Shojun Bando - Ullambana Sutra (for Hungry Ghost month) [1 eBook - 1 PDF, 1 txt] This sutra is considered by some scholars to be apocryphal.
In this Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs an arhat on how to obtain liberation for his mother who had been reborn into a Hell Realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
That date is honored yearly as the Hungry Ghost Festivals, which take place during this 7th lunar month (~ August 7 thru Sept 5, 2013).
Other similar names/rituals : Obon, Chung Yuan, YuLan Pen, Ullambana, Pravarana etc
The entire seventh lunar month is called Ghost Moon, because the doors to the Hell Realms are thrown open, and ghosts (pretas) are free to roam our land of the living.
Three times during this month, religious rituals are performed to counter the danger of suffering spirits and damned souls.
On the first day of Ghost Month every household provides generous offerings of food. Incense sticks, paper clothes, or paper spirit money are burned to send into the invisible dimension. At the entry is hung a paper decoration on which are written auspicious words. At the same time this hospitable attitude is being exhibited, people take good care not to expose themselves to danger.
The Full Moon day of Ghost Month is called Ullambana, which means "deliverance from suffering," and refers to the salvation of anguished souls in Hell. This concept originates from the story in this Ullambara Sutra.
On this Full Moon day (~ Aug. 19-21, 2013), special rituals are performed to cope with the wandering ghosts. Some rituals are motivated by the fear of harm from afflicted spirits, and others by the hope for ancestral blessings. Each culture has its own style of interacting with their ancestors during Ghost Month. For example, a great feast is prepared where hungry ghosts will for once be able to eat their fill, and will also receive the merits that accrue from the ritual. To assist all souls to cross over to the shore of salvation, use altars, incense, candles, sacrifices, prayers, fasting, and/or chanting, and reading of this Ullambara Sutra. Some use lanterns and pennants to guide the spirits to the ritual places. Empty chairs are reserved for the dead. Homes, streets and graveyards are filled with paper models of worldly assets, especially paper banknotes, known as ‘Hell Money’. At night, these paper piles are burnt as offerings to the ancestors.
Especially important is holding lineage rituals of charity or exorcism, so that evil and suffering ancestors may cross over to Salvation - potentially breaking the line of suffering that has carried forward into ourselves and our children. Such ancestor ritual is also found in shamanistic practices: if a person suffers from an unusual or unwarranted affliction, and even common afflictions such as anger, depression, or health problems, the ancestors may be the cause.
On the last day of this lunar month (~ Sept. 5, 2013), a final ritual is held as a last chance for the salvation of the ancestors, and unliberated spirits must return to their Hell Realms. Now the gates are closed for another eleven moons / months.
MsSVig
In this Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs an arhat on how to obtain liberation for his mother who had been reborn into a Hell Realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
That date is honored yearly as the Hungry Ghost Festivals, which take place during this 7th lunar month (~ August 7 thru Sept 5, 2013).
Other similar names/rituals : Obon, Chung Yuan, YuLan Pen, Ullambana, Pravarana etc
The entire seventh lunar month is called Ghost Moon, because the doors to the Hell Realms are thrown open, and ghosts (pretas) are free to roam our land of the living.
Three times during this month, religious rituals are performed to counter the danger of suffering spirits and damned souls.
On the first day of Ghost Month every household provides generous offerings of food. Incense sticks, paper clothes, or paper spirit money are burned to send into the invisible dimension. At the entry is hung a paper decoration on which are written auspicious words. At the same time this hospitable attitude is being exhibited, people take good care not to expose themselves to danger.
The Full Moon day of Ghost Month is called Ullambana, which means "deliverance from suffering," and refers to the salvation of anguished souls in Hell. This concept originates from the story in this Ullambara Sutra.
On this Full Moon day (~ Aug. 19-21, 2013), special rituals are performed to cope with the wandering ghosts. Some rituals are motivated by the fear of harm from afflicted spirits, and others by the hope for ancestral blessings. Each culture has its own st
Especially important is holding lineage rituals of charity or exorcism, so that evil and suffering ancestors may cross over to Salvation - potentially breaking the line of suffering that has carried forward into ourselves and our children. Such ancestor ritual is also found in shamanistic practices: if a person suffers from an unusual or unwarranted affliction, and even common afflictions such as anger, depression, or health problems, the ancestors may be the cause.
On the last day of this lunar month (~ Sept. 5, 2013), a final ritual is held as a last chance for the salvation of the ancestors, and unliberated spirits must return to their Hell Realms. Now the gates are closed for another eleven moons / months.
MsSVig