What is Ullambana?
The lunar seventh month is commonly known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. In Buddhism, this month is also known as the Season of Filial Piety.
According to the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha said that disciples of the Buddha, who practise filial conduct, should constantly recall their present parents as well as the parents of the past seven lives. Every year, on the fifteenth day of the lunar seventh month, children should always, out of filial and compassion, recall their parents who bore them by putting forth Ullambana offerings to repay the loving kindness of their parents who have raised and nurtured them.
Ullambana is a day for paying respect and gratitude to ancestors as well as expressing compassion and love for all beings suffering in this world. Ullambana in KMSPKS usually sees the chanting of two prayers — namely, the Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance Puja（慈悲三昧水忏）and the Yogacara Ulka-mukha Puja（瑜伽焰口）.
Why is the Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance Puja（慈悲三昧水忏）conducted during Ullambana? What is the Puja about?
The purpose of conducting The Compassion Samadhi Water Repentance Puja is to repent one’s unwholesome deeds. These include the karmic actions done in body, speech and mind, comprising the three misdeeds of the body – killing, stealing and sexual misconduct; four misdeeds of the speech – lying, slandering or divisive speech, idle talk and harsh speech; and three misdeeds of the mind – covetousness, malice and wrong views.
Through repentance, we can eliminate the negative strength or influence of these misdeeds in our mind. The Compassion Samadhi Water Repentance Puja is conducted during, but is not restricted to, Ullambana. We participate in the repentance puja and dedicate merit to all departed ones for them to be reborn in a good realm. For those who were born in the lower realms, how exactly they would benefit might be hard to measure. However, it is definite that they will gain great joy from the puja.
Why is Yogacara Ulka-mukhaPuja（瑜伽焰口）chanted during Ullambana?
The Yogacara Ulka-mukha Puja（瑜伽焰口）is held in accordance to the Sutra, and lasts for three to four hours. Although the service is performed to eradicate the hollow hunger of the hungry ghosts by bestowing food and drink on them, it is also to deliver these beings from all sufferings through the teachings of Lord Buddha.
By listening to the Dharma, the ghosts will then take refuge in Lord Buddha, receive the precepts, and thus cultivate the Right View, which will enable them to refrain from negative deeds and their terrifying consequences. Only then will enlightenment be within their grasp.
The humanistic aspect of this puja is twofold; to cultivate loving compassion amongst the living and to remind them to be faithful and sincere Buddhists who never leave the auspicious boundary of the Buddha and His Teachings.
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