A Dharma Talk on the Zhongyuan Festival

Today is the Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan Festival), the festival of ghosts and spirits. When we burn paper money for the beings of the netherworld, after they receive it, they can take it and spend it—buying daily necessities, repaying debts, or exchanging courtesies, and so on. Is the outer representation of ghosts the same as that of humans? We burn the paper money so that the human outer representation is destroyed, yet an outer representation appears in the netherworld. So what kind of representation do these paper money constitute for the beings of the netherworld? What is the difference between this and the representation we humans perceive? How is the outer representation transformed?

I once burned a hand-written Great Compassion Mantra (Dabei Zhou) and Buddhist sutras for the beings of the netherworld. Later, they appeared in my dream, joyfully holding the sutras in their hands and studying them, even wearing glasses. I have also performed contemplation for beings of the ghost realm, and they appeared in my dreams showing that their health had improved, their spirits were joyful, and their minds were cheerful and open.

The mental intentions of a person are inconceivable; a single thought can indeed change many dharma-appearances, and in the end can change the trichiliocosm. Such a thought requires excellent meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom—that is, meditative absorption (samādhi). The true fire of samādhi burns throughout the great chiliocosm, making the great chiliocosm flourish and thrive. The beings of a great chiliocosm share common karma; their environments are roughly the same, so their outer representations are more or less alike. The more common karma there is, the closer they are to one another, and the more consistent their outer representations are. But because their individual karma differs, the inner representations each of them contacts differ, and their enjoyments vary.