Paying off the dead

Ms Wang, like many women in Taiwan, had not hesitated to resort to abortion when faced with an unwanted pregnancy. This did not mean she felt good about it. She called up Kuo Su-ching (郭素清), a woman who claims to be a living Buddha and who has close relations with various members of Taiwan's complex pantheon of gods, including Yama, king of the dead. She wanted to know how to appease the spirits of the dead "baby spirits" that were haunting her.

She had first heard about Kuo after reading of her powers in a magazine. Kuo spoke on the phone, sitting in a room with many images of her friends -- images of gods and spirits. She asked Wang's full name, date of birth, home address, and the number of times she'd had an abortion. "Three? That's okay. But you've never prayed and helped them to `pass on,' correct?"

The Chinese term she used is chao tu, which refers to helping the spirits of the dead pass through purgatory and continue through the cycle of reincarnation.

Even as she spoke on the phone, Kuo was possessed by the spirit of Bodhidharma, who she later said spoke Hindi. She jumped in and out of her possessed state, first speaking in tongues, then translating to her interlocutor.

"He sees a girl behind you. There is definitely a baby spirit near you. She is very young, very shy, and very pretty. She looks like you," she said.

"It is crucial for you to come here and help the `baby spirits' pass on, otherwise you will have bad health and bad concentration in anything you do," she said.

Kuo, who presides at the Wufu Chiensuei Temple in Sanchung (五府千歲宮), said about 10 women each day come to her for help. Ghost month (which reached its midpoint yesterday in the Chungyuan Festival) is especially busy. Kuo welcomes each of visitor warmly and with great sympathy -- as long as the full NT$3,000 service fee is paid.

It is no surprise that some women turn to religion after the trauma of abortion. According to Kuo, the most common request is that they no longer be haunted by the `baby spirits.'

According to the Web site of the Jiayun Ossuary (嘉雲寶塔) -- a commercial establishment in which the ashes of the dead can be interred and the spirits given proper care -- unborn babies that die become trapped in between a stage of life and death, where "the sun doesn't shine. When it gets cold and rainy, babies stick together and seek warmth from each other." Duration in this place is not definite and depends on the care and support -- often financial -- their mothers provide.

This is part of a more general belief in Chinese superstition that if the spirits of the dead are not cared for, they will stay among the living and cause accidents and misfortunes by way of revenge. This system of belief puts considerable pressure on women who have opted to terminate pregnancies.

"Should anything unfortunate happen to these women, they become uneasy and suspicious about being clung to by baby spirits," said a temple worker surnamed Lin from the Linchi Temple (臨濟寺), a Buddhist temple in Taipei, explained. According to Lin, of the thousands who attend a typical chao tu ceremony, there will usually be a 100 or so who are there specifically to help the spirits of the unborn children pass on.

Specific rituals are required, with a slip of yellow paper bearing the mothers name and the abjuration that Buddha help "aborted children, still birth children, children who died in the womb move onto their next life." While most Buddhist temples do not impose a fee for this service, they do encourage donations.