Experiencing the Ullambana and some reflections on religion 盂蘭盆簡記

"TThere is no need for you to understand religion, there is only the need to believe in religion."
「你不需要理解宗教，只需要信仰宗教。」

"Ullambana, rather than giving a Durkheinist collective effervescence, is based on human beings' most noble and honest feeling, that is, love to family members. Love that can cross time, space, and the line between life and death."
「盂蘭盆儀式傳達的，並非涂爾幹式的集體意志，而是人類最純粹高貴的情感：人倫親情的舐犢濡慕，足以戰勝死生契闊。」

Religious ceremony can carry various meanings. Sociologists usually notice the organization of a ceremony, e.g., the scale of participation, as well as the social impact, e.g., political power of the shaman. Anthropologists tend to examine symbols that reveal  human-god relationships , i.e., how the concept of human is interpreted by religion or during the ceremony. For example, in Victor Turner's classic analysis, "liminality" is the most essential part of the ritual, in which human people can escape from one's original social identity and transformed into a new one. However, I observe a religious ceremony, Ullambana, that characterizes humans' emotional intimacy and secular feelings.

     The Ullambana fest has been an important tradition in Buddhism countries. The fest mix philosophies from Taoism with  a Buddhist legend and the local folk cultures in Taiwan, Okinawa, Vietnam...etc. According the Ullambana sutra, Maudgalyayana was a loving son, witnessed his deceased mother suffered and hungry in hell. To liberate his mother, Muadgalyayana followed Buddha's teachings by offering "feast" for those suffering and hungry ghosts. In my hometown Chuanghua, the fest is usually held in the first week of July, the ghost month of the lunar calender, and taken place at the county Auditorium, the largest public buildings in Chuanghua. My father's  friend has volunteered in the giant organization that assists the ceremony. According to him, the volunteers begin to organize ceremony every January. They meet regularly to discuss meticulous details regarding reception, transportation, and worshiping as well as the sermons. Three months prior to fest, the advertisement boards have stood up throughout the city. Worshipers like my parents had donated money to the feast for buying "tables of food" to serve my late grandparents. The tents, flower decorations, Buddhist statures, and all necessary equipment are setup three days beforehand. At the big day, hundreds of volunteers provides receptions and free vegetarian food to welcome worshipers who come to pray and listen to the sermons of Buddhism.

     In the beginning, I casts doubts on the nature of religion while participating in the Ullambana ritual. My parents and I arrived the fest around 9 in the morning, and by the time, monks, nuns, and worshipers from national-wide had arrived and filled the Auditorium, and a prestigious old monk was giving his preach with a heavy accent. Later on, all the participates sang the Ullambana sutra in Chinese and Sanskrit, and called the tittles of c. a dozen of Buddhist figures for two times. At the same time, the worshipers were asked to open their bento boxes facing toward outside, symbolizing that foods were purified and blessed by the sacred power. This process lasted about two hours. It was a solemn occasion, but I felt uncomfortable from the beginning when I walked in. I wonder that how many participants could comprehend the old monk's teachings with his unrecognizable accent. Did people really understand the meanings of those Sanskrit and Chinese sutra? My reasonable suspect is no. First, Buddhist texts in Sanskrit are extremely complicated, and throughout the Chinese history, only few intelligent monks used to comprehend them. Second, the Chinese sutra are written in literary language, i.e,  classical Chinese, which may build barriers for common communication. I also recalled my memory of attending bible-study, in which I always questioned the Bible's logicality but a Christians filled with holy spirits can explain the gospels perfectly. I conclude that maybe to follow and believe in gods are driven by humans' natural desire. In a chaotic world, people are easily losing faith and desired for certain eternities to hold on in life. "Religion is based upon fear," as philosopher Bertrand Russell (1927) noted, it is partly "fear of unknown," and a desire to grasp "a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes." While facing a world full with uncertainty is difficult, it is easier and natural to believe in gods, coma, after-life, or heaven, which can provide a strong sense of security. Therefore, religion is not to understand what it is, but to believe there it is.

   
As the ceremony went on, on the other hand, I noticed that Ullambana soothed the worshipers' emotions as an individual, rather than provoking passions as collectiveness. Durkheimist sociologists tends to view society as a collective entity that exists beyond the individuals who composes it. Religions like Christianity are effective institutions of society because it organizes people and provide guidelines (e.g., morality) to follow. Moreover, individuals are connected with each other in church and thus able to image themselves as part of society, through which Durkheim regarded that individual can acquire the sense of sacredness. The Durkhienist concept of "collective effervescence" further refers to a situation in which individuals attain "sacredness" by losing their individuality and becoming parts of the collectiveness in religious ceremony. Such circumstances are not only visible in churches, but even more frequently witnessed in political gatherings nowadays. Mass meeting, rally, and public events are powerful techniques to trigger communal consciousness or passion of politics. However, at Ullambana, it was not the collective efflorescence or sense of sacredness that dominated participants, but, in stead, it was the secular feelings that characterized the fest. I noticed it by observing the followers' facial expressions: They seemed peaceful and calmed. During the ritual, among the twenty-thousand attendants, no one made extra noises, checking at watches, or pubbling. They were satisfied as though children fulfilled a mission, such as buying milk, given by their parents.

 "table of food" into tens of thousands of packages

After the ritual, besides, as the volunteers served the donated  "table of food" into tens of thousands of packages, I noticed many worshipers, including myself, began to develop an interest in finding out where our "table of food" were, among tens of thousands of packages. There was a simple joy as we found a package with our names. Such joy does not come from god; it is driven by a secular and very common human emotion, that is, love. In a precise manner, love to the late family members. My mother was never a religious fanatic, but she had been looking forward the event for months. Every year, she buys tables of food for her late parents and brother (whom she was most closed with in her family). After that, she would pray to gods and ask gods to inform her parents and brother the date of Ullambana, so their ghosts could come to enjoy those "tables of food" and listen to sermon. She usually spends a whole day in the fest, and listens to every preachers' teachings. She is emotionally stick to Ullambana; for her, Ullambana is the last connection that she could maintain with these beloved ones. Religious ceremony may often convey a sense of collectiveness, but people join Ullambana because of their emotional intimacy and ceaseless love that crosses the line between life and dead. Therefore, the power of Ullambana is not sacred at all, but is secular and honest.

Religion has been a controversial topic to talk about. I do not believe in God nor the presence of an absolute creator or savior. I agree with Russell that religions is based on fear, or a natural desire of looking for security, in my words. Also, I do not welcome collective effervescence, which I think is often manipulated by politicians and those in power, even though I am leftist and regard sympathy and compassion as the most important human virtues. However, I am not an atheist because I value folk belief, through which human's secular while noble feelings are drawn on. Such practices as Ullambana soothed the worshipers' emotions and convey a very simple message to human world,  in which love, not god, lives cross time, space, and beyond life and death.

Reference
Bertrand, Russell
  1927(1957)  Why I Am Not a Christian. In Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects P. Edwards, ed: Simon and Schuster.

P.S. Thanks to Amjol Shrestha for giving me useful suggestions in editing my language.