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The July Month Hungry Ghost Special
2002
(Part 2 of 7) |
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Story of Mu Lian
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Chinese legend has it that a long time ago, there lived a young
man, Mu Lian and his widowed mother. His mother was a wicked
woman. She often turned away beggars who came to her door asking
for food. She liked to jeer at the working poor and their dirty
clothes; in essence, the only person she cared about was herself.
Mu Lian on the other hand was a kind soul. He was a gentle person
and always willing to help anybody who was in need. One day he
decided to become a monk and this did not please his mother. She
scowled at him for being such a useless son; she wanted him to go
out and work to earn more money for her. Wealth and materialistic
things meant more to her than anything else.
When she saw that she could not dissuade her son, a plan began to
hatch in her mind. She decided to play a trick on the monks just
to get back at them for taking away her son. Now it was the custom
to offer food to the monks (this custom still exists to this very
day), but only vegetarian food. Mu Lian’s mother thought that it
was nonsensical that these monks did not eat meat, so one day she
offered food to some monks and slipped in some non-vegetarian
items.
According to one version of the story, the wicked woman was
punished immediately and was sent to hell. Mu Lian wanted to save
his mother’s soul because he knew her soul was suffering.
He set out and ventured deep into the bowels of hell. Soon he came
upon his mother and he saw that she was sitting a bed of very
sharp pointy stakes and was holding on to a basin of blood.
Mu Lian tried feeding her some food but the food would either turn
into fire or blood. It was hopeless: he couldn’t do anything for
her so he left. He returned home and started to pray.
It is said that Buddha heard Mu Lian’s prayers and was touched by
Mu Lian’s compassion. Thus Buddha decreed that once a year, the
gates of hell be opened so that the lost souls will be able to
roam the earth and be fed. This is why every year on the seventh
day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the Chinese
celebrate the festival of the hungry ghost. This is one of five
major festivals in the Chinese culture.
Food and drink will be offered at night outside the gates of
houses. This is so that the ghosts do not enter their houses and
cause trouble. A traditional food made for this festival is
steamed sweet bread. Lanterns are lit to help guide the ghosts to
the feasts set out for them. Special paper money is also burned as
offerings to these ghosts so that they can take it back to hell
and spend it there. To make sure that these souls stay out of
trouble, entertainment is set up round the clock, mainly Chinese
operas performed on outdoor stages.
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