The second Fa Hui

The other day there was another 3 day Fa Hui ceremony. On each day there was a different ceremony, each representing something different. On the Temple’s extended property across the street there was a large stage set up, with tables in front. To the right of the stage there was another small room where the priests could come and dress up for the ceremony, and where we sat between prayers. The priests that came and did the chanting were dressed up in brightly coloured robes, with different colours and clothes representing different levels I believe.

The first ceremony on the first day was called Qi An Zhi Fu (which translates to blessing). It is an opening ceremony that invites the Gods to come attend the next 3-day Fa hui ceremonies in the statues the groundskeepers brought down for the ceremony. The following ceremony after this is to increase your life span.

The second day is called Kai Sui Gui. This event is to help maintain your finances. People often make money but they don't know why their money continually leaves their account, and they are left with none at the year end, so they pray to stop the money from leaving. Some people have the wealth but don't have the place to store their money, so they pray for somewhere to put their wealth. Also, it is thought that the amount of effort you put into saving money will increase how much you get in return. 

For every consecutive year someone participates in Fa Hui all the wealth that was spent in the past year will be returned to you. Also, if you pray you may feel like you can do/buy more things with less money, making you feel you don't need as much money. You would feel remorse if you don't feel this way by making you sick or something or have a shorter life span or make your family unharmonious. A more serious effect will be it affects your next generation.

On the third day the first prayers are for a longer life span, your wealth, and karma. They eliminate your bad luck and in return maintain your health. It is thought that once you are born your life has already been decided by the Gods (birth, death, sickness, and age) and you can't change it. The third days second prayers are about wealth, spending it, and karma. People keep busy with their own money or business, and this affects their health negatively. From a Taoist perspective they don't have enough blessings and also they may have accumulated their past life's negative karma, so they may need to create positive karma to balance the two lives karma. A person may also have a lot of wealth but not enough life to spend it. Sometimes daughters or sons wish to help their parents have a longer life they can get them to sign up for this ritual. For this ritual you need a script, a candle, a golden box, purified water, and ashes.

The third days second prayers are about intelligence. They may help you remember what you studied to recall during an exam. The third days third prayers are to help you get a good child (maybe in your past life you did something bad then you pay for it in your current life by having a bad child, its negative karma!).