Mickey Hung

Smoke Offerings Can Lighten Your Days

A Question from a Student

At a lecture in Guangzhou, a businesswoman approached me afterward with concern. She had joined a smoke-offering ritual led by a certain master. During the event, a fellow practitioner who claimed to read fortunes told her she had encountered a “Butanna ghost” and warned that she must perform smoke offerings every night to clear her karmic debts. Troubled by this, she asked for my professional opinion.

My Perspective on Spirits

I was born into a metaphysical family and grew up surrounded by stories of gods and spirits. Over time, I realized that what people call “ghostly encounters” can be understood as layers of space and energy fields.

When humans meet ghosts, it is simply an interface of karma—a crossing of paths that could only occur because of shared karmic causes. Without that karmic link, there would be no encounter at all.

The existence of ghosts has been debated for thousands of years. Every culture has its own version. Some believe firmly, some deny and even ridicule others for believing. Yet no one has ever proven that ghosts do not exist, nor confirmed that they do. In my view, spirits exist on different layers of space. The strength of your life force—your qi—determines which layers you are able to contact.

Sometimes, when people visit places with heavy or “negative” energy at night, they feel uneasy, sensing things others cannot see. This is not imagination—you have simply stepped into another interface, one connected to your karma. For practitioners of the chakras or dedicated Buddhists, such encounters often reflect karmic ties from past lives.

Smoke Offering After Midnight

In metaphysics, performing smoke offerings after midnight is called a Dharma Offering. When guided by a teacher, it becomes an act of fearlessness giving—a way to face karmic creditors and wandering souls without fear.

During this practice, we provide food, recite mantras, and dedicate merit, helping spirits let go of resentment and move forward. If you have karmic ties with them, they may appear before you during the ritual. The fear you feel is natural, but it is also part of the process—an invitation to transform fear into compassion.

The Meaning of “A Smooth Journey Ahead”

When you make a smoke offering, those who come are almost always your karmic creditors—souls still bound by resentment, still clinging to anger, greed, or ignorance. They are not here to harm you. They simply wish to be released, to receive a little food, to hear the mantras of liberation.

If you understand their suffering and offer compassion, they can finally let go—and stop troubling you. That is small love. But if you practice smoke offerings regularly, extending compassion not just to your creditors but to countless suffering beings, that becomes great love.

Through great love, you not only ease the pain of others but also plant blessings for yourself. And when your time comes to leave this world, those very spirits will guide you onward.

This is where the common blessing “一路好走” — “May your journey ahead be smooth” originates. It is rooted in the merit of smoke offerings.

About the “Butanna Ghost”

The so-called “Butanna ghost” is likely a cultural mistranslation. In metaphysics, we know it as bhūtaḥ, often described as a “stench ghost” in Indian mythology.

Buddhist texts portray the bhūtaḥ as filthy, foul-smelling beings that bring fever and misfortune to humans and animals. They do not eat normal food but instead consume foul odors—especially from corpses. They often linger in cemeteries, feeding on the energy of decay.

Before a smoke offering, I always remind students to first dedicate some offerings specifically to such bhūtaḥ spirits. When we dedicate food to “all beings,” they are not included—since they can only “consume” the stench, not ordinary offerings.

Closing Thoughts

During smoke offerings, many kinds of beings gather—some may be your karmic creditors, others simply lost or suffering souls. All belong to the endless cycle of the six realms.

By practicing sincerely, you transform fear into compassion and unease into peace. Smoke offering is not superstition—it is a profound act of generosity, a way to harmonize with unseen worlds and lighten both your heart and your days.

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一路好走，典故在哪里来

#做了烟供，日子好上来

熊神进，风水学导师，执业30多年

在广州讲座中，有商人的妻子散会后问我，她曾参加某某上师的烟供法会，其间一位懂算命的师兄说她遇上「布怛那鬼」，要她晚晚做烟供才可以消除业障，她有点不安，希望我给我专业意见。

笔者出生在玄学世家，从小就跟神怪事情打交道，长大后，我把神怪现象梳理下来，发现我们身处的空间是多层，无量度，人跟ghost相遇，是一种interface（俗称因缘），没有因缘，人跟本不可能遇上ghost。

鬼神之说，一直说了几千年，你的国家有，我的国家也有，有人深信不疑，有人自己不相信，却又痛斥人家去相信，争争吵吵几个世纪，没有人可以证明世界没有ghost，亦没有人确定世界没有ghost，鬼神之说，笔者认为它是空间的存在层次不同，你的精气神强弱，接触的空间也是不同。

有的人晚上去了一些负磁场高的地方，心里不安宁，一般人感到异样，好像看到别人看不到的东西， 这是事实，因为你进入了另一种interface， 你跟它有因缘。没有因缘，是不会发生的。特别是学七轮的人士、佛弟子等，为什么他们会遇到这种宿世因缘呢？

子时后做烟供，玄学称「法布施」，有师傅带着做，是「无畏布施」，我们一起向冤亲债主（小人）施食，向它们说经， 为它们超度，烟供中，如果我们有因缘看到它们，会害怕，这种起念生于我们内地的恐怖感，这种体会很真实， 大家可以理解的。

当你做烟供，来的都是你的恩亲债主（小人），不然到不了你的跟前，它们很可怜，很痛苦，死后也没有放下仇怨，常常纠缠于你，它们用贪瞋痴的无明方式来表达，它们只想得度，想你布施一些食粮，想听听《上供下施咒》，你要是懂它们的可悲，为它们做烟供，它们放下了，就不纠缠你，这是小爱，如果你天天为更多更多的可怜众生做烟供，这是大爱，你的大爱感化众生，你有一天离开人世，它们会为你引路，「一路好走」这句话， 就是从烟供功德来。

「布怛那鬼」，可能是二地文化在翻译上的不同，在玄学上，我们叫bhūtaḥ， 亦即是「臭鬼」，bhūtaḥ是印度神话中的一类 ghost，佛教认为它的身体污秽、极臭，会给人畜带来热病、灾害，据说他它不会吃东西，哪里臭就往哪里去，它就吃这个臭气，说来也是有趣，原来鬼世界的ghost 是不吃臭的腐物，它专门吃臭的。bhūtaḥ经常在墓地出没，它就是吃死尸，吃死尸的气息。

笔者做烟供前会叮咛学生先要施食给这些bhūtaḥ，下施的时候，供养给一切众生，不包括他们在内，因为它们闻到臭气息才可饮食。

做烟供的时候，各路众生都来受领，有些是你的累世仇人，有些是可怜众生，六道众生都是互相变化的，如果能够发心做烟供，就能使这种害怕转成慈悲，能够躯散内心不安。