Examine in brief the reasons why the Yulanpen or Ghost Festival becomes so popular in China.
Introduction In Buddhism, “Yu-lan” is a foreign word describing the pitiable fate of those handing upside-down in the subterranean prisons of hell. While “pen” is the Chinese word indicating a bowl or a tray in which offering are placed. Thus, yu-lan-pen usually means the bowl in which are placed offerings to monks given with the intention of rescuing one’s ancestors from the fate of “hanging upside-down” in hell. (Teiser, 1988) Yulanpen Festival is observed as a practice in China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland provinces. In Buddhist tale, the Yulanpen festival was established due to a story of “Mulian rescuing his mother” in which an honorable monk, Mulian, guided by the Buddha to offer fruits and gifts in a bowl to monasteries and monks on the 15th of July in lunar calendar. In such way, Mulian’s mother was rescued and freed from the hungry ghost realm.(佛說盂蘭盆經) Since
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(Chang and Kalmanson, 2010) As an old saying goes, “Piety is the foundation of all virtues” This illustrated the significance of filial piety in Chinese society. Since the origin of Yulanpen festival was a son with filial affection who would do anything to save his mom, the Buddhism tale abided by the traditional ideas of the social context. The Chinese believed that the ceased one also had needs in feeding themselves. Therefore, it was important for the descendants to feed them to avoid their ancestors suffer from hunger to show their respect towards their forebears. Yulanpen festival has also provided a chance for people to feed spirits without heirs in order to prevent them from disturbing their ancestors. Due to the tradition of taking care and respecting of ancestors after their deaths, the Yulanpen festival flourished in the Chinese
I arrived at the Hsi Lai Temple in the city of Hacienda Heights around 3:00 p.m. on March 7, 2014. Although I am Chinese, I have never been to this temple before because my family does not practice Buddhism. This is my first time collecting data about the His Lai Temple. This method is referred to as participant-observation which is, “the anthropological method of collecting data by living with another people, learning their language, and understanding their culture” (Arenson and Miller-Thayer 521). The temple is built on a hill top. After driving up the long hill into the parking lot, I found that before entering the temple, I walked up many stairs. In the brochure For Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple, it said that the name Hsi Lai stands for “coming to the West”. The temple, which was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, signifies the dedication of Taiwan’s largest Buddhist organizations called the Fo Guang Shan. It took ten years to build the temple and was completed in 1988. This $30 million Temple on 15 acres of land was financed by donations from Buddhist devotees from around the worlds.
Ceremonies in the Iu-Mein culture are part of our lives. They are done as often as they are needed, but at least once a year. There are different kinds of ceremonies done for healing when someone is sick, for good luck for the year, weddings, and for death. Iu-Mein's believe in both good and bad spirits. Whenever someone is sick, we believe it is due to a hungry spirit. Our ceremony with the pig or chicken is meant to please the spirit by feeding them, paying them by burning paper "money," and by giving them water. There are all kinds of spirits that can touch a person to make them sick, like parents, grandparents, or any relatives who have passed away.
To begin with, understanding what was happening in China that caused these changes is key. One thing that changed was the opinions of the educated on cultural festivals. These festivals were to "exorcise evil and bring good fortune" (SMCD 112). But in later years, these festivals began to attract thousands of people and participation
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times, or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the Sonqo area.
Vietnamese festival for celebrating the lunar New Year. On the first day of the festival,
Taoism is an ancient Chinese religion, a religion of peace focused on universal balance. The religion itself, though generally surviving today, was almost entirely wiped out in ancient times. Taoism’s primary symbol is still visible on the global market in modern times, though it tends to carry somewhat different meanings then it necessarily did previously. An incredibly life-structure oriented religion, it has permeated through society and is more easily understood through analysis of Taoism’s historical origins and leaders, its types and beliefs, ethics, and the modern influences of Taoism on society.
In the 18th century, China was influenced by various teachings of philosophers and beliefs that the society had placed emphasis on. Filial piety (xiao) was a major practice around this period when it was strongly carried inside and outside the household. Filial piety is not only the guiding principle of Chinese ethics but it also played an affirmative role in determining the Chinese lifestyle; it was practiced daily in the family and in other areas such as education, religion and government. It was the central root of Chinese morals and the society was constructed upon the principles of xiao, which certainly became the premises of Chinese culture and the society. In Confucianism, the approach of respect, fidelity, and care toward one’s parents and elder family members is the origin of individual ethical behaviour and social agreement. One must put the needs of parents and family elders over self, spouse, and children (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011). Many philosophers and rulers such as Mencius and Chu Hsi also focused on filial piety, applying the virtue to marital life, family, death, and politics. Filial piety was demonstrate in various literatures such as “Dream of the Red Chamber”, “Six Records of a Floating Life”, and “The Classic of Filial Piety” which demonstrated the roles of individuals in Chinese society including politics.
JSTOR. Web. 15 May 2014. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Altarpiece Dedicated to Buddha Maitreya (Mile) [China] (38.158.1a-n).
The right explanation of Lao Tzu’s view on filial piety takes into account the concept of nature which is one of the core principles of Taoism. What Lao is really saying in the statement is that any form of filial piety that begins only after a conflict has ...
But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society, especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism opposed to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse of women and children? Rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.
Birth, Death, and Rebirth: Sky Burial and the Cyclical Cosmos of Tibetan Buddhism. n.d. University of Missouri. Web. 2014 February 2014.
“The whole character of Chinese popular religion flows in the direction of plethora of rituals and obligations without much discernable doctrinal underpinning” (Corduan, 2012, p.410). The Chinese popular religion has gravitated away the gods of Buddha and Daoism and captured the philosophy of luck and materialism (Corduan, 2012), while it “is less concerned with philosophical issues and
Xuanzang was a highly educated Buddhist monk from China, who in 629 C.E. made the long and treacherous journey along the Silk Road to India. His main objectives in his sixteen years away from home were fundamentally religious; he only wanted to study more complete scriptures to answer questions he had, which he deemed unsolvable in his own country. It is important to understand Xuanzang’s own position within the Chinese society and the type of situation it was in: Chinese Buddhists had many disagreements
The celebration of a young man entering the adult life is also celebrated within Confucianism. Because the ancestors have such a large importance in Confucian traditions, this family ritual is seen as the presentation of the youth to his ancestors (Oxtoby and Segal 463). Often held for a young man between the ages of fifteen and twenty, this ‘capping’ c...
On the night of October 31 every year, millions of citizens across the United States and elsewhere dress up in costumes to walk down their local neighborhoods asking for candy or “trick-or-treating”. Strangely, Halloween was not always this way. In fact, the origins of Halloween had nothing to do with getting candy or scaring other people. In today’s society, commercialism keeps Halloween alive. Halloween accessories are in stores around September or earlier to encourage widespread purchases of various costumes and candies. In other cultures, there are spiritual celebrations that influenced modern American Halloween. Present Halloween has been influenced by spiritual celebrations of other cultures, historical events, and commercialism.