Chapter 551 - Being Straight To The Point (2/2)
It was simple because of one main reason If they truly followed the Compassionate Water Repentance scripture, it would be a ht He could forget about the other villages, since the ceremony was very complicated and troublesome if all the rites were followed
Of course, the lack ofwas helpless about it
After setting up the Lone Al and Monkey on his es Lone Ale and by the ti As there were tooand Monkey ate a little vegetarian food since the sun had already set They shouted at the top of the mountain and the next un!
With the bell sounding, people came out of their homes and inserted an incense stick at their doors The families ere better off inserted more incense sticks This practice was known as Butian, which sy of the Five Grains Froe seemed to be blanketed in a layer of se, which h heaven and earth had been overturned with the village twinkling like the stars in a night sky
Following that, offering ite table to honor the ancestors
Monkey held a huge basket of offerings and followed behind Fangzheng to the Lone Als and scattered the of a Buddhist ritual known as Blazing Mouth The scattered offerings were given to the wandering ghosts to alleviate their banal auras, a sacrifice to the dead
Following that, Fangzheng went up the platform and sat at the monk’s seat In front of him was a plaque which had names written on it The nu had just started with the Blazing Mouth proceedings, so regardless of the nuan reciting the scriptures
After he finished the scriptures, the Blazing Mouth caot up and left the sacrificial platforers before they went to the riverside
Each person held a lotus lantern They lit the candles on them and placed them into the river As the lanterns went down the river, the lanterns quickly extinguished However, the crowd rejoiced over it instead of being angry
Monkey was confused when he saw this as he asked softly, “Master, Why are they so happy that their lanterns have extinguished?”
“Huhosts have their outcohosts take the path of darkness The ancients believe that it’s hard for there to be light underwater and that the darkness and moisture of it resemble hell Therefore they believe the river is the path of darkness, which is the ghostly path Today, as the ghosts are travelling, it could be easy for them to lose their way If they cannot return to hell, they will becohosts that haunt the area Therefore by releasing water lanterns, it helps theuides them back to hell Certain places will even prepare spirit boats and spirit houses Spirit boats can even ferry the souls to hell As for spirit houses, they allow the ghosts to have a residence in hell However, we do not have the conditions to make those, so we did not make them
As for the reason why they were happy with the extinguished lanterns, that is because it indicates that a spirit has been sent off,” explained Fangzheng softly
Monkey was enlightened, but there were stillthe water lanterns to send off the souls, it alsohurriedly sat on ahis rounds, it was already nearly dawn by the time he returned As they walked back up the ued hihosts in our hearts So then do you actually not believe that there are ghosts in this world? If so, why do you participate in the Yulanpen Festival? Since there are no ghosts, aste soall this manpower and money? It feels pointless and like a waste of food”
Fangzheng shook his head “As I said before, you should not view things superficially You have to see the effects of events It’s true I do not believe in ghosts, but I also say that there’s a ghost in everyone’s heart Sohosts need to be repressed and offered sacrifices else they will come out to wreak havoc”
“I don’t understand,” Monkey decisively shook his head as he spoke his et straight to the point Money in this world is easy to earn, but withoutleft! Without morals, no matter how much money you have, it will only mean trouble! On the contrary, no ood moral character is, it will reduce the animosity in this world and increase its war To Day, it is all to re all the virtues, filial piety ranks first If a person is filial, they will not be incorrigibly bad no matter how bad they become Perhaps the effect of such festivals is to make the evil repent It can also destroy evils before they beco It warns children and people who just had evil thoughts coe, they will still be filial when they grow up No matter how bad they are, they will still be redeemable Do you understand it now?”