Chanting and Meditation ( Je Sian) are the sensual pleasure cleansing to cleanse psycho-physiological order as human body is controlled by nerve center.
10 Rules of Body Cleansing to Acquire Supernatural Power during the Nine Emperor Gods or Vegetarian Festival:
1.Abstain from killing living things.(Abstain from eating meat product. )
2.Abstain from stealing.
3.Abstain from telling lie.
4.Abstain from alcoholic drinks.
5.Abstain from adultery.
6.Abstain from gambling.
7.Abstain from bedecking jewelry and leather goods.
8.Wearing white attire is preferable during the festival.
9.Mourner, women in menstruation and pregnancy should avoid participating in any kind of rituals.
10.Kitchen utensils and containers should be kept solely for the festival.
The Rituals of the Vegetarian Festival
The Invitation Ritual or the Tall Lantern Pole Raising Ritual
The ritual takes place in the afternoon and evening of the day preceding those nine days – namely on the last day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar to invite the Jade Emperor (Yok Ong Tai Te) and the Nine Emperor Gods(Kiu Ong Tai Te).
The demarcation and consecration of the shrine’s compound are conducted by the principal medium after the Yok Ong has descended from the heaven. In anticipation of the festival, devotees begin to wear white garments, eat vegetarian food (che) and abstinence from the 5 Buddhist Precepts a few days prior to the opening ritual in order to achieve the body purification. In religious terms, it is considered as an act of contrition or expurgation for the sins incurred by the killing and consumption of animals in the course of the past year. It is also a test of one’s power of endurance, self-discipline and penance.