Chapter 198: Forgetting the Ancestors

I couldn't help but ask the Zen Master, "Old monk, you are a disciple of Buddhism, but according to what you say, the Netherworld does not exist?" ”

Shouwang Zen Master smiled: "It is said that I think, therefore I am, what I see is what I get, because the karma of all beings is different, so the external environment seen is of course very different, for example, for the bowl of water that people see together, for the hellish sentient beings, due to the manifestation of karma, what they see is hot iron juice, and for hungry ghosts, it is filthy pus and blood, and for sentient beings in the heavenly realm, it is the elixir and jade liquid, and the nectar of the nine turns. It's complicated to say, but it's actually a psychological effect, for example, if you girls think a piece of clothing looks good and the other person thinks it's ugly, if there is absolute good or bad in the clothes, then you shouldn't have two different perceptions, but subconscious determinism and so on. By extension, for example, in Buddhism, the world described in the Kusha is not quite the same as the world described in the Kalachakra, and the beings who are the foundation of the Kusha may not necessarily be able to see the world described in the Kalachakra.

For example, the people of the Tang Dynasty will only be able to save ghosts, and Tang Sanzang will only be supernatural and have no supernatural powers, which actually means that they only worship ancestors, and are only under the control of the king of Jizo, and do not believe in Buddhism or immortals. Jizo vows that "hell is not empty and vows not to become a Buddha", here Tang Seng incarnated as the king of Jizo, and exercised his vow to go west to incarnate sentient beings. Therefore, before Journey to the West, Li Shimin, the son of heaven on earth, was taken to the underworld, and his soul was dispersed, and the Dragon King collected debts from him. Later, the Tang Dynasty became attached to the layman, and he also called Sanzang a brother and a brother, which actually means that all beings are equal, which is very similar to the development of our dynasty today. Yin Zhiping's "Ten Songs of Caution in Changchun Palace": The sex is straightforward, and the heart is biased. Good and evil are self-determined, and the discussion is about how to do it. The so-called good debate organ is evil, and there is no contention for a long time. Deception is hell, equality is the ...... of heaven".

Since people believe that yin and yang are separated, heaven and earth, there is naturally a communication between the ancient world and the world of death...... It is even a method that mimics the existence of the Netherworld. It is also known as spiritism, which can be traced back to ancient Persian, Greek, Roman and medieval shamans.

Spiritism can be divided into two branches, one is the spiritist school that summons and dominates ghosts, which is more common; One faction is the Dead Corpse Sect that masters the Great Law of Resurrection of the Dead, and both factions have an inseparable relationship with the forbidden black witchcraft. The Psychics usually use altars and charms to do so, while the Necros use exhumations and robberies to obtain the terrifying mana they need. Psychics are usually surrounded by the horrors of death, they wear clothes stolen from the dead, and they meditate on the meaning of death, and it is impossible to understand the mysteries of spiritism without a certain level of knowledge of the soul and death, and the consequences are very dangerous if they are hastily pursued. Since, under normal circumstances, the dead do not return to the earth, whether in the form of entities or ghosts, if this happens, it must be for a very specific reason. If a living person wants to connect with another world and dominate the soul without heeding the pleas of the dead, be careful to learn about black witchcraft so that you don't become a victim of the wraith!

Initially, those who communicated with psychic spirits were motivated by profit. Because the world believes that it is possible to be omniscient and omniscient after death, psychic summoning the dead is largely employed by those who want to know the location of the treasure, and these summoning rituals are usually performed 12 months after the person's death, because mortals believe that for 12 months after the person's death, the spirit has been wandering near the cemetery and cannot see what the living want. But corpses that are too old are usually not chosen, because in the case of the Necrophy, corpses that are too rotten cannot answer the question clearly. Later, psychics began to summon spirits and corpses to attack others, mostly in ancient Egypt and Greece. For these purposes, it is common to suppress psychic resentment, which requires special spell help, which is usually only possible for very experienced wizards. In the ancient books of wizards in England, there are records of psychics drawing charms on the chests of dead corpses. Sometimes, psychics need to summon powerful demon gods to protect themselves or drive dead bodies and ghosts into obedience. In ancient Greek genealogies, psychics are recorded to have summoned Gore, Persephone, Erisog, Adonis, Hermes, and Toti to protect themselves and control the spirits. In Rome, the depiction of psychic rituals also included burning and blood. In other rituals, psychics eat dog meat that symbolizes the patron saint of Hector Wizards; Also eat uncured and unfermented brown bread, unfermented grape juice, which symbolize decay and death. In continental Europe, the requirements for spiritism rituals are even stricter. The location of the ritual is usually carefully designated in some deserted crossroads, basements, ruins, inaccessible forests, or withered bushes. Once the time of the ritual was decided, concentric circles and indescribable symbols symbolizing power were painted in the venue and given sacred names. The circles were magically cursed, and the psychic's assistant stood at the center of the circle and protected it with magic. In the end, the psychic has the power in his hands and summons the spirits of the underworld.

If successful, the psychic emerges from the circle, and the psychic has to face unbearable screams and terrifying and incomprehensible grumbling from the psychicSometimes, the powerful psychic roars in the circle in the form of monsters, threatening to tear the psychic to pieces! When the psychic finally succumbs to the wizard's feet, it usually transforms into a naked ghost and then answers the wizard's questions and requests. When the séance is over, the spirits usually disappear into the poisonous mist of brimstone, and the dead bodies are burned by the sorcerer with quicklime. Until then, the psychic must remain in the Sacred Circle, and if he has to leave, he must perform some other ritual. The psychic also removes all flowers and plants from the site before and after the ceremony, burns them, and buries their ashes deep in the ground. The entire ritual is fraught with terrifying dangers, and the slightest mistake can lead to the death of the psychic or even permanent trauma to the soul. In the 17th century, the famous Egyptian psychic and prophet Qi Yan Gangji was crushed by resentful spirits because he left the holy circle in a hurry!

And the methods of these Jieling disciples are roughly the same as Buddhism, but they are more like the methods of the church psychic, a very special branch of black witchcraft. The most famous psychic in history is Indar. In the Bible, he summoned the dead prophet Samuel for King Saul and prophesied about King Saul's demise. Also in 1st century Greece, there were the famous psychics Apollonius and Taiana. In 16th-century England, there was John Deyi and his pail assistant Edwood Kelray. In Gaul in the 17th century, there was the great Eliface Levy. He tried to summon the great Apollonius, but was terrified by the spirit of Apollonius! The psychics of this sect use very peculiar black magic. Legend has it that at midnight, the psychic of this sect would recite the Dark Psalms in the cemetery, and the spirits of the dead would rise close to me before scattering into the churchyard. When called, they will weep and sing, and when they disperse, they will command, return to God's appointed kingdom. While the assistant illuminates the ritual of death with a torch, the wizard stands in the cemetery, holding a scepter and reading a mantra at the same time. In the firelight, a freshly summoned psychic could be clearly seen trembling in the white cloth, while the other two wizards were holding spells to protect themselves in the Sacred Circle! ”

My heart fluttered and I asked, "Does their sadhana have anything to do with the number 3?" ”

The watchman shook his head: "For psychic, only the numbers 9 and 13 are extremely meaningful. 9 represents the nine realms through which the soul passes from birth to death in ancient beliefs. 13 represents the Son's Last Supper and His resurrection. …… These black witchcraft do not have the concept of the underworld and the eighteen layers of hell, only the embodiment of hell on earth. In Voodoo, the corpse is resurrected in the form of Baronsa Madi, a ragged zombie god. In Haiti, the psychic corpse is performed in the incarnation of Daddy Naib, the father of death, in which white wax is dripped on the feet and lips of the corpse, the psychic wears a monk's robe, wears a silver hat, and the charm of Daddy Naib hangs on the cross. When the sorcerer's robe and hat vibrate, it proves that Balonzamadi has been awakened and the ritual has been successful. This is the reason why spiritism is spurned, in addition to its improper purpose, the most outrageous thing is that in rituals, dead corpses are often used as raw materials for the things used in the magic.

In fact, sacrificing ancestral spirits and the dead is by no means a ritual unique to the Han people, and others have the same habit. In addition to China, Japan, and several other Asian countries affected by the Chinese meme, the people of the ancestors and the dead are very serious about worshiping the spirits of their ancestors, other places such as Tianzhu, Egypt, Persia, Rome, Heila, ancient Babylon, Africa, Europe, America, Australia, etc., have either worshiped the dead in ancient times, or some places still maintain this custom today. But spiritism believes that dead bodies that have died or died in violence are the best medicine! Because they think that such dead people have more unused life energy. In the witchcraft of the ancient Norsemen, the strongest psychic could even resurrect someone who had just died on the gallows! The 16th-century inquisitor Paulus Greylandius recorded that psychics used charred fragments of dead bodies, especially small pieces of fingernails or teeth, ear or eye muscles, bones, or fresh flesh of those who had been hanged and humiliated, and that some psychics had the practice of eating corpses, especially unbaptized infants. So at that time there were a lot of graves that were stolen. The most famous case in history was that of Alice Gtiller, an Irish female psychic, who was prosecuted for stealing and using the hair and skulls of dead bodies, saying that the moss growing on the heads of dead bodies was very precious to psychicists. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a large number of psychics were inevitably targeted. The church shouted that they were servants of the devil, and the biblical description of Indar proved that psychics were a symbol of destruction. Psychicists, on the other hand, have been arguing about the distinction between the undead and the devil. In the occult, the spirits of all dead people can be called dead spirits, which may include the spirits of their ancestors, parents, uncles, and ...... Even the ghosts of their own siblings, children, friends, celebrities and heroes in the country. The term "ancestors" of course refers only to the spirits of one's own ancestors, and in the occult, the term "cult of the dead" is often used to include all the spirits of the dead who are worthy of one's worship or longing. Ancestor worship is commonly known as ancestor worship, as strictly speaking, it only refers to the worship of ancestral spirits. But in fact, in all ethnic groups in the world, whenever they worship their ancestors, they not only worship ancestral spirits, but also include all the undead spirits related to themselves, so "ancestor worship" can also be called undead worship, and "undead worship" also includes ancestor worship.

The ancient Babylonians regarded the spirits of the dead as a kind of evil spirit, and they were terrible ghosts who were jealous of the living and haunted the living, so they always offered food and other comforts to the spirits of the dead. The Babylonians also called the spirit that wandered near the grave, and believed that there was a spirit in all living creatures. The ancient Egyptians also divided the spirits into three categories, among which the equivalent of the Babylonians, the soul of the person after death is called, this shape is like a heron, and it is the main body that lives in the kingdom of God. But not only the spirits of the dead, but also many gods in the heavens, but the spirits of the gods are also called. The purpose of this person to become a god when he dies is the same as in Tianzhu and Japan. The above Babylonian and Egyptian multi-soul tenets are very similar to the Chinese's "three souls and seven souls" theory. In fact, among many ethnic groups in ancient times, it was believed that the spirits of the dead were plural and scattered everywhere, such as at the bedside of the dead, in the grave, on the top of the forest, watching over their offspring, in the underworld, or in heaven as a god. According to the report, the gods that people worship are actually their ancestors. The relics of the ancestors have become "curses" with some kind of power and are worshiped by the living, and the name of the god called among them means "dead". The chieftain often prayed and cried out during the worship of his ancestors, "O dear my ancestors! Please eat these things and bless our children! The tribes of Africa thought that the "sneezing" was the arrival of the ancestral spirit, and they felt that they were blessed by their ancestors and were very happy. Chinese and Japanese people think that sneezing is someone talking about themselves, either praising or criticizing. Not only did the sect rise from the worship of their ancestors, but even their daily virtues were prescribed by the worship of ancestral spirits, and the people of this clan often cried out, "O spirit of my ancestors! Please help me! "It's a bit like a Chinese who call the Emperor and the spirits of dead parents to save me when they are in a hurry. It is no wonder that some of the occult sages in England advocated that the cult of the dead or ancestor worship was the origin of all religions, but I do not think this is an absolute doctrine. Others, such as the natives of Australia, the natives of New Guinea, and the Indians of the Americas, still mostly keep the customs of ancestral spirit worship.

In ancient China, when worshipping ancestors, they often invited their juniors to sit in the high hall, dress up as ancestors, and enjoy meals, which is called "standing corpses", which is very similar to Tianzhu customs. The ancient Persians called their ancestors their guardian spirits, who would bring their children and grandchildren home victorious in times of war. In agricultural affairs, it promotes smooth wind and rain and a bumper harvest of grains. In the family, protect the prosperity of the family, from generation to generation. At the end of the year in the Persian calendar, the living also remember their ancestors, so during the period from March 10 to 20 in the solar calendar, it is believed that the ancestral spirits will return to their hometown from that world. So at this time, the children and grandchildren were busy preparing food and clothing for the deceased, just like the Chinese held the Obon Festival. But when the sacrifice was over, the ritual of sending out the spirits of the dead was held as usual, and they were invited to go back so as not to cause trouble in their hometown. The ancient Romans also regarded the ancestral spirit as a member of the family, and recognized the rights of the deceased, the ancestral spirit is a family god, every February 10 to the twenty-first day, the ancestral spirit festival is held in the people, the last day is the national holiday, in these 11 days, every family chooses the appropriate day to go to the grave, in front of the tomb roses and violets, offering milk, oil, honey and so on. At this time, the living sat down to eat and drink at the grave, believing that the ancestral spirits also participated in the meal. On the twenty-second day, the Romans were invited to eat, drink, and merry with the living. From this, we can know that ancestor worship is also related to the "blood" between families, so that children and grandchildren can also be united. It seems that the stronger the family system, the more prosperous ancestor worship is, and the Romans, like the Chinese, do not forget to provide for those so-called wandering souls and lonely souls who have no children and grandchildren and are hungry for food. On the 11th and 13th, the Lonely Soul Festival is specially established for this purpose, which is similar to the Chinese "Hungry Ghosts". The ancient Greeks also had the custom of sacrificing to the dead. On the twelfth day of the month, when the new wine is opened, not only the adults salivate and rejoice, but also the children do not go to school and eat and drink together at home. But on the thirteenth day of the next day, the joy suddenly disappeared, and it was replaced by a miserable worship of the ancestors, and the departed spirits who were invited home with food, wine, and fruits were arranged. After the sacrifice, the parents trembled and shouted to the ancestral spirits, "O souls! Please get out! It's over! "The indigenous people of Siberia also often think of the dead and often put their leftover food in their backyards to feed them. In addition, before the forage is harvested, a large feast for the deceased is held as usual, and at this time, one or more tableware of the deceased is placed on the table, and after the parents or elders pray, the right hand holds up a cup full of wine and addresses the deceased: "Father, mother, and uncle who have lived in this world...... Children...... please all come and eat and drink what you like best! And please protect our children, and point to the attendees, health! "It's interesting to worship the ancestors who sit with the dead and look at the ancestral spirits. The life and myths of the early pioneers of Siberia have rarely survived. Several groups of people appear to have migrated to that vast area, including some of the Central Asian ethnic groups called Aryans or Durans, and the Sillian of the Finno-Ugric people. There are some remnants of iron tools and a small number of Turkic-Nigerien inscriptions. In fact, the name "Sibe" appears as a major capital on the so-called 1367 old map. The term "Novosibirsk" refers to those ethnic groups who first arrived from Central Asia or Eastern Europe, but have inhabited Siberia for at least nearly a thousand years. Siberian mythology is scarce, but the Siberians seem to believe in a kind of animistic religion, in which the Yellow Monk or Spell Master plays an important role. Their beliefs involve some kind of chaotic supernatural force, but the influence of animism is great, and even the shadows on the walls have their tribes and areas where they live and hunt. The rays of the rainbow and the sun have "masters" who dwell on these bright arches and descend to the earth at will. A stone has a "sound", and a stone can roll down a hill to crush a person it resents. With such a strong animistic belief, it is no wonder that the dead played many important roles in their mythology.

Since most of the ancient people believed that the spirits of the dead were filthy, but terrifying, and should be respected, there were various rituals of sending spirits out among all ethnic groups, and the habit of clearing rooms and houses, and the Chinese were no exception. Ordinary people set up a special feast to worship the ancestral spirits and the undead, and everyone dared to eat and drink with the dead spirits during the sacrifice? The adults all retreated, and the children were terrified, because if the feast was disturbed, or if the children touched the chair on which the ancestral spirit was sitting, they would invite trouble. The primitive people's concept of the horror of the dead is still faintly visible here.

After centuries of struggle, psychics finally evolved into the psychics they are today, thus escaping persecution from the church. Not only that, but psychics are further worshipped and accepted by the media. The more famous psychics in modern times include Joseph Granwell, Dr. Francis von Helmet, Dr. Henry Anubis, Robt Boyle, etc. In today's European countries, because most of the people believe in Nestorian religion and worship one god, everyone no longer holds any ancestral worship ceremonies. But before the people of Europe accepted Nestorianism, they probably held the worship of the dead like other primitive peoples. Judging from the "All Saints' Day" and "All Souls' Day" that are still alive today, it is more or less possible to prove it. In today's Europe, November 1 is celebrated as the "Feast of All Saints", which has been celebrated by the Roman Church since the ninth century. The Church of England also celebrates this day on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The so-called All Saints' Day is to commemorate the dead saints in Nestorianism, although it is not as powerful as the worship of ancestors, but it is still inevitable to commemorate the concept of the dead. This All Saints' Day is probably a change from the belief of worshipping ancestors in ancient times. In addition to All Saints' Day, there is also "All Souls' Day" in the Catholic Church, which is celebrated on November 2 and the following day if it falls on a Sunday. On this day, just as the Chinese monks were exceeding the dead from hell on Obon, the Church of Rome was allowed to celebrate three masses to pray for the souls of those who had fallen into purgatory. The purpose of this purgatory is very similar to the "bardo theory" of our Buddhism, which is that a person is placed in the stage before reincarnation for 7749 days after death, and if he can be exceeded, he can be saved, but most monks today interpret this transcendence as to comfort the living, not the dead. Since the 10th century, the celebration of All Souls' Day has been celebrated in the homes of fellow Benedictine monks in Gaul and northern Italy. It was later imitated by the Church of Rome since the 14th century. Since 1915, three Masses have been allowed to be celebrated on All Souls' Day. On this day, in addition to preaching in the church, and sweeping the grave, there are various practices in various places. When candles are lit in front of the tomb and the cross is burned, it is reminiscent of the Obon Festival. Teruhiro Watanabe, a professor at Toyo University in Japan, thought that this Halloween's Day was not originally a Nestorian festival, but a folk belief, and unconsciously, the ancient folk rituals finally ran into Nestorian Christianity, and became a form of remnants in the church.

On the contrary, we have forgotten our ancestors. When it comes to the ancestor worship of the Chinese, everyone already knows, it seems unnecessary to say more, when the ancient Tianzhu people worshiped the ancestral spirit or the undead, unlike us Chinese who only bowed down to the invisible snort, the Tianzhu people first chose three living Brahmin monks as the agents of the ancestral spirit or the undead, and the parents gave all the food and gifts that should be provided to the ancestral spirit to these three monks, which is considered to have been accepted by the ancestral spirit. But these three people were forbidden to eat and drink with their friends, and after the sacrifice, the Brahmin monks were subjected to various "taboos". The custom of using monks as agents of the dead, or giving a portion of food to monks during sacrifices, can be found in similar traces among the various ethnic groups of the world, perhaps related to the lives of monks who did not actually engage in productive labor. In our country, tomb sweeping and ancestor worship are held roughly in addition to the four times of Qingming, Obon, winter solstice, and the day of the deceased's life. Except for a few families who diligently offered food and drink in front of the tablet of the deceased every day, most of the other families did not worship their ancestors except on these four occasions. Except for these four times, the ancestral spirits and the undead do not seem to need earthly fireworks. Needless to say, the ancestor worship of the Chinese is mainly rooted in the Confucian filial piety and folk belief legends, as well as the Chinese family blood relationship, when China entered the civilization dynasty, the Confucian "filial piety classic" came out, and the Confucian filial piety purpose was widely promoted, the ancestor worship of the Chinese has gradually progressed to the point of worshipping ancestors because of longing to follow the distant ancestors. However, in some places, there is still no complete departure from the concept of fear of the dead, as the folkloric sages said. Regardless of whether the author of the Book of Filial Piety is Confucius, Zengzi, or other people's various opinions on Zengzi's teachings, etc., the last chapter of the Book of Filial Piety clearly tells the living what their responsibilities are to the dead. "Zi said, the bereavement of the filial son, crying and not complying, the etiquette is dead, the words are not literate, the beauty is uneasy, the music is not happy, the food is unwilling, and this mourning is also ,...... Spring and Autumn sacrifices, thinking about it, loving and respecting it when it is born, mourning for life, fulfilling the foundation of the people, preparing for the friendship of death and life, and ending the matter of filial piety. "The Book of Filial Piety", Chapter 18 of the Bereavement Chapter. However, although Confucianism advises people to think about the spring and autumn sacrifices, it does not say where the dead are now, or where they will come from to enjoy the human sacrifices. This problem can only be solved by leaving it to Buddhism.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the rise of Esoteric Buddhism, the widespread practice of the Bon Festival by Buddhism, and the promotion of the six reincarnations, the underworld and hell and other purposes, the Chinese people in the always indifferent ceremonies of the dead and the ancestor worship ceremony of thinking about relatives and praying for blessings, were added to the Mu Lian to save the mother, and the holding of the Bon Festival can save the ancestral spirit from the suffering of hanging upside down in hell, which has the mysterious color of religious nature and awakening effect. Professor Watanabe said, "During the Tang Dynasty, the luxurious rituals and styles of Esoteric Buddhism were imported into China, and they also influenced the style of ceremonies for the dead. However, because the Chinese have always respected the funeral rites of their ancestors, the funeral rites of Buddhism have not been generalized for a long time. When it was popularized among the people, it was probably after the Song Dynasty! Not to be outdone in the matter of ancestor worship, China's Dandao also hurriedly formulated the "Zhongyuan Festival" in order to compete with the Buddhist Bon Festival. Dan Daodao, the fifteenth day of the first month is the Shangyuan, which is the day of giving the heavenly official Ziwei Emperor and judging the blessings and disasters of the world, and the 15th day of July is the Zhongyuan, which is the day of forgiving the sins of the local official Qingxu Emperor and supervising the sins of the world, and October 15 is the next yuan, which is the day of the Emperor Dongyin of the Emperor of the Water Guan, who inspects the world. Dandao was originally a festival to worship the gods during the midyear festival, but later it became the day when the deceased came to the middle of the year for the yin birth, as well as the worship of the dead and ancestor worship of ghosts, inviting ghosts, and giving ghosts. This is probably because Dan Dao is trying to suit the appetite of a people. In Japan, the Midyear Festival is a festival where people exchange gifts, just like the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is not given. The belief that the ghost door will be opened on the first day of the seventh month and closed on the twenty-ninth day of July is originally a Chinese folk legend, and the fire was lit in front of the door on July 13 to welcome the undead back, and the fire was used to send the dead back on July 16, which originated from the "Zhou Li". Undoubtedly, the rest of the ancient religion is the same as that of other races in ancient times, who believed that the spirits of the dead would return at some time, welcome them, and send them back. ”

Shouwang Zen Master's words are a little nostalgic: "And the 30th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is a folk festival: "Luosu Festival", which is also a sectarian festival: "Jizo Festival". "Luosu" is the common name of eggplant, and the 30th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is its festival because of its auspicious name. Eggplant alias Luosu, "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that "eggplant, a Luosu, the name is unknown, according to the "Five Generations of Yizi Record" as cheese crisp, cover with its taste like cheese crisp, Yu Yi seems to be clear". The Song Dynasty's "Records of the Discussion of the Water Swallow" said that it was because of the taboo of King Qian, and the eggplant in Shanghai is still called Luosu. It is also said that it was to avoid the suspicion of the son of King Wu during the Warring States period. The son of King Wu Lu has a lame leg, and the eggplant sound is the same as that of a lame man, and he was renamed Luosu by King Wu in order to avoid suspicion.

This day is also the Buddha Gate Jizo Festival. It is said that the 30th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the birthday of the Bodhisattva of Jizo, and when the Bodhisattva did not ascend to heaven, he was full of kindness to help the suffering, and finally gave all his possessions and clothes to the poor, so that he could only burrow into the ground with his eyes closed. But on the occasion of the 30th birthday of the seventh lunar month, King Jizo Bodhisattva will open his eyes, and the kind people he sees will be safe and happy all year round. The association between the two customs is manifested in the "Luosu lantern". During the worship, the eggplant is filled with sticks of incense and lined up under the eaves, which is also called "Luosu lantern", and the sound of "falling comfortably and comfortably" is taken. Whether it is used to worship heaven and earth or worship Jizo, it is the will of the common people to pray for good luck. During the period of Tang Suzong to De, the Venerable Mulian crossed the sea to Qingyang Jiuhua, ate white soil, died at the age of ninety, and managed the ten halls of Yama for the King of the Dizang Bodhisattva, and the King of the Dizang Bodhisattva managed the ten halls of Yama, and had great compassion, and opened the ghost door from the first day of July to the end of the month every year to let the ghosts come out and accept the worship of the world, in fact, the era of the Venerable Mulian was more than 1,000 years away from the time of the Tang Suzong, how could there be a reason ......for the Venerable Mulian to come to Jiuhua. "The Obon Sutra and the Obon Society play the most important role in the ancestor worship of the Chinese. At that time, it was said that all the dead spirits had to come back from hell to reunite with their families, and almost every household set up a banquet to worship the dead spirits, and several or dozens of families joined forces to invite monks and Taoists to come to hold various sects to perform acts to surpass the dead spirits. On every street in Hangzhou, you can see all kinds of paper clothes and trousers and high platforms for monks. During this Halloween, children are forbidden to play alone at night to avoid being harmed by evil spirits. As for the meaning of the "Obon Sutra", according to Buddhism, Mulian, one of the ten disciples of the Buddha, one day when she was looking at the location of her dead mother with her divine powers, for some unknown reason, she fell into hell and suffered from hanging upside down. Seeing this, Mulian was shocked and saddened, and immediately asked the Buddha for advice on how to save her mother. The Buddha replied, "Mother's suffering from upside-down hanging is due to the act of greed in her lifetime, and you must accumulate good deeds on your mother's behalf that will save you from this suffering realm." For this reason, one can make an offering of food and drink with all the bhikshus on the 15th day of the seventh month of each year, and ask for sutras, so that the merit can be saved. Mulian did so, and her mother was finally saved. It is said that this is the story of Mulian's mother and the basis for holding the Obon Festival, but this "Obon Sutra" has long been recognized as an apocrypha by Japanese sages, and was written by Chinese or Chinese and Indian monks in cooperation to cater to the purpose of filial piety of the Chinese. According to the Sanskrit name of "Bon Sutra", it is said that it was translated by the Western Jin Dynasty Zhu Dharma Protector but has been lost in the collection of the Three Tibetan Records, but there are two similar translations in the Buddhist Sutra, "Repay Grace and Bon Sutra" is lost, and "Big Basin Pure Land Sutra" see Fayuan Zhulin 62. The latter is probably a variant of the Bon Sutra. According to the "Great Dictionary of Buddhism" written by Dr. Nobuhiro Mochizuki and others, the Bon is a Sanskrit word that has the meaning of "hanging upside down". In the Tang Dynasty, the Great Mercy and Grace Temple Xuanying also advocated that "Obon" was a false word in the "All the Sutras and Meanings" written by Feng Yu in the last years of Zhenguan. In other words, it should be called the bird Lan Pona, which is translated as hanging upside down...... In the old days, it was said that the meaning of the bowl was a vessel for storing food, but it was a mistake "Yun Yun Press: "All the Sutras and Meanings" in a total of twenty-five volumes, which corrected four or five eight scriptures and laws, translated Sanskrit, and commented on difficult words and phrases and names. It turns out that the word "Obon" is really transliterated from the Chinese pronunciation of "basin". According to Ikeda's research, it is equivalent to a basin, so there is no such thing as a "vessel" or "storage". The third one of the "Sect Studies", "About the Bon Sutra", in the different translation of "Repay the Favor and Serve the Bon Sutra", it only says that "the world is sweet to support the monks", and there is no "in the basin". Again. This translation uses the epilogue "All the bhikshus of Mulian are happy to practice", and the "Bon Sutra" also uses the epilogue "All the great bodhisattvas of this meeting are happy, and the mournful cry of Mulian is relieved and extinguished, and the mother of Shimu Lian will be freed from all the suffering of hungry ghosts one day." But after the conclusion of the form of this sutra, it is repeated: "Then the Mulian repeats the words of the Buddha,...... In the end of the world, sweet and sweet, in the Bon and so on. It turns out that in China's Buddhism, there have been many scriptures written by anonymous people that do not conform to the purpose of Buddhism, and the Buddhist scriptures of Tianzhu do not have the author's name except for Tibet, and the content of these things mostly reconciles and compromises the three religions and folk beliefs, and Buddhism calls this "apocryphal scripture". Before the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were twenty-six and thirty volumes of the Apocrypha, and after the dynasties, the Apocrypha was still increasing unabated, more and more, and even when the Tang Dynasty had monks such as Men and Zhisheng came out to sort out and distinguish the authenticity. During the Tang Zhenguan period, there were more than 400 apocryphal scriptures, more than 1,500 volumes, for details, please refer to the clumsy book "Studies in Buddhism", Chapter 5, Section 5-2. Although most of the Japanese Buddhist sages today consider the Bon Sutra to be a pseudo-scripture and not a source of the original Tianzhu, most Buddhist disciples in China still do not study it, and use it as a "canon" and as the basis for the Bon Festival. It is not certain that this sutra was co-authored by a Tianzhu monk and a Chinese monk, or that it was written by a Chinese monk who was proficient in Sanskrit. "It is a disciple of the Buddha who cultivates filial piety, and should remember his parents and even the parents of the seventh generation in his mind, and on July 15 of every year, he often uses filial piety to his parents as a Bon to give Buddha and monks to repay the grace of his parents." After all, Shakyamuni's order was a collection of pure practitioners and had nothing to do with idolatry, and this was due to the sincere religious attitude of the people who followed the Buddha, and it was able to maintain this purely because of the dynastic circumstances of antiquity. It turns out that the Tianzhu people, individuals or dynasties, need to teach rituals in various opportunities, and if they are missing, they simply can't live. For this purpose, there is a hereditary profession of the Brahmins. Therefore, in the rituals of the sect, the Buddhist monks were not asked at all. ”

The so-called number of books forget the ancestors, because in the original Buddhist order of Shakya, it was strictly forbidden to hold religious rituals for the dead, but since the death of the Buddha, the atheistic theories of later generations could not meet the needs of the people of Tianzhu who believed in multiple gods and ghosts, and the rituals related to death gradually entered the Buddhist order. In any case, there is no objective evidence that there was ever a Bon festival in Shakya's order, such as that of the Chinese one. In the ancient days of Tianzhu, there was this kind of festival originated before the birth of the Buddha Shakya, the meaning is to celebrate peace, that is, in the rainy period has been spent safely, and to enter the dry season, to start the celebration of activities according to the old Tianzhu April to July for the rainy period, and when the Buddha is alive, add Ananda and say please see the Bon Sutra, and the lotus said, and the formation of the Bon festival is to affirm the Buddha's filial piety and alms to the Buddha and the Sangha, with a pot of five fruits and a variety of daily necessities to the Sangha of the festival, Its intention is to sacrifice greed and filial piety to one's parents, and when this act spreads to our China, its purpose is disguised. Suppose that there was such a festival in Tianzhu and that there was also this Bon Sutra, but this is completely different from the nature of today's Chinese Bon Festival, and it is already 108,000 miles away from this "canon", and this "disguise" seems to be too powerful! Rather than calling it "disguised", it is better to honestly say that the Obon Sutra and the Obon Festival cater to the bones of the Chinese, and they are all things born in China! The belief that the ancestral spirits and the undead have nothing to do with Buddhism has nothing to do with Buddhism, and from the beginning of July to the end of July every year, the ghost gate is opened to let the ghosts come out to be supported by the world, which has nothing to do with ......Buddhism at all. In the end, this is an ancient folk belief that should not be pushed to Buddhism.

However, since the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism has been pushing boats along the river, in order to meet the needs of the general people, and actually relied on this Bon Sutra as the basis, attracted the legend of the folk to open and close the ghost door, and on July 15, it carried out all kinds of so-called rituals to save the dead. To this day, most Chinese people are still kept in the dark, and every time during the Obon Festival, they routinely invite monks to overtake some Buddhist monks for the souls of the dead, although they know that this excess is useless, but they will be wrong and wrong, in order to earn living expenses, but they never dreamed that this original has nothing to do with Buddhism, not only the spirits of ancestors and deceased people cannot be rescued from hell, but they also waste a lot of effort and money in vain! Today, many monks mostly explain that reciting sutras for the dead is not to surpass the dead, but to let the relatives and friends of the deceased become more diligent in the Buddhist path and achieve liberation, but ordinary people do not think so, since they are not for the dead, why spend money to ask people to recite sutras? The Bon Festival began in China in the fourth year of Emperor Wu of Liang's reign in 538, and it is said that the Bon Festival was first set up in Tongtai Temple, and in the early Tang Dynasty, this method has been widely spread between the government and the people. The well-documented origin of the Bon Festival in China is the origin of the Bon Festival held on July 15 in the first year of the Tang Dynasty Emperor Zong Calendar, 766, and the Bon Holy Meeting held at Zhangjing Temple on July 15. Zong Huai, a senior monk of the Liang Dynasty, said: "According to the Jingchu Chronicle, on July 15, monks and nuns held a bon ceremony on this day." The Liang dynasty lasted from 502 to 557. Belong to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, about 200 years away from the Tang Dynasty, "July Bingshu, out of the Lan will give Zhang Jing Temple, set up seven temples and gods, the book number on the flag, a hundred officials welcome in the Guangshun Gate, since the years are normal. This July refers to the seventh month of the first year of the Tang Dynasty Sect 766 – Gong, the Buddhist Esoteric monk Bukong Vajra focused on the Jingjiao prayer for the dead, and in 766 began the puja for the dead, and the Bon ceremony also began. During the Liang Dynasty, there may have been a Bon festival in the Buddhist monastery, but it was not noticed at all. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that it was encouraged by Taizong to first implement it in various palaces, and then gradually spread to the people, which may have been the Song Dynasty at this time. Although the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was lenient with all sects, including the Jingjiao and Zoroastrian sects, all the sects seemed to have become the imperial supplies of the imperial family, and all the sects had to pray for the emperor's blessings. In the early years of Tianbao in 742, Tang Xuanzong ordered the general Gao Lishi to go to the Jingjiao temple to enshrine the portraits of five emperors, including Taizong, Gaozong, Zhongzong, Ruizong, and Xuanzong. Xuanzong also respected ancestors and was happy for himself, so he probably enshrined the portrait of the emperor in the monasteries of Chang'an at that time. Four years later, in the fifth year of Tianbao in 746, the esoteric monk Bukong King Kong brought about 500 esoteric scriptures from Tianzhu and other countries to Chang'an, and added mysterious spells to Buddhism. In the first year of Shangyuan, in 760, when Tang Suzong was in power, he built a dojo in Daxing Temple, held a ritual to relieve disasters and gain benefits, and prayed for the destruction of the county and the holy longevity. The purpose of praying for the dead was ripe at this time, and if it were not for the mysterious, unpredictable, multi-god and ghostly esoteric purpose of the Vajra, perhaps the Bon Festival would not have been so popular in China. Because the teachings of Tiantai Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, which were the most powerful in the Tang Dynasty, were incompatible with the content of the Chinese Bon Festival. As for the doctrine of Vajra praying for the dead from Jingjiao, and then starting the doctrine of the Bon Festival, it is extremely valuable for research. In other words, we may now say that the festival of the Bon Festival originated in the Tang Dynasty and was common in the Song Dynasty, so it is probably not too wrong. About 600 years have passed since the beginning of this Bon festival and when it first entered China, according to Buddhism, in the 67th year of the era, Buddhism entered China, at least during this long time, our ancestors did not know what Bon was. Of course, there is no need to say it before the Han Dynasty, of course, they did not invite monks on July 15 at all, to spend time for their ancestral spirits and undead spirits.

But I just remember when I was a child, my brother and I spent the "Luosu Festival" together, and we children were most concerned about the Luosu lantern. The so-called Luosu lamp is to dig a hole in the Luosu and insert a small candle in it, which becomes a Luosu lamp. The children gathered together, bigger than their lamps, or chased, or excited, or screamed, or frolicked, and went from house to house, and suddenly a gust of wind blew, and if the lamps were blown out, a burst of panicked cries broke out in the laughter. At that time, the old husband and the old woman used incense to make "heaven", "earth", "blessing", "longevity" and so on in the empty yard in front of the door. Each word is as big as a table, and I can't stop praying for words like "respect for heaven" and "respect for earth." In the evening breeze, thousands of heads are crowded, like starlight in the sky, and sometimes hearty laughter floats away from afar, like ripples in the surface of a calm lake. The night is filled with the warmth and nostalgia of thousands of lights. Therefore, we may say that the ancestor worship of Chinese today is produced by the combination of Confucianism, Dandao, Buddhism, ancient folk beliefs, and other legends. From the standpoint of "occultism", it is perhaps the most complex form of ancestor worship and ghost worship.

Why did people around the world in ancient times, including the Chinese, worship their ancestors or the spirits of the dead? In this regard, according to the new psychology that has only been developed in modern times, ancient people believed that dreams of meeting distant relatives and friends during sleep, as well as epilepsy or diseases that caused a state of absence, or other mental illnesses, were caused by another spiritual activity in the physical body. Ancient people felt that death was even more mysterious and incredible, if it was not the spirit body that left the body, what was it? This kind of thinking led to the creation of the purpose of the soul and the spirit. The advent of the gods believed in the primitive people, the induction of the gods, the exorcism of evil spirits, and the phenomenon of taboos also came into being. The natives of Australia believe that children are the result of the actions of the elves. In Chinese folklore, it is said that unfilial children and evil wives are reincarnated by some evil spirit to take revenge on themselves. In old novels, it is often recorded that a soul has been reincarnated several times and becomes someone or someone, which already contains the purpose of reincarnation in Buddhism. As soon as primitive people believed in the existence of spirits in the universe, the worship of ancestral spirits and necromancy also arose. It turned out that the most primitive primitive people believed that the sun, moon and stars, mountains, rivers, plants and trees, fish, insects, birds and beasts were all capable things, and the people directly bowed down to them, and at this time they could not distinguish the existence of things and spirits. Later, with a little progress, primitive people no longer worship these things directly, but worship these things or a part, the "spirits" inside or behind them, which is called "idolatry". It is said that when the primitive people had the consciousness of being able to distinguish between "spirit" and "matter", they extracted the elves from the worship of animism and worshiped them individually or collectively, and the worship of ancestral spirits and undead spirits was born. It is also strange to say that China, which has a high degree of meme, still retains this incantation worship belonging to the primitive people among many people, with mountains and rivers, strange trees and strange stones, and the bones of the dead...... And so on, all of them are flourishing and widely worshipped.

At the same time, most of the ancient people had a sense of fear of the dead, and they thought that the dead were jealous of the living, and that the dead would harm the living. All diseases, pains, and unfortunate events are caused by the undead behind the scenes, and it is believed that some kind of spirit is the result of a rage. Tianzhu's outer path of the Buddha Gara Guda Kajanyan actually advocated that when the "free heaven" is happy, all sentient beings are happy, and when the "free heaven" is angry, the sentient beings are distressed, and all the good and bad are the actions of the "free heaven", especially when they encounter unnatural and dead spirits, such as being killed, committing suicide, or dying suddenly, they all become evil spirits, and the evil spirits will not only harm the other party before death, but also harm the third party, because he is not satisfied with his death. Out of fear, fearing the harm done by the dead, the living have to try to curry favor with the dead, offer food, and so on, in order to be safe. This is not only for the sake of the deceased having something to eat and drink, but also for the safety and happiness of the living themselves. When a person dies and comes out of the coffin, he immediately sprinkles salt all over the house, sweeps the house with a broom, and invites priests, monks, and Taoists, etc., and it is believed that the reason for the dislike of the dead and the fear of the return of the dead is due to the fear of the return of the dead. When the coffin is carried to the cemetery in his own home, he often has to go around the street before going to the cemetery, which is also because he is afraid that the dead will recognize the way and return to his hometown. Among primitive peoples, and even in some places today, the spirits of the dead are mostly thought of as filthy and terrible.

Of course, although the ancestral spirits and the undead are terrible, even filthy, but they are worthy of love, after a period of time after death, the undead will lose their personality and become "ancestral spirits", and then become the guardian saint of the family and the country, bless the happiness and safety of the children and grandchildren. At a certain time, the spirits of the dead will return, and the children and grandchildren will prepare food and drink to make offerings to the spirits of the ancestors so that they will be happy. At this time, the ancestral spirit has become a "power" that is beneficial to people. Whenever children and grandchildren travel far away, or make new plans for the future, or encounter unexpected problems that cannot be solved rashly, they often ask this "power" for shelter, guidance, and good advice. In the ancestor worship ceremony of the Chinese, there are more components of this prayer, and the meaning of the one-way offering to the dead is different from the Egyptians, the Chinese pray more to the ancestral spirit, ask for shelter, and regard the ancestral spirit as a "power", probably because before the introduction of Buddhism into China, the people did not have any specific enough "gods" to worship, and had to concentrate all their energy on the dead spirit. Therefore, the ancestral spirits of the Chinese have sometimes taken the place of "gods" and almost hold the power to control life and death. However, when the original atheistic Buddhism gave rise to beliefs such as Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Sui and Tang dynasties, most of the people who had never relied on the religion turned from humanism to these Buddhist "gods". The so-called "every family of Buddha, every household Guanyin" worship belief in Chinese folk popularization, in fact, there is also its biggest reason! Probably the more in the highly memetic dynasty, the less the fear of the dead, rather, at this time, ancestor worship contains more of the concept of "dear admiration" for ancestors, and when people's meta-consciousness is opened, the explanation of death, illness, misfortune and other events is also different from that of primitive people, thinking that although their beloved parents and relatives and friends are dead, they will come to haunt me? However, this is only part of the opinion, and to this day, even among the Chinese, there is a faint residual fear of the undead. One can see this by looking at the actions of asking monks and Taoists to exorcise evil spirits after death, and trying to drive away demons after the Obon Festival. Although the commonalities of ancestor worship rituals are not the same, they can be found in the ancestor worship rituals between ethnic groups. Almost all ethnic groups have legends that ancestral spirits will return at a certain time, and their descendants will set up feasts to worship them at this time. The children and grandchildren also set the most appropriate days of the year to visit the graves of the deceased, and these dates were mostly chosen during the important festivals in agriculture, such as the bright spring, the crisp autumn, the new wine, the autumn harvest, and the end of the year. Anyone who welcomes ancestral spirits and the spirits of the dead to come back and enjoy the fireworks on earth is not welcome to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives. After worshipping the ancestors, they quickly sent the spirits back by various means, so that they would not be unfavorable to the living at home? The so-called "purification" takes place at this time. When the spirits of the dead are welcomed, alms are given to the hungry ghosts at the same time, not so much to sympathize with the lack of food and to comfort them, but rather to fear that the fierce hungry spirits will set up another altar because they are jealous of the spirit, or hinder him from entering the house, or take something to eat. This is not only practiced in China and Japan, but also in other parts of the world. At the same time, when welcoming and sending off ancestors, the thing "fire" is indispensable everywhere. Since ancient times, "fire" has been believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits, and through fire, all kinds of food and tools can be delivered to the gods or the dead. For the undead, fire has the effect of shining and shining from darkness to light. Therefore when a man dies, he puts a lamp beside his head and feet, so that he does not walk in darkness, and when he welcomes the deceased home, he is mostly brought back by fire, so that he does not go the wrong way. And when he was sent back, he used fire again. I thought that most of the effects of fire at this time contained more ideas of warding off evil spirits. In the future, part of the folk custom of worshipping ancestors is often absorbed and merged by the new powerful sects, and only traces of it can be seen in the future. For example, the original folk ancestor worship and the legend of the opening and closing of the ghost gate in July were absorbed by the Bon agglomeration area of the Buddhist gate, and to this day, many people do not know which is the Buddhist gate and which is the folk belief. The ancient ancestor worship custom in Europe probably entered Catholicism later and became All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

However, China still retains many customs, such as holding a solemn funeral after death, commonly known as "white affairs". If there are elderly people in the family, the children will pre-make shrouds and coffins in advance. The shroud is also called the old clothes, and the fabric is mainly satin. 5 pieces for the upper body, 4 pieces for the lower body, or 6 pieces for the upper body and 5 pieces for the lower body, there is no limit to the number of pieces, but the whole body must be singular, and the upper body has 1 more piece of the lower body. The coffin is also called Shoumu. The most particular about cypress and pine, and those with poor families also use miscellaneous trees such as acacia and catalpa. Before the liberation of the south, the eastern places, some wealthy people, make a coffin takes several months, carved and painted, fine craftsmanship, the picture has five blessings to hold longevity, twenty-four filial piety, etc., the materials have "four tiles", "eight immortals", "twelve heads", "sixteen heads" and so on, the smaller the number, the better. Preparing shrouds and coffins in advance, people do not think that it is to promote their early death or bad luck, but to have filial piety among their children. When the coffin is made, a certain ceremony is held, the master family pays the craftsman, and the main relatives come to congratulate and comment on the coffin.

At the moment when the deceased breathed, he first asked the neighbors and elders to shave the head of the man and comb the hair of the woman, clean the body, wear a shroud, mask his face, put money and silver dollars in his mouth, and put the money in his mouth when he was buried. The filial son kowtows and burns paper, and cries loudly, which is called burning "inverted paper" or "broken paper". In various parts of the north, when the deceased is dying, the filial son burns a pre-made paper horse for him at the door, which is called "burning the air horse", and the kneeling person turns to weep again, calling the deceased to "get on the horse", which means to let the deceased ride the horse to return to the yin or ascend to heaven. Twisting a rooster's neck and pressing it under the deceased's shoulders is called "twisting the head of the rooster". After all the things are done, the corpse is placed on the door panel covered with hay and grass, the face is covered with hemp paper, a "soul-guarding" rooster is placed on the head, a paper ash basin is placed on the ground, a sacrificial food jar is lit, a lantern is lit, and the feet are wrapped with yellow and white silk threads to prevent "walking corpses". Some of the deceased held "dog beating sticks" cooked in white flour in their hands and wore a string of small round dough cakes on their wrists, which were called "dog beating cakes". After the mortuary, hang the door paper at the head of the door, called "age paper". At this time, the filial son carried a bowl of water, went to the crossroads to burn paper, kowtowed, and "pointed out the way" for the deceased. If you want a sheep to be "leading the animal", which means leading the way for the deceased, so that it has no worries, and you should go to the "hell" obediently, and all the relatives within the five suits of the clan are told to come to pay tribute to the deceased. The younger generation wears linen and filial piety, the filial son pours down his shoes, accompanies the corpse day and night, sits on the hay, and in some places it is called "sitting on the grass". The filial son also went to a relative's house to inform him of the date of the burial. During this period, the family discussed the future, selected the deacon, invited Mr. Yin and Yang, Lisheng, selected the cave to hit the tomb, did paper work, and ordered drum musicians, after the tomb was selected, Mr. Yin and Yang used the compass to set the direction, and invited people to break the ground and hit the tomb. Set up a mourning hall in the courtyard, place an offering table, and place a tablet high, indicating the time of the deceased's death, the surname of the filial son, etc. Relatives and friends who came to mourn burned paper in front of the table to pay respects. After the mourning hall is erected, it is necessary to "invite the spirit" for the deceased, that is, to carry the soul. The yin and yang hand shake the copper bell, recite the words in the mouth, and invite the soul of the deceased to the mourning hall from outside the gate. In some places, when the deceased is buried and the coffin is carried to the mourning hall, there is no need to "ask for the spirit". The family asked the papermaker to do the paper work, and after the paper work was completed, the drummer played in front, and the filial son followed behind, and the paper work was carried inside and outside the mourning hall, called "welcoming paper". There are boys and girls in paper work, gold and silver mountains, all kinds of flowers, large and small courtyards, etc., which are determined according to the wishes of relatives and economic conditions.

After the spirit is finished, the noon sacrifice begins, also known as "upper meal", to offer food to the deceased. The family members offered whole sheep or whole pigs, and the clansmen and relatives brought sacrifices to the offering table, burned paper incense, kowtowed, made waves, and wept bitterly. The drummer always plays mournful music. After the drink offering is completed, the offering is given to the victim. Men from outside or from their mother's family are from their own family, and women are from their mother's family, living alone in a room, and then they are invited to the morgue, where the main family places a wine table and sets up a banquet for it, and the deacon pours wine, and the elders of the clan who have prestige sit with them, and the filial sons wear linen and filial piety, and kneel on the ground together, saying "next words". The eldest son or deacon recounts the deceased's lesions, how they were treated, the time of death, and the preparations for burial, such as coffins, shrouds, paper work, killing pigs and sheep, etc. In the mother's house, people get up to do an autopsy, and then go to the kang, while drinking a brief comment on the life of the deceased and the filial piety of the daughter-in-law, who usually abuses the elderly. The family members of the foreign family often took the opportunity to put forward many harsh requirements that were difficult to do at the moment, and at this time, the deacon and the attendants tried their best to mediate, and the filial son kept kneeling on the ground and tried to endure as much as possible. Those who have had white things have not been able to "speak", so the burial has been postponed for several days, and relatives have to eat and live for many days. As the saying goes, "The dead don't open their mouths, eat a few buckets a day", which refers to this.

Breaking the prison is a ritual to atone for the sins of the deceased. The intention is to save the deceased from suffering in hell and smoothly pass through the "Nai He Bridge" to enjoy the pleasure with the "people of the underworld". The ceremony is very cumbersome, build a "prison city" with sticks, ropes, face lamps, etc., the prison city has 5 gates in the east, west, north, south, and middle, the city gate is pasted with various couplet banners and spells, Mr. Yin and Yang leads the beating, chanting, singing, the drummer follows and plays mourning music, 1 filial son holds the soul-attracting banner to follow, and the other filial sons are arranged in a row, and swims all over the 5 gates. After "breaking the prison", lead the deceased to cross the "Nai He Bridge", that is, build a "bridge" at the gate, and the filial son kneels across the "bridge" with the soul flag, shouting while passing, and then it is a food almsgiving, which is mostly held at night, and gives the gods and ghosts some compensation. It means that at this time, there are people from the yang world who go to the underworld to pray for the care of the gods and ghosts, and not to make things difficult. Mr. Yin and Yang chanted the scriptures, and the filial son knelt on the ground, constantly burning paper, burning incense, and sprinkling some grains and omnivores to the Quartet. The sutra recited by Yin and Yang is the "Sutra of Almsgiving", and the content is mostly to sing praises for the deceased, educate people to practice filial piety and accumulate virtue, and not forget the grace of parenting.

"Sacrificial food", "sacrificial rice", or "traveling food". It is the most serious and lively scene in the whole funeral. There is a sacrifice for the mother's uncle, a sacrifice for the filial son, and a sacrifice for the family. Before the sacrifice, all the younger generations of the deceased kneel in the courtyard in turn according to the number of generations, leaving a gap for pedestrians, and the mother's family presides over the pig or sheep offered by the filial son, first burns the yellow mounting, and then "receives the livestock". The so-called "leading livestock" is to water the backs of pigs and sheep with cold water, and when they tremble, they are considered to have "received". If you do not tremble, you think that the deceased has something to worry about, and you have to make a wish until you "receive it". Many pigs and sheep were slaughtered and sacrificed. As soon as the "leading animals" are finished, the "Lisheng" will lead the singing of the salute song. Mr. Concierge, who is a scholar in the past, is a person who is the lowest in the past and is also a talented person, with prestige and knowledge. Lisheng was dressed in a long robe, and with the singing of "filial piety", he suddenly cried loudly, and the women cried while complaining, like an elegy. With the cry, the suona sounded in unison and began to serve the sacrificial meal. The drummer walks in front of him, and the filial son takes the sacrificial rice and circles around the gap between people, dancing and singing loudly, which is the "sacrificial food". The filial son performs three prostrations and nine prostrations until the sacrificial meal is delivered to the spirit one by one, and the "sacrificial food" takes a long time until midnight. 10. On the eve of the funeral, all the filial sons under the guidance of the drummer, go to the cemetery to light the lamp and pay tribute, all the way to the lamp, the street lamp from near and far, the old street lamp is mostly kneaded into a cup with buckwheat noodles or miscellaneous noodles, injected with sesame oil, and lit with cotton twists, and later replaced with kerosene-soaked chalk, or replaced by kerosene-soaked coal, and then it is also called "Shenlu", which means that the deceased fell asleep.

Burial is a very solemn ceremony in the funeral. Before the burial, filial sons, relatives, etc. bow and burn paper in turn in the sound of mourning music, under the supervision of the mother and uncle's family, lay the mattress in the coffin, put the pillow, spread the yellow and white paper, put 7 copper coins, put the copper coins of the same age in some places in the north, and the round cake of the size of silver dollars that is pinched and burned with white flour in the east and south is called "age money", and the "age money" equal to the age is placed. The body is placed on its back in the coffin, and cotton, cypress branches, and the deceased's beloved belongings are put into the burial. After the filial son finally paid homage to the deceased's remains, he immediately closed the coffin and did not open it again. The time of burial was different from place to place before liberation, some died and were buried the next day, not immediately mourned, parked for a day, and some were buried before leaving the spirit.

Out of the spirit of mourning, yin and yang hand shake the copper bell, chant the spell, beat the rooster with peach strips, and throw it out when the rooster crows, which is called "suffering". The filial son takes the ash basin in front of the coffin and breaks it with the ashes at the head of the coffin, and there is a person carrying the soul flag in front of the coffin carrying the coffin, which is directly served by the eldest grandson of the deceased or the eldest grandson or filial son of the same clan. Before liberation, the people attached great importance to the continuation of their children and grandchildren, which were passed down from generation to generation. The filial son and daughter-in-law, dressed in filial piety clothes, wrapped in hemp rope around the waist, pulled and supported the "long silk" 1 more than 10 meters long white cloth belt, in the sound of drums, eight people carried the coffin, marched to the cemetery, all the way can not stop. Both male and female filial sons are sent to the cemetery for burial, and in some places, only male filial sons are allowed to go, and female filial sons are sent to the gate and returned. When the spirit is released, the main family puts the pillow and grass of the deceased outside the gate and burns it. Passing by the door of the neighborhood, every house sets off a fire, which is intended to "ward off evil spirits". They also threw paper money to the cemetery, which was called "scattering money for the road."

Finally, the coffin is buried, and the coffin is slowly put into the cave and pushed into the hole. Yin and Yang acupuncture point with a compass to determine the direction, called "sitting words", and placed on the deceased's birth date, birth and death date, occupy the Yin sitting word "tomb brick", draw five thunder spells of the "five thunder wa", town feng shui, keep auspicious. After all things are done, the filial son lights the lamp in the tomb, puts the "sacrificial food jar", puts the chicken and the dog in the jar, and then the hole mouth is filled with hay bales and sealed, leaving a small mouth, everyone fills the pit together, fills the small mouth, lights the hay and heats a spoonful of clear oil, pours it into the tomb, and quickly seals it with soil, called "choking pit". When the soil is tired of filling, the tool is thrown down, and the other person picks it up and continues to fill it, and cannot hand over the tool. The grave pit is about to be filled, Mr. Yin and Yang hold the soul banner in his mouth and read the words, wave in the air, call "conjuring the soul", and then insert it in the middle of the grave pit, everyone continues to fill the soil, a filial son with his back to the soul flag, the rod buried in the soil is pulled up one by one, and the grave pile is rounded and sharp. After sweeping away the traces of people around the cemetery, all the paper figures made were burned in front of the grave, and the mourning sticks in the hands of the filial sons were inserted in front of the grave. After returning from the burial, put a basin of water at the gate, place a face-cutting knife or kitchen knife in the basin, and turn the knife in the basin for anyone who enters the door. On the day of the burial, the host family entertained the guests and helpers with a banquet. That night, the filial son went to the cemetery to "send fire". At this point, the tedious funeral came to an end. After the founding of the state, funeral procedures were simplified. But in some places, especially in the countryside, there is a revival of old customs.

If the elderly person dies for the first 3 years, the children and grandchildren hold a series of sacrifices for it. From the date of death, it is counted in 7 days, "the first seven", "the second seven", and "the third seven...... Until the 49th day, it is the "final seven" or "seven seven". Every seven days, children and grandchildren will go to the cemetery to make offerings and burn paper. "37", "100 days", "anniversary" and "three years" all set up mourning halls, relatives and friends come to pay respects. The "third anniversary" is more grand, in addition to filial piety, killing pigs and sheep, and giving gifts. The funeral of his parents, he wore clothes for 3 years, and he avoided wearing gorgeous clothes. Within 3 years, paste the Spring Festival couplets, only yellow, green, avoid red. In the past three years, there will be a grave on every festival, and there will be many sacrifices. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, customs changed, and after the death of parents, children and grandchildren wore black veils on their arms to commemorate. There is a "point master" in the people, which is also a sacrificial category. After all the peers of the clan have passed away, the clan will "pass on the shadow" or enter the "family tree" for them, hold a grand sacrifice on a large scale, and invite the chief official, the protocol, and the yin and yang. The presiding officer shall be the son of the former court or the person who raised the person. Mr. Concierge, somewhere called "Lisheng", is born in Xiucai. At that time, the spirit of the ancestors will be "invited" back from the cemetery one by one by Mr. Yin and Yang, and the tablet will be written and enshrined, and its etiquette will be similar to the funeral. On the tablet, "the god of the ×××", but the word "god" is short and vertical, the word "lord" is missing a little, and the chief official uses cinnabar or the blood of the descendants of the deceased to add a point to the "god", and the filial son holds the wooden card in the main room. The presiding officer must also write the name of the deceased on the family tree or a portrait. The "protocol" is the master of ceremonies who writes the sacrificial text. After the work is over, yin and yang are rewarded with money; 1 pig sent to the chief officer; Give 1 piece of concierge meat.

The scale of the "point master" is large, and it costs a lot of money, and the average poor and small households dare not ask about it, and in the past, only large and rich families did the "point master" white affairs. In the old days, large families with large populations all built ancestral halls, called "ancestral halls", which were dedicated to the images, tablets or genealogies of the ancestors, and the families took turns to prepare sacrifices every year, and carried out ancestor worship activities during the Spring Festival or Qingming Festival. Because the imperial court continued to carry out funeral changes, the old funeral rites were greatly simplified, and the filial piety ceased to exist for 3 years, and the "family temple" and "ancestral hall" were changed into schools. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in the 80s of the 20th century, old customs appeared in the countryside again. After all, it's where the tradition lies. Just as Buddhism was introduced to China, in order to gain a foothold in China, a "concession policy" was adopted, which combined it with Chinese memes. But it also gives people with ulterior motives an opportunity to make waves! ”