong in the body"). Compared with the human body, "internal yin" is extremely subtle, and ordinary people can't perceive its existence. Its shape is as big as that of a child, with keen sense, quick action and five magical powers. "Yin in the body" meets the opportunity of reincarnation, that is, it is born with an "upside down heart" and is thrown into the belly because of the meeting of parents in the afterlife. This reincarnation opportunity takes seven days as a cycle, and at most forty-nine days will inevitably be reincarnated and enter the next reincarnation. During the "July 7th" period, the deceased was recommended by "good thoughts and merits" (such as fasting, practicing blessings, chanting Buddha and chanting scriptures), so that they could not fall into the three evils of hell, hungry ghosts and animals, but cross over to adulthood, heaven and goodness, and even die in pure land, which is called "crossing over".

Iii. the focus and significance of the seven recommendations

The first seven days, the second seven days, the seventh seven days (seven days off), * * * forty-nine days. Through recommendation, the first seven can be reincarnated with the best effect, followed by Erqi and Sanqi. It is difficult to ensure that those who are reincarnated before July 7th are born in a good way. Therefore, the first seven days are very important for the deceased and their families. On this day, all relatives and friends will be present to recommend the deceased, so that the deceased can become a good person on that day. By the 27th, family members felt that the deceased had committed a serious crime, and it might still be difficult to cross it, so they had to work harder. Therefore, all the people present on this day should take a bath, keep it clean, let the host master the scheduling, and complete all the Buddhist ceremonies before eating. If the deceased is still in trouble, all family members need to strictly abide by the net precepts from this day on, including not allowing husband and wife to share the bed, not allowing anyone to kill, etc., until the death of the deceased. 37 to 77 is the same as 27.

It can be seen from these requirements that the focus of loyalty is not to pursue recommendation, but to observe which side is more important than the other in what the deceased did before his death. If good deeds are heavy, he will be born with good interests. If the evil deeds are serious, Yiqi may not be able to cross over. Only living relatives can he go all out to recommend blessings. Therefore, starting from the 27th and 37th, the requirements will be raised in an all-round way, with only one purpose, that is, to recommend blessings to the deceased, hoping that the deceased will get better before July 7th.

From here, we can also see that the folk superstition that is misunderstood and misinformed lacks theoretical basis and has no significance in practice. For example, if you press "seven songs", three sevens, five sevens and six sevens are lucky. Will everyone get rich, get promoted and get lucky? In fact, this is impossible and contrary to common sense. According to Buddhist teachings, it is precisely every seven days that is crucial. The people involved should be clean and solemn. If the law pursues recommendation, they will not donate, the deceased will only get one, and the recommender will enjoy the sixth. This is a good thing for the deceased and himself. Is there a problem?