Repaying our debt to the dead – Ulambana/Baekjung

This coming Sunday (August 22) is Baekjung, or Ulambana, in Korea, a day for helping the dead. In some sense, it’s repaying our debt to those who have come before, but it’s more than that. In part, we are helping them to move forward when we brighten our own spirits, but we are also in a sense helping fulfill the wishes and desires of our ancestors who all wanted to see their children be better off.

Because all beings are connected as one, when I work on trusting and returning everything to this foundation, then as my spiritual level deepens, it positively influences everyone around me, and in particular those I have the closest connection with, whether they have material form or not. Or even a new form. Here’s a video where Daehaeng Kun Sunim talks about Baekjung for a bit, although the question was aimed in the direction of “Why do we have to hold this more than once?”