Post
by WorldTraveller » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:08 am
mikenz66 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:08 pm
As I read them, the sutta I quoted doesn't suggest "transfer of merit", it suggest giving any petas who might be hanging around the opportunity for appreciative joy. I fail to see how that is inconsistent with the Buddha's teachings.
Years ago I believed in the Almighty and had one sided communications and interactions with him. But now I believe I was wrong and even laugh at myself. I haven't seen a single preta/ghost in my life. And when considering about pretas having only one reference in early text which also evidently in a doubtful context, and the amount of later text on pretas and their intended purpose, I don't believe we can give anything to pretas. Perhaps OP can enlightened us about when, where, and why actually the idea of pretas created in ancient India.
People claim to see pretas/ghosts/
poltergeists but psychologists reasoned those as outcomes of the imagination or the psychological level of the seer. Even Ajahn Mun saw past Buddhas and their disciples to be still living and preaching to him!
mikenz66 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:08 pm
And as far as practitioners such as myself are concerned, the ritual gives me a chance for reflection and mindfulness, much like the ritual of bowing to the Buddha rupa...
If a ritual gives someone some benefit, then it's his/her own right to exercise them. But I was talking about interacting with pretas from the view point of Early Buddhism. My personal view is that the mindfulness must be guided by the Right View to be a Right Mindfulness.

“Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a canonical tradition, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think: ‘The ascetic is our guru.’”
- Kālāma-sutta