Ghost Festival: Encyclopedia II - Ghost Festival - Buddhist Ghost Festival: Ullambana

Ghost Festival - Buddhist Ghost Festival: Ullambana

The Ghost Festival has roots in the Buddhist festival, Ullambana, and also some from the Daoist culture. In the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist festival "Ullambana" and traditional festivities were mixed and celebrated on one day. Thus, the Ghost Festival has special meaning for all Buddhists as one of their most important festivals.

Ghost Festival - Mahāmaudgalyāyana Saves His Mother From Hell

The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a well descriptive account of a well-to-do merchant who eventually gives up his trade to become a Buddhist monk. He became one of the Buddha's chief disciples. His name was Mahāmaudgalyāyana. (Ch. 目連, Mulian, Pāli Mahāmoggallāna)

After he attained the title of arhat, he thinks of his father and mother, and wonders what happens to them. He travelled over the known Buddhist universe, and found his father in heaven.

However, his mother was reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost---it could not eat because its throat was very thin and no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother was greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana eventually saves her from this plight by battling various demons and entreating the help of the Buddha. The compromise that was made was one that owes to the relevance of the Ghost Festival and ancestor worship.

The Buddha instates a day after the traditional summer retreat (the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar--usually mid-to-late August) as a day of prayer and offering in which monks can pray and make sacrifices on behalf of dead ancestors or hungry ghosts. The family members of the deceased essentially pay for this service, and thus their patronage is a form of charity. The deceased ancestors are pacified and hungry ghosts can eat (the sacrificial foods).

The story ends with this festival and the rescue of his mother from hell. She ended up being reborn as a dog, but as a pet in a well-off household.

Today, the exact same ritual that the Buddha asked for Mahāmaudgalyāyana to do is well practiced in many parts of Asia. The day of offering foods or money to monks is called "Sangha Day", celebrated in many Buddhist temples. It marks the first day of the Ghost Festival.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Buddhist Ghost Festival: Ullambana", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki