“… for I may become a hungry ghost myself!”
It sounds morbid when Geoff Stamper (I think) jokes that he would try to be friendly to ghosts (in my article on hungry ghost festival) as he may become one himself! Hmmm… let me narrate a possible case here.
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“…mum, a motorist just hit me on my head with his helmet and tried to snatch away my laptop. He had driven away after failing to get my bag. I am bleeding a lot from my head, mum. Someone said he had called the ambulance. I am feeling thirsty and tired… very tired…” The boy, a one-week old college student, was lying on the roadside. He managed to make his last call to his mother who was in another state. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it.
His parents narrated his last call in the news. That was a decade ago.
Every time I drive past that same spot, and when I notice the shops nearby holding huge offerings and prayers during this festival, it reminds me of him.
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Taoists believe that hungry ghosts can arise from people whose deaths have been violent or unhappy. So does the beliefs in Buddhism. Both assert that hungry ghosts can also emerge from neglect or desertion of ancestors.
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Chen Song Ping 