What is the Hungry Ghost Festival? What is the legend of the Hungry Ghost Festival in July and a half?

What is the Ghost Festival? The Ghost Festival is commonly known as the Day of the Dead and the Half of July. It is a traditional festival in ancient my country. It is also known as the three major ghost festivals along with the Qingming Festival and the Hanyi Festival. The Zhongyuan Festival began in the Northern Wei Dynasty and has been around for more than a thousand years. On this day, the custom of releasing lanterns to allow ghosts to reincarnate has been inherited from time to time, and has been integrated with the characteristics of the times in the development process.

According to Buddhist teachings, on the half of July, we should be grateful and repay our parents for their kindness in growing up. Therefore, on the Hungry Ghost Festival, one's death can not only express one's grief for the deceased, but also make people remember the kindness of their parents.

The origin of the Zhongyuan Festival on the half of July

The name "Zhongyuan" originated from the Northern Wei Dynasty and is a Taoist saying. According to records in ancient books: The Taoist scriptures regard the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as the "Shangyuan" day, which is the day when heavenly officials give blessings; the fifteenth day of July as the "zhongyuan day", which is the day when local officials forgive sins; the fifteenth day of October is the "xiayuan day". To relieve misfortune for water officials. According to the "Book of Practice": "On the first day of the seventh lunar month, the local officials came down to determine the good and evil in the world. The Taoist priests chanted sutras at night, and the prisoners of the Hungry Festival were also liberated." Therefore, on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, people will Prepare rich sacrifices to worship local officials, emperors and ancestors.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is the product of the combination of Taoism and traditional Chinese folk customs. The two can correspond, mainly based on the same cosmology: the three realms of heaven, earth and water are deified into heavenly officials, earthly officials, The Three Realms Government Office under the jurisdiction of Shuiguan. The popular name "Three Realms Gods" among the people refers to the gods of the three realms in general.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, Tianshi Taoism had already integrated the cosmology of the previous Taoist period. The first pass required the "handwritten writings of the three officials", which were thrown into the sky, the earth, and the water respectively to express repentance of sins to the three officials. Pray for peace. After the development of the Six Dynasties, the Three Meeting Days were combined with the Three Yuan thoughts. Under the official promotion of the Tang Dynasty, the Three Yuan Days such as Shangyuan, Zhongyuan, and Xiayuan were finalized and became the three days for praying for good luck and worshiping ancestors and gods. On the Yuan Festival, the emperor led hundreds of officials to participate in festival ceremonies. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Three Yuan Day became a folk festival.

During the Hungry Ghost Festival, Taoist temples, such as the Di'anmen Fire Temple and the Baiyun Temple outside Xibianmen, etc., hold "Prayer for Good Luck and Auspiciousness" every year in order to pray for "good weather, peace and prosperity for the country and the people". Because of the fear of evil, people combine Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in their daily lives. They call the Ghost Festival on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month and the seventh month of the lunar calendar the "Ghost Month."

After the introduction of Buddhism, there was also a salvation ceremony in Buddhism to recommend ancestors, called "Ulammana" (Ullamana in Indian), which is also the "Manglan Basin Meeting". The meaning of Meng Lanpen is hanging upside down. The pain in life is like a bat hanging upside down on a tree, hanging upside down and suffering unspeakably. In order to save all sentient beings from the pain of hanging upside down, it is necessary to chant sutras and distribute food to lonely ghosts. This move coincides with the worship of the Ghost Moon in China, and Buddhism also holds a salvation ceremony on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, so the Hungry Ghost Festival and the Menglan Festival are handed down at the same time.

The legend of the Ghost Festival in the middle of July

According to legend, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, also known as the "Lord of Hell", came to the underworld of the Yin Dynasty after his mother passed away. , being locked up in a cell meant suffering the torture of the eighteenth hell. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was a very filial son, and he couldn’t bear to see his mother suffer. On July 15th, he actually let the guard of the cell go so far as to ignore his personal relationship. The little ghost secretly opened the cell door to let his mother out. Who knows, the little ghosts in the cell also swarmed out and went to the human world to harm the people, so there is a saying that ghosts run around in the middle of July. Those ghosts who ran back to their hometowns asked for money from their families so that they could use it to live and heal their joints, hoping to give birth to children as soon as possible. Later, people designated this day as the Hungry Ghost Festival.

The Buddhist Obon Festival originated from the story of "Mulian saved his mother", which comes from the Tripitaka (Buddhism introduced from India). The story of Mulian rescuing his mother: Among the Buddha's disciples, Venerable Moggallian, who had the most supernatural power, was thinking about his deceased mother. He used his supernatural power to see that his mother had fallen into the evil ghost realm after her death due to her greed and karma while alive. , living a life without enough to eat. Moggallana then used his magical power to turn food into food and gave it to his mother. However, his mother did not change her greed. When the food arrived, she was afraid that other evil spirits would snatch it. When the food came into her mouth, it immediately turned into charcoal. Swallow. Although Moggallian had supernatural powers, as a human son, he was unable to save his mother. He was in great pain and asked the Buddha for advice on what to do. The Buddha said: "The fifteenth day of the seventh month is the last day of summer retreat and practice. It is full of Dharma and goodness. On this day, I offer a bowl of various kinds of food to the monks in the lane. The merits are immeasurable. With this compassion, I can save my deceased mother."

In compliance with the Buddha's will, Mu Lian used a Ullambana basin filled with precious fruits as a vegetarian offering to his mother on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, and her mother finally got food. "This is the origin of worshiping "good brothers" in Pudu, Taiwan.

The Origin of the Hungry Ghost Festival

The Hungry Ghost Festival is also known as July Half, July Fourteenth, and Festival. Ancestral Festival, Bon Festival, Digguan Festival, the festival customs mainly include worshiping ancestors, setting off river lanterns, worshiping dead souls, burning paper ingots, and offering sacrifices to the land. "July 15th" (or "July 14th"), its origin can be traced back to the worship of ancestors and related festivals in ancient times. The festival is related to the cycle of growth and decline of yin and yang in ancient culture. In the "Book of Changes" In "Seven", "seven" is a changing number, the number of resurrection. July is an auspicious month and a month of filial piety. The first half of July is a folk festival in early autumn to celebrate the harvest and reward the earth. When certain crops are mature, folk sacrifices are held as a rule. The festival is a traditional cultural festival to honor ancestors by offering sacrifices such as new rice to ancestors.

"Half of July" was originally an ancient festival. The folk ancestor worship festival in that era was called "Zhongyuan Festival", which originated from the Taoist theory after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Shuiguan went down to the Yuan Dynasty to resolve the disaster, hence the name "Zhongyuan". Buddhism calls the half of July "Obon Festival". In the Tang Dynasty, when rulers respected Taoism, the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival began to flourish, and "Zhongyuan" was gradually fixed as the name of the festival. The festival was set on July 15th, and it has been used to this day.

Ancestor worship on July 14th/15th is a traditional cultural festival popular in countries in the Chinese cultural circle and overseas Chinese areas. It is a traditional ancestor worship festival of the Chinese nation along with New Year's Eve, Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival. Big festival. In May 2010, the Ministry of Culture selected the "Hungry Ghost Festival (Chaozhou people's Bon Festival)" declared by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and included it in the national intangible cultural heritage list.

Historical origin

In the "Book of Changes", "seven" is a changing number and the number of resurrection. "Book of Changes": "Repeating its path, it will come back in seven days, and the heaven will move." Seven is the number of yang and the number of heaven. After the yang energy between heaven and earth is extinguished, it can be reborn after seven days. This is the way of the movement of heaven and earth, yin and yang. The principle of growth and decline cycle. "Seven" also has a mysterious color, such as there are "seven stars" in the sky (seven stars shine high), human emotions have "seven emotions", colors have "seven colors", music has "seven tones", poetry has "seven rhythms", The human body has "seven orifices" and so on. "Seven" is also the human life cycle. Education begins at the age of seven, puberty occurs at the age of fourteen, and the body is fully mature at the age of twenty-one... The number of sevens among the people is expressed in stages in time. When calculating time, "seven to seven" is often used as the ending and resurrection. "July is an auspicious month and a month of filial piety, and the fourteenth day (Twenty-seven) is the period number of the number "seven". The ancients chose to worship their ancestors on July fourteenth (half of July) because it is related to the number "seven", the resurrection number. .

This festival originated from the early "July and a half" harvest harvest and worship of ancestors. The origin of "July and a half" can be traced back to ancient people's ancestor worship and harvest harvest. For a good agricultural harvest, ancestor worship is often performed in spring, summer, autumn and winter, but the "autumn taste" in early autumn is very important. Autumn is the harvest season, and people hold sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. The seasonal delicacies are first offered to the gods, and then the fruits of labor are tasted by oneself and pray for a good harvest in the coming year.

Integration of connotations

The custom of worshiping ancestors in the middle of July has been around since ancient times. It was originally a folk ancestor worship festival, not a "Ghost Festival" ("Ghost Festival" was a later term, which is expected to have evolved from the Taoist idea of ??opening the gate of ghosts during the Yuan Dynasty). The festival of ancestor worship on the half of July is called. "Hungry Ghost Festival" originated from the Taoist saying after the Eastern Han Dynasty (about the Northern Wei Dynasty). Among the Taoist gods, there are Tianguan, Diguan, and Shuiguan, collectively known as the "Three Officials and Great Emperors". They are the representatives of the Emperor of Heaven on earth. , respectively on the "Three Yuan Day" for the Emperor of Heaven to check the merits and crimes of the world and determine rewards and punishments: "The Heavenly Official will bless the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Earth Official will pardon sins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and the Shuiguan will be the tenth day of the tenth month." Xiayuan solves the problem. "The earth officials are in charge of the underworld, and the focus of inspection is naturally the various ghosts. The Zhongyuan, Shangyuan, and Xiayuan are collectively called "Three Yuans". It is said that on the day of the Zhongyuan, the underground palace opens the door to hell, and it is also the door to hell. On that day, all ghosts will leave the underworld and take exams. The ghosts with owners will go home, while the ghosts without owners will wander around the world, wandering around looking for food. Therefore, it is also called Ghost Festival, and activities to worship ghosts are generally carried out. Lotus lanterns are lit to illuminate the way home for the deceased souls. Taoist temples hold grand rituals to pray for good fortune and Taoist priests build altars to pray for the souls of the deceased souls.

The seventh month of the lunar calendar is the month of gratitude. In Buddhism, there are Zen Seven, Jing Seven, and even seven, seven, forty-nine, which means infinite. "Seven" is a number with endless changes and endless implications. According to Buddhism, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the day when monks’ merits are perfected. On that day, Buddhist disciples hold the “Ollambana Dharma Assembly”. According to the records of the Tripitaka, Ullambana is a Sanskrit word. "Ulan" means "hanging upside down"; "Bon" means "rescue tool". "Ullambana" means an utensil used to save suffering beings hanging upside down. The derived meaning is: fill the basin with hundreds of flavors and five fruits and offer it to the Buddha and monks to save the suffering beings in hell. This ritual first became popular from the ceremony where Mulian saved his mother.

The ancients have attached great importance to sacrifice since ancient times. This festival originated from three cultures: folk secular, Taoist and Buddhist. Its sacrificial culture has been spread for a long time and has a wide influence on the region. "Seven", among the numbers in our country, is an odd number: Qiqiao, Qixing, Qicai, Qilu; "Book of Changes": "Repeating the path, coming back in seven days, is the movement of heaven." Seven is the Yang number, the number of heaven, After the yang energy between heaven and earth is extinct, it can be reborn after seven days. This is the way the heaven and earth move, and the principle of the cycle of growth and decline of yin and yang. However, for a long time, some places in our country have believed that July is the ghost month, which is an unlucky month. It is expected to have evolved from the Taoist idea that the Yuan Dynasty will open the gate of ghosts. Because of the spreading of rumors, some places regard July as a month when "everything is not appropriate". For example, in July, you are not allowed to go out, have surgery, get married, buy a house, move, etc. In fact, July is an auspicious month.

In the folk world, "July Half" is a traditional cultural festival to remember ancestors. Its cultural core is to respect ancestors, fulfill filial piety, and not forget the roots. In Buddhism, July is also called the "happy month", "Buddha's happy day", "auspicious month" and "repaying kindness month". Buddhism and Taoism have different interpretations of the meaning of this festival. Taoism emphasizes filial piety; Buddhism focuses on "pudding" for the ownerless souls released from the underworld. The later custom of "July and Half" can be said to be a fusion of secularism, Taoism and Buddhism.

Three customs in one

It is generally believed that the Hungry Ghost Festival is also the "Obon Festival"; in fact, there is a big misunderstanding in this understanding. To be precise, the Ancestor Worship Festival on July 14th, the Hungry Ghost Festival and the Bon Festival belong to folk beliefs, Taoism and Buddhism respectively. The three are in a parallel relationship, rather than three different names of one festival. Since the rise of Taoism, the word "Zhongyuan" in the "Three Yuan Theory" was officially fixed as the name of the festival in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the festival was set on July 15th. This festival is a festival that combines the three customs into one.

Before the formation of the "Hungry Ghost Festival", July 15th had already been requisitioned by Buddhism. The seventh month in Buddhism was originally a happy month for the Buddha, not a "Ghost Festival". But why does the Bon Festival in July become the "Ghost Festival"? Bon is a transliteration of the Sanskrit Ulambana, and its original meaning is "rescuing upside down", that is, rescuing ghosts suffering in hell. The Buddhist scripture "Ollambana Sutra" was translated and introduced to China during the Western Jin Dynasty. There is a story of "Mu Lian saving his mother" in the scripture, which coincides with the concept of filial piety that still existed at that time. It was later praised by the Southern Dynasties who advocated the "theory of the same origin of the three religions". Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, advocated it as a folk festival, and its main function at that time was to worship Buddha. It was only in the Song Dynasty that it changed and developed into the practice of recommending the dead to save ghosts. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, or it’s the Bon Festival of Taoism and Buddhism. Both the Hungry Ghost Festival and the Bon Festival are set on July 15th. So that later generations thought that these two were two names of the same festival. At the same time, because its meaning and customs have long been difficult to distinguish, the customs of the two festivals began to be mixed.

(1), Customs and origins of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Making sentences about the Ghost Festival - making sentences using the Ghost Festival (5), a collection of short sentences about the Ghost Festival in 2021 (6), a collection of sentences about the Ghost Festival (7), and some funny and personalized remarks about the Ghost Festival (8), Summary of the Civilized Ghost Festival Sacrifice Activities (9), Collection of Slogans and Slogans for the 2021 Ghost Festival (10), Slogans and Slogans for Civilized Ancestor Worshiping on the Ghost Festival

Historical Development

Judging from historical documents, the activity of worshiping ancestors in Quchang existed in the pre-Qin era. The custom of worshiping ancestors in the middle of July is a product of local culture. The inclusive festivals and customs are relatively complex. It is not only the folk festival of worshiping ancestors in autumn, but also the Taoist Ghost Festival and the Buddhist Obon Festival. The secular, Taoist and monks are three streams in one.

There is a folk tradition of being cautious about pursuing the past, so it is necessary to worship ancestors. The worship ceremony is usually held in mid-July. For example, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty said in Puning County Chronicles: "It is commonly said that ancestors return after their souls return, and they have sacred clothes, wine and delicacies to recommend. Even if they are poor, they dare not lack them." Among the sacrifices, Puyi is indispensable. Because the heat is over in July, you must change your clothes to prevent the cold. In the world, "fire flows in July and clothes are given in September." In the old days, the Hungry Ghost Festival was not only of great significance from a religious perspective, but also from a secular perspective, it was also a festival with high mass participation and distinct entertainment functions.