“So hungry… I am so hungry!” Cried the hungry ghosts from hell. People who heard it felt sorry for them. Mulian was a disciple of the Buddha, and he heard the cries too. Being a kind and compassionate monk, he used his magical powers to look into hell. As he looked, he was shocked by what he saw.

“Mother? How did you end up in hell? And how did you become a hungry ghost?” Mulian saw his mother among the hungry ghosts. She was so starved and thin, Mulian had to help her. So, he prepared a bowl of food and brought it to hell for his mother to eat.

Mulian held out the bowl and said, “Mother, this food is for you.” “Oh, my son. Thank you so much!” Mulian’s mother was so hungry. She began to eat the food in the bowl. However, once the food touched her mouth ,it became fiery lumps of coal, and she could not swallow it at all.

“Hot! It is so hot!” Mulian’s mother tried many times, but she could not swallow the food that Mulian brought her. “Mother, please wait for me”, he said. “I will look for the Buddha, and ask him what to do.” Mulian was very sad and he did not know how to help his mother. So, he went to heaven to find the Buddha.

After listening to Mulian talk about his mother, Buddha sighed and told Mulian, “Your mother did not do good deeds while she was living, that is why she went to hell and became a hungry ghost after she died.” Mulian cried and asked the Buddha, “What should I do? I want to save my mother!” Buddha said, “Your mother did too many bad deeds, your magical powers alone are not enough to save her from hell. On the fifteenth day of July of the lunar calendar, you have to give alms to monks. The merit of doing so can be used to erase your mother’s bad deeds, and help the other hungry ghosts to leave hell.”

Mulian did as he was told, and freed his mother from hell. Mulian’s good deeds freed the other hungry ghosts from hell too. After that, the Buddhist custom of giving alms to monks, and the Taoist custom of giving prayer offerings to the souls of the dead, became important traditions of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

「好餓……好餓…….」地獄裡傳來陣陣餓鬼的哀號，讓人聽了心裡非常難受。佛祖的弟子目連自然也聽到了，他是一位心地仁慈的出家人，忍不住使用神通看看地獄的情況。這一看，竟然把他嚇了一跳。

「娘？娘怎麼會在地獄？還變成餓鬼？」目連看到母親在餓鬼群中餓得不成人形，實在沒有辦法當作沒看到。於是他趕緊準備好飯菜，送到地獄給母親吃。

目連端著碗，對母親說：「娘，快吃吧。」「兒呀，謝謝！謝謝！」母親餓到受不了，馬上大口大口地吃了起來。沒想到，母親只要把食物送入口中，就會變成炭火，根本沒有辦法吃下去。

「燙！燙！燙！」母親試了好幾次，結果都是一樣的。「娘，我去請教佛祖該怎麼辦，您先忍著點兒！」目連在旁邊不知道該怎麼辦才好，只能忍住難過，到西天向佛祖求助。

佛祖聽了目連的話，先是嘆了一口氣，才告訴他：「你母親生前從不做好事，所以死後才會下地獄變餓鬼。」

目連流著淚問：「我該怎麼辦？我想救我娘！」佛祖說：「你的母親的業障太沉重了，要救她，不是光靠你一個人就能辦得到的。你必須在農曆七月十五日那一天，準備各種供品布施給出家人，這樣的功德，不只能消去你母親的業障，其他人的父母也能脫離苦海，早日投胎。」

目連照著佛祖的話去做，終於讓自己的母親離開地獄，重新投胎，而且也幫助了別人的父母。從此，這種習俗就保留了下來，後來又加入了道教祭拜亡魂的習俗，就成為現在的中元普渡了。