Calling all you hungry hearts

Last night we went looking for ghosts. We walked through the forest with softly glowing lanterns, singing this poem.

Calling out to hungry hearts.
Everywhere through endless time.
You who wander you who thirst.
I offer you this heart of mine.
Calling all you hungry spirits.
Everywhere through endless time.
Calling all you hungry hearts
All the lost and left behind
Gather round and share this meal
Your joy and sorrow
I make it mine.

We passed by trees and watched as closely as air. We were there as part of a local Jizo-bon festiival. Jizo is the guardian of children and the patron of all beings caught in the uncertainties of life's transitions. The festival is traditionally held in the third week of August, shortly after Obon. It is a festival for children. The ghost-seeking came after dinner, cookies, and a puppet show.

We found a few ghosts, hiding there in that spooky forest. Tadzio even took one by the hand and led it away. I was terribly proud of him. He is still only a four-year-old, and the ghost he found looked a bit like it was out of a Butoh performance. It was hiding in the brush with tangled hair and ghost-white face, shrieking and huffing. Przemek and I both found ourselves thinking of the experimental theater of Jerzy Grotowski.

I counted six ghosts total. Part of the festival is to give the poor creatures some relief from their suffering. You find them and feed them and try to bring them back to the temple. If you think of them as a psychological rather than a physical state, hungry ghosts might be thought of as people with addictions, compulsions and obsessions. Greed and jealousy lead to a life as a hungry ghost.

We finished the night with fireworks. This morning we had breakfast together and studied last night's lantern, musing over our interesting and magical night. I can't say I was entirely comfortable with it, but I liked the poetry and I would do it again.

Calling all you hungry hearts
All the lost and left behind
Gather round and share this meal
Your joy and sorrow
I make it mine.

Images by Spring Night plus here and here.