Ghost? Christianity vs. Buddhism (Part 4)

Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Buddhist point of view, author's comment)

-This is a post in response to the talk by Buddhism representatives-

After listening to the speech given by Venerable Hui Xian and Venerable Chang Hui, they are many good points for us to ponder.


#1 Ghost are one of the sentient beings in the six domains of the desire realm

In Buddhism, it is viewed that all sentient beings possesses the seed to Buddhahood. It is just a matter of acheiving enlightenment.
杨次公云：‘爱不重，不生娑婆，念不一，不生极乐。’
Yang CiGong: "Without desire, will not I be born in desire realm; without enlightened mind, will not I achieve Nirvana'

I would like to be given the opportunity to talk about the Six Domains of the Desire Realm. In the desire realm, we have Heavenly realm, Asura realm, Human realm, Animal realm, Preta (hungry ghost) realm and Hell realm.
To be reborn into one of these realms, it follows one's karma.

Heavenly realm - able to hold firm to the ten precepts
Asura realm - able to hold firm to the ten precepts but with mindful of anger and jealousy
Human realm - able to hold firm to the five precepts
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Precepts)
Animal realm - dominated by ignorance
Preta realm - dominated by greed
Hell realm - dominated by hatred
(http://buddhismteacher.com/three_poisons.php)


#2 Spreading the gospel to ghost?

As mentioned above, ghost in Buddhism, is one of the sentient beings in the Preta Realm. It is mentioned by the two representatives of Buddhism in the dialog that we should treat them with compassion and lending them a helping to leave the realm.

The question is how?
By virtue and kind conduct with the recitation of the sutra and counseling, merits can be transferred and becomes a helping force to deliver the ghost from its suffering.

The problem lies with, it is easier said than done.

Similar to prayers, reciting sutras may generate a good merits. However, without proper understanding of the recitation as well as without a pure kind heart and virtues, those merit will not formulate. Reciting sutra will be just like reading any other books/magazines/newspapers if its recited with a superstitious mind or craving for merits.

It is by their sin for they fall into the lower realm. Spreading gospel to the ghost is similar compared to spreading gospel to other human beings. It is to preach repentance.

I would suggest the repentance is defined as the following:
i) To know of a sin
ii) To confess the sin
iii) To refrain from commiting again
忏悔即是不二过
All these three must be present. If you know not a sin, you may not confess it. If you confess not a sin, you may not refrain from commiting it. If you refrain not from sinning, it becomes pointless to knowing or confessing it.

#3 It's from the heart

In Buddhism, it preaches that we change not the environment but our heart and precepts.
"What you think you become" -Buddha-

By cultivating unholy thoughts, we invite unholy incident. In this sense, it is also psychological work.

For example, staying in a eerie place, if you fear of paranormal activities, your mind will play tricks on you.

Pastor Enoch Lam gave a good example to explain this point. "If you are afraid of ghost, there is only one solution, invite Lord JesusChrist into your life."

In Christian and Buddhist point of view, Pastor Enoch Lam is right.
Rather than filling your heart and mind with fear and ghostly images, creating a loophole for the demon to invade your heart to lead you astray, you invite God into your life and fill your heart with the glory of God. Thus, it leaves not even a crack for the demon to ambush our soul and mind.


#4 Muslim ghost??

As mentioned in my previous post, Venerable Chang Hui apologized if there are any Malays attending the talk before expressing about the fasting ghost.

There many things that we should clarify.

a) Almost every Malay in Malaysia is of Islamic faith but there are also Chinese and Indians who are muslims.

b) The Ramadhan is a month whereby Muslims refrain themselves from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn until dusk. It is a holy month intended for Muslim to cultivate patience, humility and spirituality.

Bear in mind, most of ghost-feeding ceremony (放蒙山) is done in the evening. Even if there are Muslim ghosts (which there are not supposed to be any) going after your earthly food, they are allowed to eat. It is halal to break fast after Magrhib (sun-set prayers).

c) Muslim believe that the present life is a trial in preparation for the next realm of existence

And they say, "There is not but our worldly life; we die and live (i.e. some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing destroys us except time." And they have of that no knowledge; they are only assuming. And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, their argument is only that they say, "Bring [back] our forefathers, if you should be truthful." Say, "God causes you to live, then causes you to die; then He will assemble you for the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt," but most of the people do not know.
-Quran, 45:24-26-

Surely God will raise all the dead. But God has His own plan of things. A day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and then the dead will be resurrected to stand before God. The day will be the beginning of a life that will never end, and on that day every person will be rewarded by God according to his or her good or evil deeds

(http://www.islam-guide.com/life-after-death-by-wamy.htm)

d) When you claim that you saw Muslim ghost eating/fasting for your food (or even any ghost), was it a claim made with evidence where there are eye-witnesses?




#5 Ullambana vs. Chinese Ghost Festival

This is something that every Buddhist, especially Chinese should know of the difference between Ullambana (盂兰盆会) and Chinese Ghost Festival.

Chinese Ghost Month falls on the seventh month of the lunar calender. The fesitval is held on the 14th day of the month. During this month, it is said that the hell gates open and unleashed all the deceased to go back to the living for food and offerings, revenge etc. During this month, it is claimed (although no formal statistic by any institution, especially the bureau of statistic) that many supernatural and ghost encounters happen. During this unholy month, Chinese burn offerings and refrain from staying out at night. Buddhism which caught into this local practice too offers food to the deceased and holds many ceremony for the dead, whether to deliver them from hell/Preta realm or to feed them.

Ullambana should never be mistaken nor be explained parallel with the Ghost Festival. Although the Ullambana Sutra was preached by the Buddha during the seventh month to instruct his disciple Mahamauggalyayana on how to obtain liberation for his mother in the lower realm, it is different from the Chinese practice.

Ullambana is in the rainy season of summer, whereby Buddha disciples who were sent out to preach, comes back to the forest to be united with the sangha to celebrate the completion of their meditation, reporting their progress to the Buddha as well as Q&A session for the difficulties they encounter while preaching.

The reason Ullambana was set to be during the rainy season comes from the compassionate nature of Buddha towards the living beings who comes out of the earth after the rain. As people of that time travel on foot, it is advisable for the travelling disciples to stay at one place to avoid stepping (accidental kill) on those little living creatures.

Number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high and thus it is a joyful day for Buddhist. In Buddhism point of view, the seventh month can be consider the month of joy, contrary to a eerie feeling that Chinese gives it.





To attend such inter-faith dialogs, one should be well prepared and well educated in their own religious study as well as doing sufficient research in other religion (e.g. the Holy Bible, the Holy Quran, the Puranas etc) in order to effectively deliver the message through.

Poor preparation will give others a poor impression on your side as you are chosen to be representing the whole of your community. A very good example of a good inter-faith dialog speaker, Ahmed Deedat. Google up.


-Proper faith-

Ghost? Christianity vs. Buddhism (Part 3)

Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Buddhist point of view as heard by the author)

-As posted in my previous updates, I attended the talk about "ghost" hosted at Sin Chew Jit Poh-

(I will try my best to recall the whole talk with the help of notes taken)

The dialog started with Venerable Hui Xuan

Ghost. In the Buddhism view, ghosts are one of the sentient beings in the Preta Realm. We treat all sentient beings with compassion, especially those who fell into the three lower realm. Rather than exorcising them, as a Buddhist, we try to spread the gospel of Buddha to them, guiding them to the path of enlightenment. By preaching to ghost, with a compassionate heart, we are able to help them to lighten their suffering and encourage them to leave their current state to be reborn to a higher realm.

Thus, we should not discriminate ghost for they are just like us. Due to their sins and bad karma, they are reborn into the lower realm.

However, in most cases, your encounter what you think. Everything is from your preception and thinking. With evil thoughts and cultivation, we attract evil spirits. We shall practice the noble path (修行) in order to avoid interference from the evil spirits.

After Venerable Hui Xuan, Father Huang DaHua continued, follwed by Pastor Enoch Lam and then Venerable Chang Hui
(Christian and Catholic point of view will be posted in the next post)

Venerable Chang Hui expressed that she felt pressured after a very interesting yet informative speech given by Pastor Enoch Lam. She added on to the speech given by Venerable Xuan Hui, emphasizing on the quality of compassion. She stated that the compassionate intention of relieve suffering beings will able to touch the heart the ghost and enable them to repent their sin and return the proper path, thus leaving the Preta Realm.

She mentioned that in the engraved memories (Alaya- eight consciousnesses) of the deceased, the souls which are not able to be reborn will linger in our living dimension as ghost, retaining their living habits.

Before continuing, she apologized if there are any Malays attending the talk. She expressed that during Ullambana** (she actually meant the Chinese Ghost Festival), during the feeding of the hungry ghost ceremony, those who has gifted eyes are able to see that the ghosts rushed to fight for the food. She also pointed out that, those ghosts do not consist of only Chinese but also other races. Those who are Malay, in cases of the fasting month clashes with the Chinese Ghost Festival, they will refrain themselves from eating while observing their fellow "ghost-friends" enjoying the food. Even as ghost, they carry the habit that they practiced in the past.

(Comments by the Proper faith will be given in the next post)

-Proper faith-

Ghost? Christianity vs. Buddhism (Part 2)

Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Simple Translation of Article)

16th September 2010 -sin chew jit poh hall-

I attended a talk about "ghost" hosted at Sin Chew Jit Poh Hall. It was a dialog between Buddhist, Chatolic and Christian. Every speaker was given about 15~20 minutes to give their opinion regarding this issue. After all four speakers, the session was opened to the floor for Q&A.

The speaker squence was:
1) Venerable Hui Xuan, Fo Guang Shan (Buddha's Light Mountain)
2) Priest Huang DaHua, Kuala Lumpur Catholic Church
3) Pastor Enoch Lam, Hong Kong
4) Venerable Chang Hui, Fa Gu Shan (Dharma Drum Mountain)

Ghost. An all time favorite topic.

Here's the translation of the posted article.

About 1200 turned up for the dialog hosted by at Sin Chew Jit Poh Hall, looking forward to listen to the idea about ghost by four religious representatives. The seats were full and many sat on the floor as well as stood through the whole talk.

Pastor Enoch Lam sharing his thoughts on exorcism

"Science is unable to evidently proof the existence of ghost, it is just the matter of believing it or not." Being known as "Hong Kong-made Exorcist", Pastor Enoch Lam, shared that it is not easy to be possessed by demon or experience paranormal activity. However, there are two groups of people who will invite these events are the people who, (1) initiates contact with the spiritual realm, and (2) those who are borned with supernatural power. He also pointed out that most of the "demon-possesed" case examples are caused by schizophrenia.

Father Huang: "Demon are evil spirits"

Father Huang expressed that he was afraid of ghost during his childhood. Many of us never experienced any paranormal activities but we are afraid of their existence. Parents usually use "ghost" to scare their children, thus planted the seed of fear in to their mind. In Catholicism, not every priest can perform exorcism. Only priests who are certified by the church may do so.

Venerable Hui Xuan: Away from evil thoughts, away from evil spiritual disturbance

Venerable Hui Xuan expressed that in Buddhism, "Ghost" is considered as one of the sentient beings in the six domains in the desire realm. After death, based on ones karma, those with more demerits will be carried by their sins into the three (out of six) lower realm (Animal Realm, Preta or ghost Realm and Hell Realm).

According to Venerable Hui Xian, buddhists should treat all sentient beings with compassion. Rather than exorcizing ghost or looking down on them, buddhists should accept them and lend a helping hand for them to leave their lower realm and to be reborn in a better realm. "For what is in your mind, is what you will encounter". Venerable Hui Xian thinks that encountering paranormal activity relates to the character and habit of a person. As long we are able to change our poor conduct and evil mindset, we will be free from the disturbance of bad spirits.

Venerable Chang Hui: Buddhism rituals are held to liberate suffering beings

Venerable Chang Hui was very compassionate towards sentient beings in the Preta Realm. She mentioned that the deceased who are very attached to this world will be guided by their memories and habits, lingers around as ghost. We should give them a helping hand to enable them to be reborn into a better realm. Thus, many buddhism rituals are held, out of compassion, to relieve their suffering. These rituals are not pure superstition.

Venerable Chang Hui also stated that every religion has their way of dealing with these paranormal activities, whether it is exocizing or lending a helping hand to relieve suffering, it is up to the belief of individuals.

(I hope I am able to translate the article with minimum distortion)

-Proper fatih-

Ghost? Christianity vs. Buddhism (Part 1)

Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Summary Article)
(This is the only post in Chinese, the translation is in part 2 and the rest of the posts are in English)

http://sinchew.com.my/node/175865?tid=37
(you might not be able to visit this website because of malware attack)

I'll paste the whole article here and my opinion in my next post

談鬼事話靈界反應熱爆‧鬼上身多是精神官能症

* 國內
* 活動
* 星洲媒體活動

2010-09-17 18:32

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佛光山慧軒法師（左起）、天主教黃大華神父、香港阡陌社區浸信會林以諾牧師和法鼓山常慧法師在《星洲日報》總社禮堂進行一場精彩的“鬼事”對談。（圖：星洲日報）
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現場觀眾近1200人，座無虛席，不少人都席地而坐。（圖：星洲日報）

（雪蘭莪‧八打靈再也17日訊）近1200人昨晚出席在八打靈再也《星洲日報》總社舉辦的“放膽過來，怕甚麼‘鬼’？”講座，聽4位宗教師談鬼事、話靈界，長達3小時的講座現場坐無虛席，許多出席者環繞舞台席地而坐，有者踮腳站立聽完講座。現場問答環節更是反應熱烈，4位主講人既機智又幽默，讓讀者更清晰的瞭解各大宗教對鬼神之說的異同看法。

馬來西亞佛光山禪修指導慧軒法師、馬來西亞法鼓山道場監院常慧法師、香港阡陌社區浸信會主任牧師林以諾牧師和天主教剛恆毅研究中心主任黃大華神父是受《星洲日報》邀請進行一場宗教交流，各自從佛教、基督教和天主教的角度談論宗教對不可思議的現象的看法，同時釐清鬼神附體之說和精神官能症的區別。主持人是星洲日報副總編輯（副刊）曾毓林。講座在7時30分開始，但在7時10分現場已經擠滿觀眾。

林以諾分享驅魔趕鬼

“科學無法證明鬼是否存在，只能說是信與不信而已。”擁有豐富的驅魔經驗、譽為“港產驅魔人”的林以諾牧師，在講座中分享驅魔趕鬼過程時表示，一般人不容易被靈侵，只有兩種人才會撞見鬼，即主動型如玩碟仙通靈，被動型如天生具有陰陽眼的人。不過大部份的人不是被靈侵，而是精神官能症或精神錯亂。

坦誠自己小時候很怕鬼的黃大華神父說，很多人不曾見過鬼卻怕鬼，是因為華人父母為了嚇孩子，無意中灌輸了孩子對鬼的恐懼感。他透露在天主教中，魔鬼是不好的精神體，不過並非所有神父都可以驅魔趕鬼，只有得到主教授權的神父才能為被魔鬼附身的人進行驅魔工作。

改變惡念遠離鬼魔干擾

慧軒法師表示，佛教確認“鬼”的存在，因為“餓鬼”屬於6道眾生之一。人死後輪迴6道，只有惡業者淪落地域、畜生和餓鬼3途惡道。不過，佛門主張以慈悲心看待一切眾生，因此不驅趕、不排斥餓鬼，而是以善念協助餓鬼脫離惡道。“心中想甚麼，就會遇到甚麼。”慧軒法師認為人之所以會遇到鬼，皆與個人的習性有關，只要改變自己的惡習、惡念，就能遠離鬼魔的干擾。

常慧法師對餓鬼更多是憐憫，她相信執著的往生者會帶著記憶回到世間，為往生者助念可助於他們轉念並遠離惡道。因此佛教辦法會不是一種迷信，而是以平等心、慈悲心讓往生者能夠離苦得樂。

她表示在“鬼事”上，各宗教有不同處理方式，無論是為了協助那些被鬼干擾的人而驅鬼，還是以慈悲心去超度餓鬼，都是各宗教的善意。

上述講座是由《星洲日報》主辦，孝恩集團贊助。法鼓山馬來西亞道場、普門雜誌、飛躍網絡國際皆參與協辦。
星洲日報‧2010.09.17