In a few days, it will be the Zhongyuan Festival, which is commonly known as the ghost festival. It's also the biggest sacrifice festival in China. When it comes to Zhongyuan Festival, you may not want to mention it, and there will be a kind of creepy feeling. What's the origin of Zhongyuan Festival?
What is the festival of the Central Plains
Zhongyuan Festival, also known as' July festival or Yulan basin Festival ', is one of the three Ghost Festivals. Zhongyuan Festival is a Taoist saying. The name of Zhongyuan originated from the Northern Wei Dynasty. In some places, it is commonly known as ghost festival and shigu, also known as the day of the dead and the half of July. According to ancient books, the Daoist Scriptures take the 15th day of the first month as the upper yuan, the 15th day of July as the central yuan, and the 15th day of October as the lower yuan.
Since the Shang Dynasty, China has believed in ghosts and gods. Although in their belief, there are gods and earth besides human and ghost, but they take "human and ghost" as the central belief. Zhongyuan Festival is a festival closely related to people and ghosts.
Who is Zhongyuan festival to commemorate
The ghost festival originates from the story of Mu Lian saving his mother: 'there are Mu Lian monks who have great magic power. In his mother's depraved and hungry ghost Road, the entrance of food turns into a flame, and the hunger is too bitter. Mu Lian was unable to save her mother, so she asked Buddha for help. In order to speak of the Yulan basin Sutra, she taught to make the Yulan basin on July 15 to save her mother. 'it's said that after experiencing a lot of hardships in the underworld, Mu Lian saw his dead mother, Liu Shi, and found that she was tortured by a group of hungry ghosts. Mu Lian wanted to use a bowl of vegetables to feed her, but the hungry ghosts took away the vegetables. Mu Lian had to ask for help from the Buddha, who was moved by Mu Lian's filial piety and granted him the Yulan basin Sutra. According to the instructions, Mu Lian served his mother in a Yulan basin on July 15 of the lunar calendar. The starving mother finally got the food. In order to commemorate the filial piety of Mu Lian, every year Buddhists have a grand 'Yulan pot Festival', which we now call 'Ghost Festival'.
The origin of Zhongyuan Festival
The name "Zhongyuan" comes from the Northern Wei Dynasty. Zhongyuan Festival is also called "Ghost Festival" or "Menglan basin society". According to the records of wuzazu: 'the Daojing takes the 15th day of the first month as Shangyuan, the 15th day of July as Zhongyuan and the 15th day of October as Xiayuan. 'the book of practice says:' on the first day of the middle of July, the officials of the earth came down and determined the good and evil of the world. The Taoists chanted sutras at night, and the hungry prisoners were also freed. On this day, Buddhism held a Dharma meeting called "ulambana" (in Indian) or "mon LAN society". The meaning of Menglan basin is hanging upside down. The pain of life is like a bat hanging upside down on the head of a tree. In order to save all living beings from suffering, they need to chant sutras and distribute food to ghosts. This happened to coincide with the worship of the ghost moon in China, so the festival of the central yuan and the Menglan society were handed down at the same time.