Yu Lan Cultural Festival

Many Chinese people think that the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month (usually around mid-August) is the "Yu Lan Festival" (盂蘭節), and it is commonly known as the "Chinese Ghost Festival" (中國鬼節). When I was a young kid living on Peel Street in Central, I went to the front area of the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters in Central on this day with my mother to sacrifice to the dead and watched the Teochew people performing the traditional Chinese operas. Some people said to avoid sitting in the theatre's first row seats at night. It is because those seats are reserved for the dead spirits.

"Yu Lan" is the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit term "ullambana". The full reading in Chinese is "Yu Lan Basin" (Yú Lán Pěn盂蘭盆), and the literal translation is " Wū Lán Pó Ná" (烏藍婆拏), which is used as a metaphor to describe the hardship of the deceased, like being hanged upside down(倒懸). However, due to the transliteration problem, the predecessors split the term into "Yu Lan (盂蘭)" and "Basin (盆)". "Basin" is "alms bowl (鉢)"  in Chinese. The people will fill the alms bowl full of various fruits as sacrificial offerings  to support the Buddha and monks during the ritual ceremony. The alms bowl is regarded as a "rescue tool (救器)" and be used to  save the people who was been hanged upside down in the hell(解倒懸). The ancients believed that the basin was called "Yu Lan". Therefore, the festival is named Yu Lan Festival. The term "Yu Lan Basin (盂蘭盆)" means putting the sacrificial offerings in the alms bowl and offering them to save the dead souls from the doom of being hanged upside down in hell. The term cannot be dividually interpreted in Yu Lan(盂蘭) and Basin(盆). " The Ullambana Sūtra (the scripture of Ullambana, 〈佛說盂蘭盆經〉)" is not equal to  "The Relief Sūtra"(〈佛說救倒懸盆經〉). The above misunderstandings were caused by communication and translation errors between languages.

The Yu Lan Festival comes from a legend: "Mulian (目連, the Sanskrit name of Mulian is Maudgalyāyana) saved his mother (目連救母)". According to " the Ullambana Sūtra", Mulian was a disciple of the Buddha, attained enlightenment through cultivation and observed the world with the "Six  Psychics (六神通)". He saw his mother was skin and bones in the world of hungry ghosts (餓鬼道). She suffered from hunger and pain. It was because his mother was wealthy when she was alive. However, she was greedy and hated the monks who advocated doing good. She was always making impertinent remarks, making things difficult for people, and committing all sorts of wickedness. Therefore, she was reborn as a  Preta (惡鬼) after her death, and the punishment lasted forever. Reborn as a  Preta after death is the most horrible punishment in hell. Mulian tried to offer the food to his mother with his  psychic, but when the food reached his mother's mouth once, it turned into coals. So, he asked the Buddha to give advice. The Buddha told him the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the "day of confession (自恣日)". On that day, he could save and transcend his deceased mother by using a "Ullambana"  to fill with various fruits and offer them support the venerable monks of the ten directions. Since then, the Buddhists will hold the "ullambana" assembly on the seventh lunar month to repay the loving-kindness of their parents by doing good and almsgiving to someone in need. Then they may even save their dead parents from being hanged upside down in Hades.

As for the origin of the name of the "Zhongyuan Festival (中元節)", it comes from the birthday of the officer of the earth (地官) in Taoism (Emperor Shun, 舜帝), who holds a human and ghost record book (鬼錄簿) to review good and evil. Since hell will open the gates of ghosts in the seventh lunar month, any dead souls, including hungry ghosts and lonely souls, and even the deities from everywhere will come to this world. Therefore, the people will set up the altar and chant the scripture, prepare abundant meat and fruits as offerings for universal salvation. They also do services for the officer of the earth to absolve them from guilt. In addition, according to historical records, Emperor Shun's father was stupid, his stepmother was treacherous, and his younger brother was arrogant. Shun was still treating them respectfully and courteously. Later, Emperor Yao (堯帝) abdicated the throne to him. Therefore, Zhongyuan Festival is also called the "Dutiful Son Festival (孝子節)". The people will prepare many sacrificial offerings to their ancestors on this day. In the rural areas, the peasants will also offer the recently harvested crops to their ancestors to report the results of the autumn harvest. They commemorate the filial deeds of Emperor Shun.

Emperor Wu of Liang (梁武帝蕭衍, 464-549) advocated the Ullambana Festival. It became a custom of the imperial court and was widely spread among the societies. The festival gradually integrated into the traditional Chinese Confucian and Taoist thoughts of "filial piety as the foundation". According to historical records, Empress Wu of Zhou  (武則天, 624 - 705), Emperor Daizong of Tang (唐代宗李豫, 727 - 779), and Emperor Dezong of Tang (唐德宗李適, 742 - 805) would go and watch the Yu Lan Festival ceremony in the capital temple. In 768, Emperor Daizong of Tang participated in the Ullambana Festival to worship ancestors and pray for the blessings of all people. He even arranged a ceremony in the temple to give alms for his mother's liberation, which shows that the emperor actively participated in the Yu Lan Festival ritual ceremonies. The meaning of the festival has been enriched, from relieving dead parents' suffering to universal salvation for wandering souls to transcending those who were unfortunate deceased, and Taoist priests chanting scriptures and performing the Taoist rituals. The priests will also "serve offerings to the monks (供僧)". They pray for their living parents' blessings, solve their problems, and prolong auspicious in their daily life. It helped the people, ghosts and ancestors. The Yu Lan Festival merged Buddhism's and Taoism's thoughts into one, and it continues until now.

The Yu Lan Festival was originally about giving food offerings to support the monks. Then it turned to show filial piety to the ancestors and remember their benevolence. The original intention of the festival does not have the characteristics of worshipping the ghosts and gods nor dispatching rice to the folk for charity. It was transmitted from Tianzhu (天竺, now India) to China later. It had been localised, absorbed Confucianism's thought, and was influenced by the confluence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Yu Lan Festival is full of cultural festival characteristics in today's Hong Kong. The Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organizations (香港潮屬社團總會) and other organisations will organise the Yu Lan Cultural Festival in Victoria Park every year in the seventh lunar month. The Yu Lan Cultural Festival of the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community has been listed in the National and Hong Kong intangible cultural heritage catalogues. It also coordinates with modern digital humanities technology, festival activities, booth games, and the "Yu Lan Scramble Sacrificial Offerings Competition (盂蘭搶孤競賽)" is an activity having sports characteristics, which make this traditional culture spread in modern times. Today, the traditional Chinese Yu Lan culture is also widely distributed to the Chinese communities in Northeast and Southeast Asia. Many Chinese also sacrifice their ancestors during the seventh lunar month to show filial piety.