An article by Zhengyi Longshanmen Taoist High Priest Jave Wu. http://javewu.multiply.com/reviews?&page_start=120
Know more about The Seventh Month Celebration (¤F¸Ñ¹A¾ä¤C¤ë) Seventh Month, in Folks Culture known as The Ghostly Month (¥Á¶¡ºÙ°¤ë), in Taoism known as Zhong Yuan (¹D±ÐºÙ¤¤¤¸¸`) and in other Beliefs known as Happiness and Joyous Festival (¨ä¥L¥~¨Ó«H¥õºÙÅw³ß¤é). Upon knowing that the Lunar Seventh Month is coming, a lot of the Mortals will tend to have certain fears arise in them, thinking that everywhere in the Mortal Realm, Spirits & Souls will be wandering around to do snatching of offerings and also to do disturbing to the Normal Mortals. If you will to think that way, of cause I cant say that its wrong, but if you think that only in Lunar Seventh Month, then such Nether Beings are out to do such tricks, then I will need to correct you that, it is not True. >From the Universe started to function like what we know now, different form of >Beings had been staying with us, the Human Being. Just that, due to the >Un-pureness and Non-Cultivation that Human Being got, we are not able to >detect their existence that easily, but other-wise, the other Beings are able >to detect that we Human Beings are by their side. And so, whenever someone is >there to do certain tricks to harm the others and such Beings got the signal >of oneself is going to play nasty, such Beings will tend to return the nasty >to the Mortal before the Mortal can do anything and this is why, a lot of of >such Nasty Mortals always complaint that they got haunted by the other Beings. >And so, next time, before you put the blames to the other Beings, asked >yourself this question 1st ¡V Did you try to do any nasty thing? Okay, back to the Topic. So does Seventh Month really have close association with Ghosts, Spirits & Souls? To be more accurate, I shall say that, Seventh Month is not a Ghostly Month like what the Folks Culture believed in. Seventh Month, started in Zhou Dynasty (¤¤¤¸²½ªÁ©l¤_©P´Â), is a Month or a Festive Period for the Taoists & Chinese to pay respect to their Ancestors, Passed-on Parents, Masters, Teachers, etc. A Month or a Festive Period of remembering the People who had Positive-ly Influence oneself. In Zhou Dynasty, the most Official Date to do such Honoring & Celebration was on the 15th Day of Lunar 7 Month, which also known as Zhong Yuan Jie & the Manifestation Anniversary or Inspection Day of Di Guan Da Di (¤¤¤¸¦a©x¤j«Ò¤U°¤é) aka The Heavenly Lord of the Earthly Realm. On this Day, Taoist Priests would be engaged to perform the Salvation Rituals for the Passed-on, in-order to assist them to ascend to the Eastern Palace to enjoy the Eternal Joyous and also, to assist a Good Cultivated Person to attain Enlightenment. Besides that, also to show the Filial Piety of oneself or the descendants of assisting the Passed-on Ancestors or Parents to get out of any form of Sufferings after their Mortal-Departure (Please take note that, in Zhou Dynasty, there have yet to have the Nether-World Theory and so, Salvation for the Passed-on is usually mend for assisting the Passed-on to reach Enlightenment faster, etc). Another saying is that, Zhou Dynasty Zhong Yuan Salvation Rituals were conducted dedicating to those who died in Wars, Accidents, Accused-to-Death, Died-of-Diseases, Homeless-souls, etc. A Month or Festive Period to show Gratitude to this group of Passed-on or to show Compassionate & Kindness to the Poverty. >From the above two Practices, you shall be able to know a little more that, >Seventh Month is not solely associated with Ghosts, Spirits or Souls. So when does the idea of Ghostly Month started? This actually started after the Non-Taoist Religions being imported into China in Tang Dynasty (°¤ë¤§»¡©l¤_ð´Â¦~¶¡). After such Beliefs being imported, the Theory of Suffering-Nether World started to spread around in the Folks Community, causes un-necessary fear and disturbance. From then, in-order to calm the commotion and starting of the promotion of the Imported-Religion, doing Salvation of the Spirits & Souls started. By that moment, the whole Religion System in China was in a Chaotic-situation, including the stress that the Imperial Court pressing on the various Religion Leaders, a lot of Non-realistic Teaching, Preaching, Knowledge and Information were being created and imparted to the Innocent Commoners and various Religion-followers. This is why, in Tang Dynasty, a lot of Folks Taoist Group tend to combine the Teaching of the Three Religions together to please the Imperial Court and also to gain the support from the Commoners in-order to strengthen their Base & Power. So the Seventh Month Celebration that we see today is not the Origin Taoist Practice? Yes, in certain way, the Celebration that we see together had drift very far apart from the Origin Practice. Recent years, due to commercialization of Religions, a lot of Religion Leaders, Spiritual Masters or Teachers tend to use such Festival to make Big-earnings, such as burning Tons of Josspapers, making expensive Offerings to the Invisible Beings, etc. So by doing so, we are not assisting the necessary Nether Beings to gain their Benefits but assisting the Nasty-Human-beings to gain their extra-incomes. So if we will to do follow the Origin Taoist Practice, what shall one self do? Very easy, just do the followings on the 15th Day or Lunar 7 Month and one self will be Blessed: 1) prepare the necessary Offerings for the Passed-on Ancestors or Family members 2) visit Temples that dedicated Altars to Di Guan Da Di to make your respect to him and asked for Forgiveness and Blessing for the Passed-on 3) prepare some necessary Offerings to offer to the Wandering Souls outside your premises, here a list of items to be prepared: a) Incenses (Red-Incense Leg) & Candles (»»PÀë) b) Josspapers (including the Clothing, Colored-papers ¯È¿ú¤Î¸g¦ç) c) 1 set of Fruit or 3 sets of Fruits (�...@¦â©Î¤t¦â¤ôªg) d) 3 cups of Tea (do not use Tea-leaves only ¤TªM¯ù¡M¤£¥i³æ¥Î¯ù¸) e) 3 cups or 1 bottle of Rice-wine (¤tªm©�...@²~¦Ì°s) f) 1 bowl of Peanuts (�...@¸jªá¥Í) g) 1 bowl of Biscuits (�...@¸j»æ°®) h) 1 bowl of Raw-rice (�...@¸j¥Í¥Õ¦Ì-¨ú¦a¤§®ð) i) 1 bowl of Eating-salt (�...@¸j¹Æq-¨ú¤ô¤§®ð) j) 1 bowl of Cane-sugar (�...@¸j½©¿}-¨ú¤Ñ¤§®ð) k) 1 Huat Kueh (�...@Óµo¿|) Once all these are being done, one self is more or less following the Origin Practice that what our Ancestors are doing. Take Note: 1) During the offering, do not make any un-necessary request. 2) Try to minimize large scale burning during this Day 3) Among all the Offerings for the Wanderings, Salt, Rice & Sugar are the most important. They represent the Nature Energies emitted from the Heavenly, Earthly and Watery Realms. Once a Soul is able to get the necessary blessing from these 3 Realms, the Soul will be able to reach a certain level of Enlightenment. By the time you read this posting, The Seventh Month Celebration will be just a few Chinese Hours away (or its already the Seventh Month Celebration). In Folks Culture aka Min Su, there are quite a number of Dos and Donts. In here, I will like to do a few quite Important Dos and Donts to everyone, in-order to assist the Folks (or the worried ones) to overcome certain discomfort during the Month. Note: If oneself is Upright, Pure & Sincere, do not need to take things too hard for the Month. No Being will harm you unless you are Nasty Ones. Number One: For Pregnant Women & Physically-weak-people, try not to mingle around in dark corners, silent pathway, cold & quiet gardens, under Trees and inside vacant Units. Such places are the places that easily gathered Negative Energies and various Unpleasant Magnetic Field. Once the frequency of oneself and the frequency of such places Matches, oneself will tend to feel uneasy or the Negative Forces will be able to enter into one¡¦s Physical Body causing certain parts of the Body to feel sick or Mentally-discomfort. If this will to happen, try to use Sandalwood or Agarwood or the Huo Xiang combination to do cleansing after reaching home. And if the situation carried-on for sometime, try to consult any Doctors or Physicians. And the situation get worst, try to visit Big, Upright & Official Temples such as Tian Gong Temple or Guan Gong Temple to lessen the Negative Forces. Number Two: Children under 3 years old (according to Chinese Age) are not allowed to participate in any form of Seventh Month Rituals/Ceremonies. Parents are not allowed to bring this group of Children out after Sunset. Why? Children under 3 years old are still considered as Physical & Spiritual weak and unstable, this is the group of Children that can be easily affected by the Surrounding-changes and Energies Flow. If this group of Children accidentally joined in any of such Rituals/Ceremonies, after returning home, some of them might get sick ¡V such as Fever, Sleepless-nights or get Bad-dreams at night. If such issues will to happen, then try to Pay Respect to Chuan Mu aka The Motherly Lord of Protecting Infants aka The Spiritual Nannies, after 5.00Pm. How to do so? Just prepare a bowl of cooked-Rice, a drumstick, a plate of cooked-vegetable, 3 stacks of Shou Jin (the normal Josspaper with Fu Lu Shou), a cup of Chinese Tea, Incenses and Candles. After preparing, place All the Offerings on a Big Red Round Plate and then placed it on the Bed or in the Bedroom where the Child slept. Light the Incenses & Candles and then sincerely pay respect to the Chuan Mu, asking for her blessing for the Child. During the paying of respect, remember to recite out the Name & DOB of the Child to Chuan Mu. About 5 minutes after offering the Incenses, the Josspapers can be burnt off. On the next Morning, used the 5-colored Flowers and some Pomelo-leaves to clean the Body of the Child. Usually after these procedures, the Child will return to a calming state, but if the Child still remains in a suffering state, try to consult any Doctors before taking other necessary and Positive actions. Number Three: For Chinese Horoscopes of Cow & Horse, try not to attend any Seventh Month Rituals/Ceremonies that often, do not attend any Funerals during this Period (unless the Passed-on is a very close-related member of the Family), try one¡¦s best not to mingle around alone after Sunset. Why? Due to these 2 Chinese Horoscopes are the 2 which are born with the Less-Spiritual Protection from the Natural Energies in the Three Realms. Once any Negative issues will to happen around these 2 Chinese Horoscopes, they will be the 1st few to get affected. In-order to lessen the Possibility of getting affected, try one¡¦s best to be more ¡§Obedient¡¨ during this Period. If anything will to happen, what shall oneself do to get the Blessing? Try to visit Official Taoist Temples (not very Possible to find One in Singapore) that dedicate Altars to Lord Tai Sui (recommended one will be Bao Chi Gong in Magazine Road or Yue Hai Qing Miao in Philip Street). Sincerely Pay Respect to the Lord Tai Sui for the Year and also the Lord Tai Sui of one¡¦s Birth-year. Ask the Blessing from them and then after the Paying of Respect, offered an Ang Bao that contains 12 Coins (for Leap-Month will be 13 Coins) into the Donation Box. Once this is done, leave the Temple and returned home straight. For those who didn¡¦t really want to visit such Temples to request for Blessing. Then without the next 3 Days, oneself might be down with certain Illnesses such as Fever or Flu. Remember to consult any Doctors if any of this Illnesses ¡§approached¡¨ you, cos some of them might worsen. Tags: chinese cultures, chinese deities, taoism, ¹D±Ð, ¤¤¤¸¸` 3 comments share ReviewReviewReview Know more about The Seventh Month Celebration (¤F¸Ñ¹A¾ä¤C¤ë) Jul 29, '08 4:37 AM for everyone Category: Other Seventh Month, in Folks Culture known as The Ghostly Month (¥Á¶¡ºÙ°¤ë), in Taoism known as Zhong Yuan (¹D±ÐºÙ¤¤¤¸¸`) and in other Beliefs known as Happiness and Joyous Festival (¨ä¥L¥~¨Ó«H¥õºÙÅw³ß¤é). Upon knowing that the Lunar Seventh Month is coming, a lot of the Mortals will tend to have certain fears arise in them, thinking that everywhere in the Mortal Realm, Spirits & Souls will be wandering around to do snatching of offerings and also to do disturbing to the Normal Mortals. If you will to think that way, of cause I cant say that its wrong, but if you think that only in Lunar Seventh Month, then such Nether Beings are out to do such tricks, then I will need to correct you that, it is not True. >From the Universe started to function like what we know now, different form of >Beings had been staying with us, the Human Being. Just that, due to the >Un-pureness and Non-Cultivation that Human Being got, we are not able to >detect their existence that easily, but other-wise, the other Beings are able >to detect that we Human Beings are by their side. And so, whenever someone is >there to do certain tricks to harm the others and such Beings got the signal >of oneself is going to play nasty, such Beings will tend to return the nasty >to the Mortal before the Mortal can do anything and this is why, a lot of of >such Nasty Mortals always complaint that they got haunted by the other Beings. >And so, next time, before you put the blames to the other Beings, asked >yourself this question 1st ¡V Did you try to do any nasty thing? Okay, back to the Topic. So does Seventh Month really have close association with Ghosts, Spirits & Souls? To be more accurate, I shall say that, Seventh Month is not a Ghostly Month like what the Folks Culture believed in. Seventh Month, started in Zhou Dynasty (¤¤¤¸²½ªÁ©l¤_©P´Â), is a Month or a Festive Period for the Taoists & Chinese to pay respect to their Ancestors, Passed-on Parents, Masters, Teachers, etc. A Month or a Festive Period of remembering the People who had Positive-ly Influence oneself. In Zhou Dynasty, the most Official Date to do such Honoring & Celebration was on the 15th Day of Lunar 7 Month, which also known as Zhong Yuan Jie & the Manifestation Anniversary or Inspection Day of Di Guan Da Di (¤¤¤¸¦a©x¤j«Ò¤U°¤é) aka The Heavenly Lord of the Earthly Realm. On this Day, Taoist Priests would be engaged to perform the Salvation Rituals for the Passed-on, in-order to assist them to ascend to the Eastern Palace to enjoy the Eternal Joyous and also, to assist a Good Cultivated Person to attain Enlightenment. Besides that, also to show the Filial Piety of oneself or the descendants of assisting the Passed-on Ancestors or Parents to get out of any form of Sufferings after their Mortal-Departure (Please take note that, in Zhou Dynasty, there have yet to have the Nether-World Theory and so, Salvation for the Passed-on is usually mend for assisting the Passed-on to reach Enlightenment faster, etc). Another saying is that, Zhou Dynasty Zhong Yuan Salvation Rituals were conducted dedicating to those who died in Wars, Accidents, Accused-to-Death, Died-of-Diseases, Homeless-souls, etc. A Month or Festive Period to show Gratitude to this group of Passed-on or to show Compassionate & Kindness to the Poverty. >From the above two Practices, you shall be able to know a little more that, >Seventh Month is not solely associated with Ghosts, Spirits or Souls. So when does the idea of Ghostly Month started? This actually started after the Non-Taoist Religions being imported into China in Tang Dynasty (°¤ë¤§»¡©l¤_ð´Â¦~¶¡). After such Beliefs being imported, the Theory of Suffering-Nether World started to spread around in the Folks Community, causes un-necessary fear and disturbance. From then, in-order to calm the commotion and starting of the promotion of the Imported-Religion, doing Salvation of the Spirits & Souls started. By that moment, the whole Religion System in China was in a Chaotic-situation, including the stress that the Imperial Court pressing on the various Religion Leaders, a lot of Non-realistic Teaching, Preaching, Knowledge and Information were being created and imparted to the Innocent Commoners and various Religion-followers. This is why, in Tang Dynasty, a lot of Folks Taoist Group tend to combine the Teaching of the Three Religions together to please the Imperial Court and also to gain the support from the Commoners in-order to strengthen their Base & Power. So the Seventh Month Celebration that we see today is not the Origin Taoist Practice? Yes, in certain way, the Celebration that we see together had drift very far apart from the Origin Practice. Recent years, due to commercialization of Religions, a lot of Religion Leaders, Spiritual Masters or Teachers tend to use such Festival to make Big-earnings, such as burning Tons of Josspapers, making expensive Offerings to the Invisible Beings, etc. So by doing so, we are not assisting the necessary Nether Beings to gain their Benefits but assisting the Nasty-Human-beings to gain their extra-incomes. So if we will to do follow the Origin Taoist Practice, what shall one self do? Very easy, just do the followings on the 15th Day or Lunar 7 Month and one self will be Blessed: 1) prepare the necessary Offerings for the Passed-on Ancestors or Family members 2) visit Temples that dedicated Altars to Di Guan Da Di to make your respect to him and asked for Forgiveness and Blessing for the Passed-on 3) prepare some necessary Offerings to offer to the Wandering Souls outside your premises, here a list of items to be prepared: a) Incenses (Red-Incense Leg) & Candles (»»PÀë) b) Josspapers (including the Clothing, Colored-papers ¯È¿ú¤Î¸g¦ç) c) 1 set of Fruit or 3 sets of Fruits (�...@¦â©Î¤t¦â¤ôªg) d) 3 cups of Tea (do not use Tea-leaves only ¤TªM¯ù¡M¤£¥i³æ¥Î¯ù¸) e) 3 cups or 1 bottle of Rice-wine (¤tªm©�...@²~¦Ì°s) f) 1 bowl of Peanuts (�...@¸jªá¥Í) g) 1 bowl of Biscuits (�...@¸j»æ°®) h) 1 bowl of Raw-rice (�...@¸j¥Í¥Õ¦Ì-¨ú¦a¤§®ð) i) 1 bowl of Eating-salt (�...@¸j¹Æq-¨ú¤ô¤§®ð) j) 1 bowl of Cane-sugar (�...@¸j½©¿}-¨ú¤Ñ¤§®ð) k) 1 Huat Kueh (�...@Óµo¿|) Once all these are being done, one self is more or less following the Origin Practice that what our Ancestors are doing. Take Note: 1) During the offering, do not make any un-necessary request. 2) Try to minimize large scale burning during this Day 3) Among all the Offerings for the Wanderings, Salt, Rice & Sugar are the most important. They represent the Nature Energies emitted from the Heavenly, Earthly and Watery Realms. Once a Soul is able to get the necessary blessing from these 3 Realms, the Soul will be able to reach a certain level of Enlightenment.
