Joss Paper Puns

<Answered> Thanks everyone!!

I'm just curious guys..I looked up in google, the hungry ghost festival ends at 22 August or something. I really don't mind religious practices in our multiracial country. I just hate the smell of burning at night. Sorry if i sound insensitive.

Anyone have any tips on how to make sure I do it correctly? I’m kinda a newbie

The most complete guide to burning ancestor paper,How to properly burn joss paper?

It is said that in ancient times there was a scholar named Xin Xiaotang. His family was so poor that he could not even afford a coffin after his mother’s death, so he had to park the body at home. Once, a good friend asked him why he didn’t bury his mother’s body, and he was too embarrassed to say that it was because he couldn’t afford to bury his mother, so he said, “My mother is my only relative, we have been living together for decades, and now that she has died, but I really can’t let her go, I want to keep her at home, stay with her for a few more days and do my filial duty.” His best friend thought he had a point, and he was indeed a filial son.

After the story spread, people followed suit, and after the death of a loved one, they tried to stop the body at home for as long as possible, the longer it took to show filial piety.

One day, the magistrate’s mother died, when the weather is hot, it is not appropriate to put at home, not to put a period of time, but also afraid that his men say he is not filial, thought about it, they want to put the mother’s body into the couch temple to let the monk guard, often go to see the same filial piety.

So he carried the body into the temple, and said to the host, “The old lady believed in Buddhism all her life, so it would be better to carry it to the temple.” The old monk was busy with Buddhist affairs, no time to look after the corpse, so the task was given to the young monk. Little monk with the dead is really scared, two days later, the dead body emitted stench smoked him really can not stand, pulled a few straw in the room burned to dilute some of the stench. Straw burned, the sky is not yet light, the young monk and find some yellow paper and then burn.

When it was dawn, the master accompanied by the magistrate came and asked him what he was doing burning paper. The young monk was so frightened that he could not speak, and the old monk said, “Master, this is not burning paper, it is to send money to the old lady to the underworld, because the money used in the underworld, all the paper in the yang world”.

Since then, people believe that paper money is the money of the underworld. In order to express the memorial of the dead, people often burn paper money to the deceased.

There is a view that burning paper for the deceased to send mo

I am not here to discuss the topic of burning joss paper. We have our racial and religious diversity values, I understand that it is how it is.

I have a neighbour who burns joss paper monthly at her doorstep. Regardless of shutting my windows and door, the smoke and dust would come into my house. At the beginning, my family told her nicely the smoke was troubling us. But she continued doing so without any acknowledgement or arguments. We decided not to take this matter to the community because she’s an alright neighbour otherwise and we didn’t want to trigger the controversial topic of religious practices.

So now it’s been 5 years and I am not mad at my neighbour. I just want to deal with that tricky smoke and dust as fast as possible once the burning starts. One of my family members has skin allergy issues and I have occasional headaches triggered by smoke. And not to mention, cleaning the dust on the door, windows and furniture can take a lot of time and effort every month or so.

Do you have any tips or personal experience in dealing with smoke and dust effectively?

Nothing against the belief but can it be more symbolic rather than burning tons of paper every year?

#Thoughts on burning of joss paper in public areas Greater control is required over the burning of joss paper in public areas. This essay discusses why as well as what can be done.

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###The Conditions Have Changed

While burning of joss paper has been part of Chinese culture for centuries, conditions in modern Singapore have made the practice questionable:

#####1. High-rise residential areas. Smoke rises. In ancient China and kampong Singapore, residential areas were low-rise. This meant that if burning occurred in the vicinity of houses, most of the smoke rose and diffused into the atmosphere. In modern Singapore, a plume of smoke 10 meters from an apartment block rises straight into apartments. Many residents end up with smoke in their homes before they realize that burning has begun. Those who close their windows in time often end up with ashy windows and smoke seeping through imperfect seals.

#####2. Extremely dense residential areas. Population density in modern Singapore is several orders of magnitude greater than it was in ancient China and kampong Singapore. In fact Singapore has the third highest population density in the world. Density has had two effects in relation to burning of joss paper. The first is that burning occurs far more regularly, simply because there are more people in the same area who want to burn. The second is that burning often happens in close proximity to residential buildings since buildings are packed quite densely in many areas. Both these effects mean that for an individual, close proximity burning can occur several times a week, all year round. Furthermore, for some, close proximity burning can be nearly continuous during 7th month.

#####3. Greater understanding of the health effects of joss burning. Researchers have written papers with unequivocal proof of the health effects of joss burning. Apart from the phlegm, sore throat and sore eyes it can cause, smoke from joss burning contains cancer causing carcinogens. Worse still, a study in Taiwan has shown that incense smoke has a significant detrimental effect on male new born weight and head circumference. Some joss products burnt these days are also adorned with extremely toxic substances.

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###Religious Harmony Is Built On Compromise

Calls for restrictions on joss paper burning have been made before. Oftentimes, opponents of such calls respond with accusations of religious intolerance. For that