Burning Paper Money or Items To Death. Do It help In Afterli
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Hello,
In Chinese custom believed that the dead can received paper money, paper
clothes and etc burned to them.
This topics being posted at http://www.buddhism4u.com
Thank you
Regards,
kekwei -
actually, Buddhism don't practice this, i mean in the olden days of Buddha.
paper were not even invented.
if i recall from Master Shen Kai's Q&A: the origination of paper burning was that a man produce raw paper to be sold. his brother also produce paper and make a lot of money. but the man bankrupt or something. then oneday his wife got so angry/depress(?) that she die. the man was very upset and since the raw paper is not selling, he burned them. and a strange thing happen, the wife who was in the coffin woke up!
people though the hell king after 'recieving' the burn paper return his wife. as time goes by, they got this believe.
true or not got to do with modernization thinking of human that leads to ghost realms. since the thinking and habits of human are brought to the ghost realms.
however if the dead go to another realms other than the ghost realms, this would not work.
Here is a Chinese web page from Master Ck on this subject:
http://www.amtb.org.tw/xuebudd/24w.htm
so we neither approve non disapprove. Most grand masters like Master Yin Guang would say.
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Chinese folklore
Up to you to believe -
Hi Kekwei, as the others have suggested, this is a folklore Chinese and Buddhists do not share this belief. It is important to understand the difference between Buddhism and Chinese folks practises and not confuse them. I would like to share with you this article:Originally posted by kekwei:Hello,
In Chinese custom believed that the dead can received paper money, paper
clothes and etc burned to them.
This topics being posted at http://www.buddhism4u.com
Thank you
Regards,
kekwei
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol5no1a.htmVolume 5 no 1
Feature
Ullambana Dharma - not Festival of Hungry Ghosts
By Venerable Shen-Kai
According to a popular Chinese superstition, ghosts are released from hell in the 7th month of the Chinese calendar for a one-month break in the human world. In order to appease them, animals are slaughtered and offered to these 'hungry ghosts', together with other food. Big feasts and other festivities are held during this month and the most 'auspicious day' is the 15th day of the month. It is so widespread that this yearly affair is dubbed the Month or Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. What is this all about?
Among the chief disciples of the Buddha was one named Maudgalyayana. He had immense supernatural powers: Deva-foot ubiquity which made it possible for him to appear at any place at will, the divine sight of Deva-eye to have unlimited vision of all things, large and small, near and distant; Deva-ear to hear all sounds regardless of the distance. Furthermore, he had the ability to read and understand whatever was in a person's mind. He also had the ability to see clearly the events that occurred in a person's many past lives aeons ago. Thus, Maudgalyayana is considered to be a Maha-Bodhisattva who is foremost in supernatural powers.
One day, his Deva-eye saw that his deceased mother had transmigrated to the realm of the hungry ghost. Her stomach was enlarged and she had tiny limbs. Her throat was as small as the eye of a needle, and as a result, it was impossible for her to eat any food or even to swallow a drop of water. Maudgalyayana could not bear the sight of his mother in such an extreme state of suffering. He immediately filled his alms bowl with food and with the immense power that he possessed, he sent it to his mother. However, she could not have the food because each time it turned into charcoal before she could put it in her mouth. It hurt Maudgalyayana to see what was happening and because of his strong emotion for his mother, it hindered his ability to see the karma that she had committed in her past lives. He went to Buddha for advice. The Buddha closed his eyes and entered into pure contemplation. With great compassion and gentleness, he said: "Maudgalyayana, your mother did not believe in the retributions arising from the law of cause and effect. She committed many evil deeds. She dishonoured the Buddha and insulted the Sangha [1], had no respect for the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), was greedy, filled with hatred, ignorant and arrogant. She was a wicked person who committed many evils, and she teased others giving them no peace. Therefore, she is suffering such a bitter consequence. Even though you are her son and your filial piety touches the heavens, these are still not able to save a person who had committed such serious evil karma." On hearing this, Maudgalyayana wept in pain.
Notes
1. Sangha
The corporate assembly of at least 3 monks; in general the term has come to mean a monk, or monks.
2. Bodhi
From budh; knowledge, understanding; perfect wisdom; the illuminated or enlightened mind.
The Buddha continued to console him, "It is impossible to rely solely on your own effort to save your mother from the realm of the hungry ghost. The only way is to use the combined merits of the Sangha. The 15th day of the 7th month of each year is designated "Buddha's Joy Day". This is the last day of the Sangha's summer retreat, and because of the purity with which the Sangha observed the precepts and practised cultivation, many attain the Bodhi [2]. The merits that they accumulate are immense beyond imagination, and the Buddha is most delighted. If you make an offering to these Sangha during this time, you can liberate your deceased parents and relatives from the suffering of the three evil realms (realms of animal, hungry ghost and hell) through their immense merits. If the parents are still living, then they shall be blessed with good health, happiness and a life of abundance. This is the truly marvellous method of giving salvation to the deceased." Maudgalyayana was delighted to hear this, and carried out the Buddha's advice accordingly. Thus, on the 15th of the 7th month after the offering to the Sangha, Maudgalyayana's mother was liberated from the suffering of the realm of the hungry ghost.
To give offering to the Sangha in this way is called the 'Ullambana' method. After Maudgalyayana received the benefits from this Dharma, he was very grateful to the Buddha and praised the merits of the Three Treasures. He advised people to promote the 'Ullambana Dharma'. This day, the 15th of the 7th month, can also be considered an occasion to express our gratitude and filial piety to our parents and ancestors. Unfortunately, the passage of time saw a gradual erosion in its understanding and purpose, so much so that this special occasion is not performed in accordance to the Dharma. Today, this auspicious celebration has become a day of widespread slaughter of animals to be used as offering to the hungry ghosts. The original act of performing offerings to the Sangha has become a day for feasting and making offerings to the hungry ghosts, often referred to as 'to invite the good brothers to a feast'. These practices are not only against the compassion of the Buddha, but also a let down to Maudgalyayana who had advised the world to be filial and to perform good deeds.
When we refrain from killing and protect all lives, we actually accumulate the merit of longevity and good health. It is meaningless to kill other living beings and offer them to the ghost, because they cannot benefit from these at all. Instead, those who kill shall have to repay for their action by suffering endlessly in hell. Unless we put an end to all forms of killing, the world forever shall not have peace. If the tradition of offering to the ghosts and the deceased on this day cannot be changed, the least we could do is to replace the slaughter and offer of meat with vegetarian food, flowers or fruits. It does not matter if we are not able to make offerings to the Sangha on this day, but at least we could invite them to chant the sutra for the purpose of liberating the deceased. In this way, it benefits both the living and the deceased.
© Copyright 2002.Jen Chen Buddhism Centre
Designed by DCS Solutions Ltd -
Buddhism views the idea that our lives end with death as a serious delusion. It sees everything in the universe, everything that happens, as part of a vast living web of interconnection. The vibrant energy we call life that flows through the universe has no beginning & no end. Life is a continuous, dynamic process of change. Why then should human life be the one exception? Why should our existence be an arbitary, one-shot deal, disconnected from the universal rhythms of life?
We now know that stars & galaxies are born, live out their natural span, & die. What applies to the vast realities of the universe applies equally to the miniature relams of our bodies. From a purely physical perspective, our boides are composed of the same materials & chemical compounds as the distant galaxies. In this sense, we're quite literally children of the stars.
The human body consists of some 60 trillion individual cells, & life is the vital force that harmonises the infinitely complex functioning of this mind-boggling number of individual cells. Each moment, untold numbers of cells are dying & being replaced by the birth of new cells. At this level, we experience daily cycles of birth & death.
On a very practical level, death is necessary. If people lived forever, they would eventually start to long for death. Without death, we would face a whole new array of problems - from overpopulation to people having to live forever in age bodies. Death makes room for renewal & regeneration.
Death should therefore be appreciated, like life, as a blessing. Buddhism views death as a period of rest, like sleep, by which life regains energy & prepares for new cycles of living. Thus there's no reason to fear death, to hate or seek to banish it from our minds.
Death doesn't discriminate; it strips us of everything. Fame, wealth & power are all useless in the unadorned reality of the final moments of life. When the time comes, we'll have only ourselves to rely on. This is a solemn confrontation that we must face armed with only our raw humanity, the actual accord of what we have done, how we've chosen to live our lives, asking, "Had I live true to myself? What have I contributed to the world? What are my satisfactions of regrets?"
To die well, one must have lived well. For those who lived true to their convictions, who have worked to bring happiness to others, death can come as a comforting rest, like the well-earned sleep that follows a day of enjoyable exertion.
An awareness of death enables us to live each day - each moment - filled with appreciation for the unique opportunity we've to create something of our time on Earth. In order to enjoy true happiness, we should live each moment as if it were our last. Today will never return. We may speak of the past or of the future, but the only reality we've is that of this present instant. And confronting the reality of death actually enables us to bring unlimited creativity, courage & joy into each instant of our lives. -
Originally posted by Spirit of Fire:Buddhism views the idea that our lives end with death as a serious delusion. It sees everything in the universe, everything that happens, as part of a vast living web of interconnection. The vibrant energy we call life that flows through the universe has no beginning & no end. Life is a continuous, dynamic process of change. Why then should human life be the one exception? Why should our existence be an arbitary, one-shot deal, disconnected from the universal rhythms of life?
We now know that stars & galaxies are born, live out their natural span, & die. What applies to the vast realities of the universe applies equally to the miniature relams of our bodies. From a purely physical perspective, our boides are composed of the same materials & chemical compounds as the distant galaxies. In this sense, we're quite literally children of the stars.
The human body consists of some 60 trillion individual cells, & life is the vital force that harmonises the infinitely complex functioning of this mind-boggling number of individual cells. Each moment, untold numbers of cells are dying & being replaced by the birth of new cells. At this level, we experience daily cycles of birth & death.
On a very practical level, death is necessary. If people lived forever, they would eventually start to long for death. Without death, we would face a whole new array of problems - from overpopulation to people having to live forever in age bodies. Death makes room for renewal & regeneration.
Death should therefore be appreciated, like life, as a blessing. Buddhism views death as a period of rest, like sleep, by which life regains energy & prepares for new cycles of living. Thus there's no reason to fear death, to hate or seek to banish it from our minds.
Death doesn't discriminate; it strips us of everything. Fame, wealth & power are all useless in the unadorned reality of the final moments of life. When the time comes, we'll have only ourselves to rely on. This is a solemn confrontation that we must face armed with only our raw humanity, the actual accord of what we have done, how we've chosen to live our lives, asking, "Had I live true to myself? What have I contributed to the world? What are my satisfactions of regrets?"
To die well, one must have lived well. For those who lived true to their convictions, who have worked to bring happiness to others, death can come as a comforting rest, like the well-earned sleep that follows a day of enjoyable exertion.
An awareness of death enables us to live each day - each moment - filled with appreciation for the unique opportunity we've to create something of our time on Earth. In order to enjoy true happiness, we should live each moment as if it were our last. Today will never return. We may speak of the past or of the future, but the only reality we've is that of this present instant. And confronting the reality of death actually enables us to bring unlimited creativity, courage & joy into each instant of our lives.
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If our mind is frightened of death, panics at the thought of death, regretts and sorrows over death, then such a person will surely die because his mind dies along with his body.
If there is the person who is not frightened of death, does not panic at the thought of death, has no regretts, and not sorrow, he is perfectly clear: The true nature is Not-coming and not-going, he does not associate himself with his body nor sees death as death, such a person will not be affected by death, he is known to have achieved the Deathless, and has reached Nirvana. -
After you leave for the nether world... please remember to post here .. to let us know.
Thanks in advance kekwei buddy 'o' Pal ..... don't forget .... -
Originally posted by MobyDog:After you leave for the nether world... please remember to post here .. to let us know.
Thanks in advance kekwei buddy 'o' Pal ..... don't forget ....
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can i come visit you from the nether world?Originally posted by MobyDog:After you leave for the nether world... please remember to post here .. to let us know.
Thanks in advance kekwei buddy 'o' Pal ..... don't forget .... -
oh btw talking abt chinese custom for ppl die hor, when my fren sit in the same table during recess time i like to put his chopstick to the "offering" position for ghosts when he's away buying the drink
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indeed this is chinese custom not buddhist customOriginally posted by ceecookie:oh btw talking abt chinese custom for ppl die hor, when my fren sit in the same table during recess time i like to put his chopstick to the "offering" position for ghosts when he's away buying the drink 
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actually it's buddhist custom rather isent it?Originally posted by neutral_onliner:indeed this is chinese custom not buddhist custom
i asked my christian fren he say he dont believe, so it cant be chinese custom? -
Chinese folks tradition. Associated with modern day taoism rather than buddhism. No, we don't offer things to deities and gods like them. We dont worship deities and gods.Originally posted by ceecookie:actually it's buddhist custom rather isent it?
i asked my christian fren he say he dont believe, so it cant be chinese custom? -
compare burning paper doors, paper cars, paper house etc to burning real people, building moselm etc, the former is more compassionate.
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moselm =Originally posted by LinYu:compare burning paper doors, paper cars, paper house etc to burning real people, building moselm etc, the former is more compassionate.
Anyway Buddhists only practise one type of burning... that is the cremation of the body.
We dont practise burning paper money, burning houses etc, we simply dont believe it will have any help to the afterlife and the spirits. Worse still some people kill pigs and animals, that will even deteorate the conditions of the person.
The only real way is to dedicate merits to them. -
As a buddhist i don't believe in such thing. Imagine you burn car the dead receive car, you burn bike they receive bike? Burn paper BMW they get paper BMW or real BMW? If you are rich enough to burn real BMW will they get real or paper BMW?Originally posted by kekwei:Hello,
In Chinese custom believed that the dead can received paper money, paper
clothes and etc burned to them.
This topics being posted at http://www.buddhism4u.com
Thank you
Regards,
kekwei
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
quoted by buddha -
Yes, you are right. One has to use one's common sense on these stuff.Originally posted by grandeur:As a buddhist i don't believe in such thing. Imagine you burn car the dead receive car, you burn bike they receive bike? Burn paper BMW they get paper BMW or real BMW? If you are rich enough to burn real BMW will they get real or paper BMW?
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
quoted by buddha
I heard from a monk in audio tapes, ridiculing these practises. He asked a devotee, whose grandfather has passed away, if you burn an aeroplane to him, there are no pilots, no flight crew, no engineers, no petrol, how the burned plane gonna took off and fly away in the sky.
The Buddha also commented on the Hindu's practise of washing away one's sin or kamma in the Ganges River, reputed to be a holy river in India. If that is true, what about fishes, crabs or organisms and beings who reside in the Ganges River, aren't they have no sins or kamma since they lived in the river.
All these customs and practises were at least few thousands years old and develop by ancient people, who that time were not educated and ignorant of the various phenomenon and science and technology during that era were rather ancient. Hences, the practises and customs of today were remnants of the ancient past and have no meaning in this postmodern world, where science, education, technology and globalisation have indeed revealed to us more and more things and phenomenon. -
When one dies, one inherit good and bad kamma and that determines where your next life is reborn.Originally posted by kekwei:Hello,
In Chinese custom believed that the dead can received paper money, paper
clothes and etc burned to them.
This topics being posted at http://www.buddhism4u.com
Thank you
Regards,
kekwei
Contrary to chinese beliefs, deceased does, will and cannot receive all these burned paper money, clothes, houses whatever. All they will receive are their past kamma, good or bad depending on what you do when you were alive. If do bad, bad kamma, if do good, good kamma and that will determine where you will be born at.
But if you really want to help the deceased, you can do good deeds and then transfer the merit to the deceased. Offering alms and robes to the Sangha or donating money to print dhamma books or helping to donate to help build a temple for the Sangha are merits that are immeasurable, cannot use words or books to describe the meritorous deeds. -
well, cant blame you on being ignorant on buddhism and the chinese customs and practises.Originally posted by ceecookie:actually it's buddhist custom rather isent it?
i asked my christian fren he say he dont believe, so it cant be chinese custom?
I suggest you go find out more information first before arriving conclusion. -
Hi ceecookie,Originally posted by ceecookie:oh btw talking abt chinese custom for ppl die hor, when my fren sit in the same table during recess time i like to put his chopstick to the "offering" position for ghosts when he's away buying the drink
do u noe wat buddhism is all abt?
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if i recall from MAster Shen Kai Q&A, there was a story of 2 family living next to each other. One was a Christian family and one folk believe who believe burn paper money. the grandfather of the Christian family died and they didn't believe in burning paper money to him. later the grandfather was reborn into ghost realm and went to enter into the dream of the neighbour saying that he's very poor in the ghost realm.
i think it's not that they can recieve anything. it's like this habit of wealth possession they have. this craving karmic energy is brought to the ghost realm.
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yea...tho i usually mix both togetherOriginally posted by neutral_onliner:Hi ceecookie,
do u noe wat buddhism is all abt? -
It is impossible to mix something totally different... those who do are due to their ignorance and not knowing what both of them are.. I suggest you do read more and find out what Buddhism is.Originally posted by ceecookie:yea...tho i usually mix both together -
If I never remember wrongly, this was confused with Taoism. Taoism has more elaborate practices, while Buddhism is more simple.Originally posted by kekwei:Hello,
In Chinese custom believed that the dead can received paper money, paper
clothes and etc burned to them.
This topics being posted at http://www.buddhism4u.com
Thank you
Regards,
kekwei
So there is no burning of paper money, clothes etc.