Leave the Dead (and the Living) in Peace

My martial arts practice was cancelled again, no thanks to the people burning their offerings at our ground. It is infuriating that the living has to make way for the dead (or in this case, the undead).

The Seventh Month nonsense has been going on for too long. There should be a law against religion and superstition imposing themselves on the living. I don’t understand what is the big deal about the dead, that we have to remember them just on the basis of their being dead. While it is understandable that we want to remember our loved ones, there is no reason for us to make this remembrance a public nuisance. I wish people would burn their Hell money and whatever in the containers the town councils have thoughtfully provided.

Making your offerings in a clumsily rendered chalk circle does not guarantee that ONLY the deceased you are making offerings to will receive them. It is possible that any wandering spirits will take the opportunity to rob. If you want to play safe, you should burn the Hell money in your OWN house. With the ancestral tablet and the idols of gods around, I don’t think any unwanted spirits will dare to mess around. But no. People still insist on doing it in public places, as if being ‘outside’ conveys some kind of spiritual attunement that facilitates the delivery of your gifts to your deceased folks. Or dare I say that maybe the pious do not want to dirty their homes? Oh how sacrilegious of me to even suggest that!

Many people who ‘celebrate’ the Seventh Month believe in both Buddhism and Chinese folklore, an indictment of their lack of understanding about their own beliefs and their shocking illogicality. Buddhists commonly believe that a soul moves on to another life after its physical demise, and this process will take but at most 49 days. Pagan Taoism/Chinese folklore believe that the spirit may linger on for much longer, particularly when it has to undergo punishment in the Hells for its transgression in its mortal life.

Chinese folklore claims that the spirit can be alleviated of much of its suffering in the infernal realms by ‘sending’ it material wealth. This wealth can be put to good use, like bribing the infernal bureaucracy, and to some extent, allows the spirit to ‘live it up’ should the value of the offerings is substantial enough. Hell money is typically in units of millions, billions and trillions – presumably to offset the hellish inflation rates they have in Hades. Paper cars, jets, even Victoria Secret’s lingerie (the paper cut-out versions of course) are readily available for folks who want to make their happily departed enjoy the life available only to Hollywood stars and Wall Street bankers.

Contrast that to Buddhism, which does not encourage the attachment to materialism. If the spirits are to have a better rebirth, one should undertake virtuous deeds in their name and dedicate the merits to them and all sentient beings. Attachment to impermanent things will only cause pain and to cling on such is to deprive oneself of emancipation.

Furthermore, it is useless to make offerings to just any spirits, irrespective of the time they were dead. Surely one’s ancestors would have been reincarnated long ago! How in the Hells will they be able to receive your burnt offerings? FedEx maybe?!

There can be no reconciliation between the two diametrically different views. Either you believe one or the other. There are no two ways about it, just like there is no such thing as a ‘Christian Hindu’. Chinese folklore has had its day in the sun. It is time to ditch it. It is useless, spiritually bereft, a waste of time, money and energy, ridiculous (I admit it has its entertainment value), and for the whole of Chinese history, has never contributed to the living standards of the Chinese people. The same can be said for all religions, although I must say that Buddhism, minus the metaphysical mumble-jumbo, does have some very intelligent and morally responsible things to offer. I think if the Chinese who insist on believing the two were to just pick Buddhism, it might actually be more beneficial, at least where public cleanliness is concerned.

I have a better solution: be an atheist. The benefits are manifold. You don’t need to literally burn your money away on overpriced counterfeit notes and paper-folds. You need not dirty public places, cause the road sweepers endless grief and pollute the air. Even for a pacifist faith like Buddhism, there is the chance that adherents will turn evangelical and start to harass people. At least when an atheist turns ‘militant’ (nowadays any atheist who expresses his views vehemently is militant, on a par with Islamic militants), we generally don’t force atheism down people’s throats or indulge in all night chanting sessions and other noise-emitting/trash-producing/stinking activities. Best of all, atheists do not have to obey any divine sanctioned doctrines. Our morals – or lack thereof – are our own.

I cannot wait for the Ghost Month to end. My martial arts practice takes precedence over any haunt, revenant, poltergeist, spirit or ghost.