Visitors from hell: transformative hospitality to ghosts in a Lao Buddhist festival

Abstract

In Lao Buddhism, each year during the ghost festival, disembodied and hideous spectres are believed to be released from hell and enter the world of the living. This crossing of an ontological boundary, and the subsequent interaction of humans and ghosts, can be understood as a process of establishing hospitality in which both guest and host are transformed. The hospitality encounter can here simultaneously trigger an ontological shift of the ghost's position in Buddhist cosmology, but also contribute to the ethical self‐cultivation of humans as hosts. Ghosts as guests can escape hell, receive a new body, and re‐enter the cycle of reincarnations, while humans can practise a Buddhist ethics of hospitality based on the confrontation with a horrifying and pitiful species of beings. Résumé Les bouddhistes laos croient que chaque année, lors de la fête des fantômes, de hideux spectres désincarnés s'échappent des enfers pour passer dans le monde des vivants. Ce franchissement d'une frontière ontologique et l'interaction entre humains et fantômes qui lui fait suite peuvent être envisagés comme un processus d'hospitalité qui transforme aussi bien l'invité que l'hôte. La rencontre hospitalière peut déclencher un changement ontologique de la position du spectre dans la cosmologie bouddhiste, tout en contribuant à l'éducation éthique des vivants qui s'en font les hôtes. Les fantômes accueillis peuvent échapper à l'enfer, recevoir un nouveau corps et revenir dans le cycle des réincarnations, tandis que les vivants peuvent pratiquer une éthique bouddhiste de l'hospitalité par la confrontation avec des êtres aussi pitoyables qu'horrifiants.

Putting the Spirit into Culturally Responsive Public Health: Explaining Mass Fainting in Cambodia

“…It is said that the dead are ‘gone, but not departed’ and ‘are active members of the community’ (Williams and Ladwig 2012 ). The haunting ghosts (‘visitors from Hell’ as Ladwig ( 2012 ) put it in the case of the Lao Buddhist festival) render the land dangerous to walk on. There is a rich texture to such ghosts, known as Asurakaya , meaning ‘invisible body’ (Filliozat 1951 ).…”

Mass fainting in garment factories in Cambodia

“…In neoliberal Cambodia, where it has become an emblem of the fragility of life, death seems to be around every corner. In Theravada Buddhist countries including Cambodia, the dead are ''gone, but not departed'' and remain ''active members of the community,'' and the land may be dangerous for those who walk on it (Ladwig, 2012). For those affected by mass fainting, the haunting spirits-homeless or vagabond ghosts, ghosts that pull at your feet, haunting ghosts, and suicide ghosts-tell the story of life in danger.…”

The neglected side of philanthropy

“…On the history and cosmology of the 'ghost festival' in China see Teiser (1988) and Heise (2012). On ghost festivals in South East Asia see Ladwig (2012). tensions informing charitable practices, especially the conflicting attitudes towards ghosts that involve as much dread and fear as pity and compassion. Formoso (1996) fittingly stresses the significance of socio-economic differences between the well-off Chinese donors and the economically weak, predominantly Thai population of hungry ghosts for understanding such charitable relations.…”

“…Scholars of Asian religions, particularly those focusing on East and Southeast Asia, have long been identified ghosts as 'hungry', 'pitiful' creatures, often likened to 'beggars' (Wolf 1974;Weller 1985;Formoso 1996;Kendall 2008;Feuchtwang 2010;Ladwig 2012).…”