When The Doors Of Hell Open

As the doors of hell open on the seventh Lunar month, millions of spirits and souls rush out to spend a month roaming the land of the living. Sounds like a scary nightmare, right? Well, it’s linked with an old Chinese festival, the Zhongyuan Festival.

Also known as the Yu Lan Pen Festival, this festival has different origins in Buddhism and Taoism. As the Buddhist story goes, a monk, Mu Lian, found out that his mother got condemned to starve in hell for her wrongdoings. Not wanting this to happen, he tried to feed her, but as the food reached her mouth, it would turn into flaming coals, and she couldn’t eat it! So Mu Lian begged Buddha for mercy. Touched by Mu Lian’s filial piety, the monk was instructed to prepare a vegetarian feast on the 15th day of the seventh Lunar month and offer food to monks in all directions while asking them to pray for his mother. After that, the food didn’t turn into coals anymore, and Mu Lian’s mother could eat, finally! Eventually, this day turned into the Yu Lan Pen Festival, where monks would conduct rituals to absolve spirits’ suffering.

In Taoism, this day is also quite important because it’s the birthday of the Official of Earth. He’s one of the Three Officials, believed to keep records of human deeds on Earth, including whether you did right. The ancient Chinese thought that illness was the result of wrongdoing. And the Officials aren’t just inspectors. They’re also the judges that decide on rewards or punishments. That includes controlling each person’s lifespan and fate. So, many Taoists also pray to the Officials to seek forgiveness for the wrongdoings of their ancestors’ spirits. Meanwhile, they will also carry out a ceremony to appease spirits, most likely to ensure that ghosts wouldn’t interfere with people for the whole of the month. Surely no one wants scary ghosts knocking on their doors in the middle of the night!

So far, we’ve talked about the Buddhist and Taoist versions of this festival. There are also traditions to burn paper money, clothing, and other paper items like bags, to ensure that the deceased wouldn’t run out. Lighting up the fire would also light the candle of life, thereby allowing past people to get reborn into the world of the living. And that is all a happy ending; Mu Lian saved his mother, spirits get pardoned from suffering, the Official of Earth has a “happy” birthday. Let’s hope that no wandering souls are going to show up on anyone’s doorstep at midnight. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you, and tune in next time for more. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Uh-oh, maybe at least one spirit wasn’t satisfied. I guess that is what happens when the doors of hell open.