ZHONGYUAN FESTIVAL 中元節
李商隱: 絳節飄飄宮國來，中元朝拜上清回。羊權須得金條脫，溫嶠終虛玉鏡臺。會省驚眠聞雨過，不知迷路為花開。有城未抵瀛洲遠，青雀如何鴆鳥媒。
Zhongyuan Festival 中元節, also known as Ghost Festival 鬼節 or Hungry Ghost Festival 餓鬼節, is observed on the fifteenth day (full moon) of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar. 天地有中氣，第一是中元。上界秋光凈，中元夜氣清。偶來人世值中元，不獻元都未日閒。萬樹涼生霜氣清，中元月上九衢明。It has been added to the third national list of intangible cultural heritage in China. During the seventh lunar month, the ghost month 鬼月, the ‘Gates of Hell’ are opened and ghosts would be allowed to return to the mortal world to visit their family members. Moreover, hungry ghosts are also freed to roam the world for food and entertainment. 玄雲沈陰鬼怪多，馗乎馗乎奈爾何！Zhongyuan Festival is sometimes dubbed as ‘Chinese Halloween’.
According to Chinese folk beliefs, the deceased turn into ghosts.
Stephen Dennis: “Death is not the end, it is simply walking out of the physical form and into the spirit realm…” Hungry ghosts are those whose deaths had been violent including from accidents, disasters and murders; or who had no family to bury them. Also, sins committed during an individual’s lifetime can cause a soul to be ‘reborn’ as a hungry ghost. 荒郊白骨卧枯莎，有鬼銜冤苦奈何。半夜數聲淒枕蓆，十年幾度慘干戈。英魂無托子孫絕，史筆不知忠義多。欲反髑髏生世樂，近來富貴亦消磨。白楊風雨繞孤墳，血腥猶染舊羅裙。During the ghost month, they wander the world seeking to satisfy their afterlife needs. T.S. Eliot: “The lawn is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return. Gently at twilight, gently go at dawn. The sad intangible who grieve and yearn….”
In Buddhism this festival is known as Yulanpeng Feast 盂蘭盆節, and is observed to commemorate Mulien 目蓮, who was a disciple of Shakyamuni 釋迦牟尼, the founder of Buddhism. Mulien learned that his deceased mother was ‘reborn’ as a hungry ghost in Hades due to her previous misdeeds; and she was being tortured by starvation.
Mulien pleaded Shakyamuni to bring salvation to his suffering mother. Buddha informed him that his mother’s past sins were too excessive for him to save her alone. He must enlist many monks and pray together on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month for his mother’s salvation. Buddha also advised him to make tributes to the monks by putting plentiful food in Yulanpen 盂蘭盆. Eventually, Mulien successfully liberated his mother from hell. 時目連母即於是日，得脫一劫餓鬼之苦。This legend 目連救母 has been passed down generation after generation; holding ceremonies of benevolence, so that the hungry ghosts may cross over to salvation.
Activities for the observance of Zhongyuan Festival include praying and burning incense, joss sticks, and bundles of fake money notes as well as replica paper clothes, household goods, cars, television and so forth, along the roadside and street corners. 寂寂焚香在仙觀。滿地紙錢香篆冷。女巫澆酒雲滿空，玉爐炭火香咚咚。海神山鬼來座中，紙錢窸窣鳴旋風。Ritualistic food such as chicken, roast pork, rice, vegetables, fruits, bean curds, steamed stuffed buns, etc., are offered on tables. 道場普渡妥幽魂，原有盂蘭古意存。卻怪紅箋貼門首，肉山酒海慶中元。呼星召鬼歆杯盤，山魅食時人森寒。These rituals are to please the ancestors who have to be gratified before they would bless their descendants. People also want to appease the hungry ghosts, so they would not cause misfortunes.
Another tradition, the Release of Water Lanterns 放水燈 (荷花燈), is to release decorated lanterns in the rivers or lakes at nightfall. These lanterns serve to direct the ghosts back to their netherworld. 小兒競把青荷葉，萬點銀花散火城。太液澄波鏡面平，無邊佳景此宵生。滿湖星斗涵秋冷，萬朵金蓮徹夜明。河燈萬點飛星斗，應改中元作上元。
Zhongyuan Festival is a day for commemorating ancestors and departed family members. It is a way to welcome their spirits back to earth among the living, displaying the descendants’ filial piety 孝.
李郢: 江南水寺中元夜，金粟欄邊見月娥。紅燭影迴仙態近，翠環光動見人多。香飄彩殿凝蘭麝，霧繞青衣雜綺羅。湘水夜空巫峽遠，不知歸路欲如何 。
Shakespeare: “Now it is the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide.
About the author:
Dr. Patrick Lau was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. after high school. He retired from the VA Northern Indiana Heath Care System where he served as Chief Radiologist and moved to Florida with his wife in 2011. He was an active member & contributor of IACA and ICMA while in Indiana. Dr. Lau is also a scholar of art and literature and a prolific writer, he has been a dedicated columnist for Indy Asian American Times since 2010.