Born into a traditional Cantonese family, since young Kuang had been instilled with the belief that the seventh month is the “ghost month.” As such, every seventh month would see her preparing offerings and folding incense paper, resulting in her feeling exhausted and suffering backache. (Photo by Ong Soh Chin)
“Guo Mei, Guo Mei!” The more anxiously the person behind called out to her, the faster Kuang Guo Mei would walk; to turn around and respond was taboo during the seventh lunar month! But eversince she joined Tzu Chi and learned the Dharma, Kuang now understands that such thinking is purely a product of her own superstitious beliefs.
Born into a traditional Cantonese family, Kuang had been inculcated with a lot of misconceptions and superstitions by her elders since she was young. She was warned to observe a list of do’s and don’ts during the “ghost month” which falls on the seventh lunar month every year, failing which she would not receive blessings. Such superstitions had been part of her life for the last sixty years and it was not until she got to know about Tzu Chi that she was introduced to the right beliefs.
Breeding Unwarranted Fears from Blind Beliefs
In the traditional Chinese belief, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is viewed as the inauspicious “ghost month”—with the gates of the nether world thrown wide open, not only must one take care to observe a long list of taboos, wedding ceremonies and other auspicious events are also not to be held during this period or else one will encounter bad luck. Many will also prepare meat offerings, burn joss sticks as well as incense paper for the ghostly beings that roam the earth, hoping to receive blessings.
Firmly entrenched in superstitions, Kuang would not engage in activities such as swimming or travel during the seventh lunar month, and she would ensure that laundry hung outside for drying would be collected back before 7 pm. During this period she would be on high alert; if she worked the afternoon shift, she would rush home after work ended at 10 pm. While walking home, Kuang would never turn around to return greetings from any friend or relative. If someone tapped her on the shoulder, she would flee the scene immediately, lest it was some ghostly being trying to say hello to her.
When the 14th of the seventh lunar month came around, Kuang would spring into action-- one week before that, she would spend more than $50 buying offerings and incense paper. Over the next few days, she would carefully fold every piece of paper offering into a different shape, tiring herself out and suffering backache as a result.
Kuang was also careful about choosing the type of ritual offerings that were essentially paper replicas of material goods to be burnt in order that the deceased could receive them. “I would never buy any type of communication device, wouldn’t I get a big scare if my ancestors left me a message in the middle of the night?”she shared humourously.
Kuang would also faithfully follow the Cantonese tradition, for example, she would prepare an even number of offerings that was no lesser than eight items each to offer to the heavenly gods, the Goddess of Mercy, and her ancestors, but they had to be arranged and presented in different formats according to the intended recipient.
The offerings for her ancestors included multi-coloured paper garments and pieces of multi-coloured paper in rectangular shape, whilst those for the heavenly gods consisted of joss papers bearing the Chinese character for “longevity” folded into the shape of gold ingots, “dragon robes,”and printed paper offerings that convey one’s wish to have the help of benefactors in one’s life, all arranged on two layers of gold foil. She would only start burning these offerings after they had been painstakingly placed in the right manner, and halfway through, she would sprinkle some bean sprouts, bean curd, longans, one cent coins, etc, so that the fire would burn with greater intensity.
She would also prepare offerings that were auspicious in their symbolism such as scallions (intelligence), celery (zest for learning), apples (safety) and bananas (a bunch denotes wealth and riches due to its resemblance to an open palm). In addition, as the joss sticks had to be kept continuously burning throughout the whole night, she would wake up in the middle of the night to check on its state.
Growing up, Kuang did have her doubts, but her elders would never explain these traditions to her directly. Instead she was told: “young children shouldn’t ask too many questions!” Therefore, she bindly embraced the traditions without fully understanding them.
Transcending Taboos with Right Thoughts and Good Deeds
After joining Tzu Chi, Kuang participated in the auspicious seventh month prayer ceremony in 2012. During a video session at the ceremony, Master Cheng Yen shared that during Buddha’s time, the monks got together to practice Buddhism from the 15th of the fourth month to the 15th of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and many of them gained enlightenment during that period of time.
“So the seventh month is not the ghost month but an auspicious month of joy and filial piety?” Kuang was not without her doubts in the beginning, so she decided to experiment by burning less incense paper to see what would happen to her and her family. She noticed that misfortune did not befall them, and hence decided that she would stop burning incense paper once and for all.
Ever since becoming a member of Tzu Chi, Kuang has done away with her superstitious beliefs and now she offers ordinary fruits and clean water to the Buddha. (Photo by Ong Soh Chin)
Now that she understands that the seventh lunar month is in fact an auspicious month, Kuang no longer wastes her money on items to be burnt away, instead she donates money in her parents’names to accumulate karmic merits for them. (Photo by Ong Soh Chin)
Kuang also realized that filial piety is all about taking good care of one’s parents while they are alive and not through praying for their salvation after they have passed on. Hence, instead of burning incense paper for her parents, she now makes donations to the needy in her parents’ names. She has also switched to offering fruits to her deceased relatives and making donations in their names to help them accumulate karmic merits.
The animals and other offerings we prepare for our ancestors only go into our stomachs and not that of the deceased!” Kuang said with a serious face. Now that she is involved in resources recycling activities, she realizes that burning incense paper actually contributes to environmental pollution. “There is already a big hole in the atmosphere, if we continue to burn more incense paper, won’t the earth become even more sick? We can buy paper money with real currency, but our deceased relatives cannot receive the paper money we burn for them!”
Apart from setting a good example herself, Kuang would always tell her relatives when educating them about the auspicious seventh lunar month, “Would you rather continue to bless them (the deceased) in the hells or would you rather bless them with a good rebirth?” When she sees her neighbors burning incense paper, she will patiently advise them:“burn less (incense paper), or better still, don’t burn any at all. We are now living in a modernized society, our offspring may not continue with such traditions and we don’t want to add to their confusion.”
Master Cheng Yen always says that no evil spirits can harm one if one has a clear conscience and a firm mind. Nowadays, during the seventh month, Kuang no longer runs away from friends greeting her on the street. She will even turn around and ask jokingly, “Are you buying me tea?” She no longer avoids attending wakes during the seventh lunar month and will stay till past midnight at her neighbors and friends’ wakes.
Kuang counts herself blessed to have known Tzu Chi and Master Cheng Yen, to have learned the right concepts from Buddhism, and to be able to dispel her misconceptions that had misguided her over the past years. She has vowed to earnestly engage in good deeds to benefit society, to actively promote the right view of the Dharma to her relatives and friends, and to encourage them to burn less incense paper.
Kuang likes to read about Tzu Chi; the book in her hands helps her to understand Tzu Chi better and to be even more determined to walk the Bodhisattva’s path. (Photo by Ong Soh Chin)
The power of right belief helps Kuang (right) to eradicate her ignorance and misconceptions. She now even promotes the right view to her neighbours and friends and encourages them to burn less incense paper. (Photo by Ong Soh Chin)
Not only has Kuang (first from right) joined the community study group, she also took the opportunity to join in the sign language presentations of the prelude to the musical adaptation of the “Sutra of Innumerable Meanings” during the auspicious month. (Photo by Cheng Li Xia)
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