Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff to blow your mind, a production of
Speaker 1: my heart radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the monster fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: stuff to blow your mind, focusing in on mythical creatures,
Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time, as we discussed in the
Speaker 1: stuff to blow your mind episode incense, part one. The
Speaker 1: burning of incense is intrinsically linked in various cultures to
Speaker 1: traditions of burnt offerings to divine beings. Likewise, the burning
Speaker 1: of incense is also vital in the creation of sacred spaces,
Speaker 1: and in eastern traditions this crosses over into traditions involving
Speaker 1: the veneration of ancestors. Now, as guards seamen points out
Speaker 1: in the two thousand thirteen article, why don't we see
Speaker 1: some real money here offerings in Chinese religion, incense use
Speaker 1: in Chinese Buddhism isn't truly an offering to spirits or gods,
Speaker 1: but rather a formal part of a sacred rite that
Speaker 1: separates the space and the proceedings from the mundane world. Still,
Speaker 1: the Link Between Incense and rites concerning the dead has
Speaker 1: resulted in the generation of various beliefs and traditions that
Speaker 1: more firmly link incense with the spirits of the deceased.
Speaker 1: For example, their traditions in both Chinese and Japanese Culture
Speaker 1: regarding a particular incense than may be burned to summon
Speaker 1: the spirits of the dead. The details of the supernatural
Speaker 1: drama vary with the telling, but one of the oldest
Speaker 1: accounts is that of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty,
Speaker 1: who is said to have burned the Spirit's summoning incense
Speaker 1: in order to see the face of his deceased consort,
Speaker 1: Lady Lee. While the magical smoke did summon her image,
Speaker 1: it only lasted as long as it took the fuel
Speaker 1: to burn away, and when it finally was extinguished, the emperor,
Speaker 1: it is said, died of a broken heart. In reality,
Speaker 1: it should be noted he actually died after a serious illness,
Speaker 1: but we won't let that stand in the way of
Speaker 1: a good tale. But now let us turn to the
Speaker 1: incense for the damned. Of course, within Chinese Buddhism we
Speaker 1: do not have damnation of the same flavor as in
Speaker 1: western traditions. Even the hells are but another link in
Speaker 1: the chain of incarnations that a soul travels through before
Speaker 1: it finds liberation, but the realm just before the hell's
Speaker 1: or Naraka, is the realm of hungry ghosts, or PRETTA.
Speaker 1: To Be Reborn as a hungry ghost is to live
Speaker 1: one's life as a reduced shade, commanded only by a
Speaker 1: hunger linked, through Karma, to the individual's former life, as
Speaker 1: pointed out by Costantino Moretti in the two thousand seventeen article,
Speaker 1: the thirty six categories of hungry ghosts described in the
Speaker 1: Sutra of the foundations of mindfulness of the true law.
Speaker 1: This sixth century translation of the text in question outlines
Speaker 1: the various hungry ghosts in Buddhist tradition at the time
Speaker 1: and discusses their defining hungers. Some of these ghosts were
Speaker 1: consumed by their hunger for wind or funeral lashes or
Speaker 1: blood or even living flesh, which brings us to the
Speaker 1: SI Shang Yan, or incense eaters. Moretti describes these ghosts
Speaker 1: as beings that dwell at crossroads or in temples. They
Speaker 1: appear wearing garlands and hunger incessantly and only for the
Speaker 1: smoke of burning incense. The KARMIC meaning of this fate,
Speaker 1: Moretti describes, is linked to the sin in their former
Speaker 1: life of selling low quality incense at a high price too. Believers, however,
Speaker 1: as these sinful acts still quote, indirectly contributed to other
Speaker 1: people's merit making, the ghosts are karmically imbued with certain powers,
Speaker 1: powers that unwise men were said to seek through acts
Speaker 1: of worship offerings of incense. However, Moretti points out, the
Speaker 1: worship of incense eating hungry ghosts is best left to
Speaker 1: men who quote ignore the law of karmic retribution. Tune
Speaker 1: in for additional episodes of the monster fact each week.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact. That's stuff
Speaker 1: to blow your mind. Dot Com, stuff to blow your
Speaker 1: mind's production of I heart radio. For more podcasts for
Speaker 1: my heart radio, visit the I heart radio APP, apple
Speaker 1: podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.