The origin of the sentence "the gate of hell opens on July 15"

July 15 is also the Buddhist Boni Festival. Transliteration of Ullam-bana in Sanskrit. "Magnolia" means hanging upside down, describing the tragic shape, and a basin refers to a vessel for holding offerings. Buddhism believes that offering this instrument can save the pain of deceased parents and relatives. The eyeworm basin means "upside down". A story is recorded in the Buddhist Scripture "The Buddhist Sutra on the Orchid": Mulian, one of the top ten disciples of Sakyamuni, wanted to repay his parents' kindness after receiving six kinds of wisdom, that is, he inspected his dead mother with the eyes of a Taoist and found that she was only skin and bones. Manglietia was very sad, so she filled a bowl of rice and wanted to give it to her mother, but the rice was just delivered to her mother and turned to ashes before it was finished. Manglietia was helpless, crying and begging the Buddha to help save her mother. Buddha said, "Your mother is sinful, and you can't save her by yourself. You have to rely on the Taoist power of ten monks. On July 15th, the monks settled in the summer, and their practice was successful. You should offer a big basin to feed the ten monks and save your mother by their spiritual strength. " Manglietia did as the Buddha instructed, and his mother really walked out of the hungry ghost road. The Buddha also said: "In the future, all Buddhist disciples can enjoy the sunshine on the 15th of July, which the Buddha likes, and prepare a hundred kinds of food and provide various pots for monks. This not only adds happiness and longevity to the living parents, but also leaves suffering and happiness for the dead parents, in order to repay their parents' parenting. "From then on, in Chinese Buddhist areas, according to the Orchid Buddhist Sutra, every year on July 15, a ceremony of confessing Buddhist things to ancestors of past dynasties was held, which was called Orchid Dharma Meeting, Orchid Zhai and Orchid Confession. Orchard Club has complicated ceremonies. The summary of Orchard Club Ceremony is detailed in Volume 8 of Yi Run's Collection of Baizhang Clear Rules and Justice, and the whole volume of Yun can be seen in Orchard Club Compilation. Among them, there are sacrificial festivals such as winding sutras in the altar, offering sacrifices to the orchid basin and monk food. Legend has it that there was a man named Mulian who dreamed that his dead mother was reduced to the ranks of hungry ghosts, so he sent food to his mother, but failed repeatedly. Mulian told the Buddha about it, and the Buddha advised him to support the monks to do more good deeds in order to free his mother from the sins of the underworld. On July 15th, Mulian made a basin (Brahman means "saving the upside down"), so Buddhist monks collectively recited scriptures for Mulian's mother and freed her from her misery. It can be seen that Buddhists' Boni Festival on July 15 has two meanings, one is to educate people to support religious monks, and the other is to educate people to do more good deeds to transcend the sins of their ancestors and advocate filial piety.

Fourth, the integration of Ghost Moon, Mid-Autumn Festival and Arahara Festival.

The custom of worshipping ghosts in July evolved into a folk ghost festival, and Taoist culture and Buddhist culture played an important role. There are striking similarities in spirit between Ghost Moon Folk Letters and Mid-Autumn Festival and Magnolia Festival. They are all based on the theme of worshipping relatives, respecting children and crossing the river. The consistency between Buddhism and Taoism Mid-Autumn Festival and China folk culture and customs made it widely recognized immediately. Both of them point to July 15, which gives Ghost Moon an important opportunity to become a festival. The establishment of festivals needs to set a fixed holiday date and have their own unique holiday customs. Buddhism and Taoism have jointly determined the fixed festival date of Ghost Festival in July, and ritual activities such as Buddhist Bonsai Festival and Taoist Mid-Autumn Festival have become part of this unique festival custom. At the same time, because Taoism is a completely local religion, the word "Mid-Autumn Festival" is also accepted by the people and has become a popular name for this festival. China culture and folk beliefs have strong assimilation function. Both local Taoism and Buddhism from India have unconsciously completed the process of adapting to local culture. The ceremony of Buddhism and Taoism on July 15th is gradually secularized, which is inextricably linked with the folk belief and custom of ghost moon. Since then, Mid-Autumn Festival has become a grand folk festival in China, offering sacrifices to the dead and ghosts, solving problems and forgiving sins.