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Artist impression
of moth and past life
1.4 A moth as
a returning soul?
In popular Chinese belief, it holds that the soul of a recently
deceased would return to its former home in the form of an
insect or animal. Taoist masters claim that they could calculate
accurately height of the soul, divine which realm the soul
would pass over to or reincarnate as, but more importantly,
they could tell the family the times that the soul would be
expected to return home for a visit, and from which direction
it would arrive and which direction it will depart. By learning
how and when the soul would return to their former living
place of dwelling, the family could then prepare for its arrival.
It is popularly believed that the spirit will be escorted
by a pair of Hades guards, known as the 'ox-head' and 'horse-face'
( ),
making sure that the visit is tightly supervised. A dinning
table with three seats would need to be arranged. One seat
is reserved for the deceased while the other two are prepared
for the Hades guards. The setting must also include three
pairs of chopsticks, three rice bowels and three wine cups.
Three joss sticks must be burned while stuck on an orange.
The entire arrangement is set up in front of a photo of the
recently deceased on the table.
The food prepared for the offering are usually the favourite
dishes of the recently deceased. It is not uncommon to feature
a wide variety of food. However, the cardinal rule is that
there must not be any beef or horse meat in any of the dishes.
This would offend the Hades guards. The three cups would be
filled with Chinese rice wine (similar to Japanese Sake).
Sometimes boiled chicken eggs with the shell removed would
also be offered. The food should be presented on disposable
plates because after the whole ritual, the food has to be
disposed. None of them can be consumed later.
Once the preparations have been made and in place, the whole
family must retreat back into their bedrooms and not make
a sound in the night. They are expected to behave as if everything
was normal and sleep that night. No one is allowed to spy
on the room where the offerings are placed. In no time should
one investigate any sound or noise coming from the room where
the offerings are placed. Everyone should ignore it and pretend
to be asleep as if nothing was happening. Sometimes the soul
of the deceased may enter your bedroom to see the family members
for the last time. Therefore it is important that everyone
looks to be asleep; this is to reassure the soul that all
is well in the family. A scene of the family in its everyday
life would allow the soul to pass on peacefully. Any reaction
or interaction with the soul would stir up emotions making
it emotionally difficult for the deceased to continue on its
journey.
On the next morning, before stepping out of the bedroom, one
has to throw out a silver item (e.g. scissors) to signal that
the family was leaving their bedrooms. This would alert the
soul and the Hades guards that their time in the family dwelling
was up and that it was time for them to depart. It is important
that either party should encounter each other. After the ritual,
all the offerings are to be disposed in the trash.
An informant from a funeral parlour however, said there are
actually two days instead of one for the soul to return home.
One day is the actual date that is calculated by a spiritual
master and the other day is an unofficial of visitation. The
unofficial day is usually the day before or after the calculated
day of visit. Unlike the calculated day, the soul returning
on the unofficial day will do so without the supervision of
the Hades guards.
Source: Yahoo Knowledge
1.5 Butterflies and returning souls
Many consider that the concept that a moth or butterfly can
embody the soul of a recently deceased has its roots in Taoist
beliefs. It could also have its origins in other belief systems
like Shamanism and Animism. Shamanism and Animism (from Latin
anima (soul, life) holds the basic tenet that souls and spirits
exist not only in living beings, but also in material objects
like rocks and stones or in geographic features and natural
phenomena like thunder, mountains, rivers and the wind. Some
of these spirits are worshipped in order to gain favours and
therefore offerings are made to the objects that spirits are
thought to inhibit or embody.
Most such belief systems hold that the spirit survives physical
death. But the concept of the afterlife is not universal amongst
all these belief systems. Some argue that the soul or the
spirit is believed to pass to another world, an afterlife
where there is abundant game for hunting or crops that are
always ripe and available. Others believe that the soul or
the spirit would remain on Earth as an entity like a ghost,
and often malignant. Some systems of belief combine the two;
after death, a soul is expected to enter into another realm
but they can only do so with human aid or intervention. Not
all souls of the recently deceased may choose not to pass
over to the next realm in peace. Some are believed to linger
on Earth until their concerns or grievances are addressed.
For example there is the popular belief that ghosts haunt
the living because they seek revenge or to right a wrong.
In cases like these the soul needs to be pacified in order
to encourage them to move on into the afterlife. However,
a soul can also be reluctant to move on into the afterlife
until it is assured that those who it leaves behind are at
peace. In this case, the soul is believed to take on the form
of a butterfly or moth in order to return to its former home
for an inspection or a final visit. Here, the animistic concept
of moths embodying the soul of a recently deceased member
of the family demand that the family and kin respect the arrival
of a moth or butterfly in one's dwelling during or after a
funeral. It cautions that the moth or butterfly may well be
the soul of your recently departed family member and killing
it would amount to killing your family member again.
Popular Chinese beliefs that embrace this concept of the afterlife
stipulate that the family and kin left behind are expected
to facilitate the soul's journey to another realm and ensure
that it does not become lost. A wandering lost soul is said
to be condemned to wonder the Earth as ghost for eternity.
Therefore, proper funeral rites, mourning rituals, and ancestor
worship need to be performed by the family and kin of the
deceased to ensure the successful completion of the soul's
journey. And the need to ensure that proper rites and rituals
be carried out in order to ensure that the soul of the recently
deceased is pacified have sprang an entire industry devoted
to the task.
1.6 Influence by media
Cult TV drama, and famous traditional Chinese operate play
a part in promoting this belief, fooling the public to believe
it is real.
Click here
to watch the movie clip. The moth as a returning soul appears
at about 26:05Sec of the clip.
Click here
to watch the other part of the movie clip. This time the guy's
dead, his soul is returning as a moth. The action is at around
28:24Sec of the clip.
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