Source: New Straits Times
Date: 6.9.2009
A man prays to the Hungry Ghost King, an emanation of Guan Shi Yin Pusa, the bodhisattva of compassion, at the three-day ‘enlightenment ceremony’ held at the Nilai Memorial Park last week. | 
Nancy Choo says transcribing the ‘Heart Sutra’ helps to release the souls of the departed from suffering | 
A hungry ghost is what a greedy and selfish person turns into on his death, says professor Ong Seng Huat
|
WE provide them with sumptuous feasts, burn large amounts of joss paper for their benefit, entertain them with shows and stay out of their way in the hope that they steer clear of ours too.
But to have fear as the driver for the celebration is perhaps the most misunderstood part of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
"We give the hungry ghosts food and offer them a lot of things not because we are scared of them, but because we sympathise with them," says religious studies expert Professor Ong Seng Huat.
Sympathy? Sounds like a foreign concept at a time when people avoid throwing parties for fear of attracting unearthly "gatecrashers" and the young are advised to stay home at night to minimise contact with denizens of the netherworld.
For the longest time the festival, which is widely celebrated by Chinese the world over, has been associated with ghosts being released from the lower realms to roam the Earth throughout the seventh month, which ends on Sept 18.
This perception could not be further removed from the original meaning of the festival, says Ong, who heads the Xiao En Cultural Foundation, the charitable arm of the Xiao En Group which promotes cultural studies and human development.
He adds that sympathy would come easily if people understood "the sufferings of a hungry ghost".
Ong says a hungry ghost, an insatiably hungry creature who leads a miserable existence, is what a greedy and selfish person becomes when he dies.
"Who will become a hungry ghost? Greedy people, which the world is full of.
"Contrary to popular belief, hungry ghosts do not haunt. They suffer," says Ong.
In effigy form, the spirit is depicted with a bloated belly, a narrow neck and a hanging tongue.
"The hungry ghost is full, its stomach is filled. And yet, its tongue is hanging out, showing how much it wants to eat.
"But it can't. It doesn't have a throat, its neck is narrow and everything that it tries to eat turns into fire.
"This is greed -- to be full and unable to eat and yet have the desire for food."
This, he explains, is why a hungry ghost suffers.
But if they cannot eat, why do the Chinese offer food to them?
Ong says this is the reason material offerings to these spirits should be accompanied by the chanting of mantras, which help to enlighten and free them of their suffering.
The festival is not about fearing and pleasing the spirits, but to help them, stresses Ong.
According to Buddhist beliefs, all sentient beings revolve within the six realms of existence -- the celestial, asura, human, hungry ghost, animal and hell realms -- until they are liberated from samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
"One needs to escape from the sufferings of the six realms.
"We cannot escape from samsara until we are devoid of attachments."
This is why, says Ong, back in the old days of the agrarian society, values like filial piety were widely observed as a means to rid oneself of attachment to materialism.
"People who had filial piety cared not only for their parents, but everyone, too.
"They treated everyone the way they treat their parents, which included the sharing of possessions.
"During autumn, not everyone was blessed with a bountiful harvest, so this charitable act of giving your surplus clothes and food to others means that one is not controlled by attachment.
"The Hungry Ghost Festival emphasises sympathy, mercy and charity."
Last week, for three days, an "enlightenment ceremony" was held at the Nilai Memorial Park, where more than 20,000 people transcribed the Essence of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, which is more popularly known as the Heart Sutra.
Nancy Choo, sales and marketing director of the Xiao En Group, says transcribing the Heart Sutra helps to release the souls of the departed from suffering.
"When you do this with a clear mind, you transfer the merits and virtues to them and, at the same time, these good deeds are reflected back to you.
"One can also transfer these merits to loved ones who are still alive."
Choo says the ceremony is far removed from the hurried manner in which many families burn piles of joss paper offerings by the roadside.
"This ceremony is to transfer merits. There's nothing scary about it at all. It's something very pure and beautiful that you want to do for your loved ones, alive or dead.
"It is also a gathering of sorts for families, where the young observe filial piety in action."
So how did those creepy stories about vengeful ghosts and haunting spirits develop?
Through folklore, says Ong.
The Hungry Ghost Festival takes place during the transition period from summer to autumn, a time when diseases tend to spread more easily because of the rapid and dramatic weather changes.
"Back in those times, people did not know about things like bacteria or virus. The only way to explain the unusually high death rate was that the month was haunted."
|
|
|
