I see dead people

Yay, its ghost month again!!! Chinese Halloween, except there's no trick or treat in this one. No this is deadly serious business if you believe in the woo-woo part of Taoism (not to be confused with Buddhism). Its that time of year when the gates of hell supposedly fling open and the dead visit the living unlike Qingming when the living visit the dead. Its when the living organize pantomimes, concerts and even karaokes to bring a bit of cheer to the dead. Yeah, ghosts love to party too. ^_^

There's one part of the belief that, to me, sounds kinda mixed up with Buddhism. Specifically how hungry ghosts - a Buddhist idea - have gotten dragged into the picture.

If you are a Buddhist, you'll know that hungry ghosts are said to be pitiful creatures living in limboland. They have very big bellies and a very tiny mouths, the size of a pin prick. They roam the earth looking for food, trying desperately to satisfy their hunger but are unable to because of their mouths. They are locked in a perpetual state of suffering.

I haven't seen one yet of these creatures yet but I seen better. I seen tons of 'em who are living.

Say what?? You may ask.

Well, I know someone who collects a mountain of porn. More than he can ever view in a lifetime but he keeps on collecting them. Why, I have no idea and as it turns out, neither does he. But he can't stop. He can't go through a day without doing that.

I also know many people who mindlessly chase after money, and I mean more money than they can ever use in their lifetime. I mean, what would anyone do with $30 billion dollars? That's a billion a year for 30 years, or $83 million a month, or $2.8 million a day, or $233,000 an hour of spending money 12 hours a day. But that's not enough - they continue to plough on, trying to get every deal they can get their hands on and drive everyone else out of business.

I can go on and on. These types of people aren't satisfied with what they have. They can never be. No matter how much porn or money or whatever they amass, as long as there's more out there, they'll go after it. Life is as constant stream of dissatisfaction. Forever hungry and thirsty and forever longing, they are condemned to a life of constant moving, swimming forever in search of something like a shark until they die.

So yeah. I see "dead" people. They're everywhere. And I don't need a ghost month to be able to see them.

Why be good when you can just be forgiven?

Its been a while since I updated this blog. Too many things going on all at once. One of the things that's chewing me up big time is the plan for my possible relocation to Europe in the next 6-10 months, for business reasons that's getting harder and harder to turn down.

Anyway, back to boring spiritual topics. There is a question that hit me a few years ago when was I reading up on Abrahamic religions. Why be good when you can just be forgiven?

I'm sure you've read about famous deathbed confessions, penance and so on by rapists, murderers and the like. After a lifelong pursuit of sin, they decide to turn over a new leaf just before they check out. Which isn't hard to do I suppose, upon realizing that you're about to leave behind all your ill-gotten gains and when it finally hits that you will burn down there for a long time. Not unlike the kid who cries after looking at the rod he's about to be spanked with.

Non Abrahamic practices have similar histories. The Buddhist story of Angulimala for instance. Being a notorious gangster he murders scores of travelers who pass through his section of the woods in ancient India until he chances upon one traveler who turned out to be the Buddha himself. After some deft "kung fu" Angulimala realized he had found his match, his mind suddenly just went in reverse and he repented, becoming a monk himself.

Both Abrahamic and non Abrahamic recognize that people can change and that's cool. I believe in that. But there is one thing that bothers me. If I am a bad person who knows that I can be "forgiven" in the last 20 seconds of my life, provided I think and say the right things at the time, why should I bother being good?

I know what you're going to say. You don't know when you'll check out so isn't it better to just be good now so that you got yourself covered, just in case?

The problem I have with that is the human penchant for contrivance. The feeling that goodness is something you barter like insurance just to save your ass, something you can hold back until you've reaped maximum benefit, rather than something that grows out of genuine compassion for self and others. In our society, man seems more interested in self-benefit than well, being good.

"I'm still young. Its not like I'm gonna die tomorrow," they'll think, "and I know I will be forgiven if I repent in the last few seconds of my life, so why shouldn't I spend the next 40 years of my life having fun raping and plundering everything in sight?"

It wouldn't so tragic if I haven't personally met people like this. Just talk to a worshipper who also happens to be a foul-mouthed conniving schemer and you've found your man. Or woman.

So, why be good when you can just be forgiven?