Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 3
The Spread of the Ghost Festival 3
The Significance of the Ghost Festival 10
The Forms of Religion in Chinese Society 15
The Place of Buddhism in Chinese Society 20
The Prehistory of the Ghost Festival 26
Antecedents in Indigenous Chinese Religion 27
The Monastic Schedule 31
Taoist Parallels 35
Conclusions 40
An Episodic History of the Ghost Festival in Medieval China 43
The Canonical Sources: The Yu-lan-p'en Sutra and The Sutra on Offering Bowls to Repay Kindness （CA. 400--500） 48
Tsung Lin's Record of Seasonal Observances in Ching-ch'u (ca. 561) 56
The Pure Land Yu-lan-p'en Sutra (ca. 600--650) 58
Hui-ching's Commentary Praising the Yu-lan-p'en Sutra (ca. 636--639) 63
Tao-shih's Memorandum on Offerings to the Buddha (ca. 668) 66
Yang Chiung's ``Yu-lan-p'en Rhapsody'' (692) 71
eovernment Offerings According to the T'ang liu-tien (ca. 739) 77
The Celebration under Emperor Tai-tsung in 768 78
Poems and Celebrations under Emperor Te-tsung (r. 779--805) 83
The Transformation Text on Mu-lien Saving His Mother from the Dark Regions (ca. 800) 87
Tsung-mi's Commentary on the Yu-lan-p'en Sutra (ca. 830) 91
The Suppression of Yu-lan-p'en in 844 95
The Lecture Text on the Yu-lan-p'en Sutra (ca. 850) 99
Chih-yuan's ``Hymns in Praise of lan-p'en'' (ca. 1020) 103
Postscript: the Ghost Festival after T'ang Times 107
The Mythological Background 113
An Example 114
Mu-lien's Biography 116
Hungry Ghosts 124
Mothers and Monks 130
Conclusions 134
Appendix：The Buddha's Ascension to the Heaven of Thirty-three to Preach to His Mother 136
Mu-lien as Shaman 140
The Chinese Background 141
The Buddhist Background 147
Mu-lien as Shaman 157
Conclusions 167
The Cosmology of the Ghost Festival 168
The Cosmology of the Transformation Text on Mu-lien Saving His Mother 170
Ghost Festival Cosmology in Context 179
Conclusions 190
Buddhism and the Family 196
The Bonds of Kinship 197
The Power of Monks 203
Conclusions 208
Concluding Perspectives 214
A Sociological Perspective 214
A Ritual Perspective 217
An Historical Perspective 221
Character Glossary of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Words 225
Bibliography 231
Index 265
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