諸經要集 4.120

4.120

Question: Why do the sūtras make yellow banners for the deceased and hang them upon stūpas and tombs? Answer: Although an explicit scriptural explanation has not yet been seen, it may nevertheless be sought through the underlying principles. Among the five primary colours, yellow occupies the centre, serving to express loyalty, sincerity, and the full devotion of the mind to cultivating merit, thereby guiding the intermediate state (antarābhava) so that it does not enter the evil destinies nor take birth in border regions. Moreover, yellow resembles gold; spirits and the beings of the underworld take it as gold for their use. For this reason, in secular purificatory sacrifices, when white paper money is cut, the ghosts receive white coins to use; when yellow paper money is cut, the ghosts receive gold coins to use. Question: How is this known? Answer: The Mingbaoji and the Mingxiangji recount this in full, as may be known. Furthermore, the Avadāna-sūtra says: A man had cellared several hundred piculs of grain. At that time, a grain-thief stole the master's grain until, upon opening the cellar, not a single grain was to be seen. The master saw only an insect of extremely large size. Seizing it, he interrogated it under torture: "Why did you steal all my grain? What kind of spirit are you?" The insect replied to the master, saying: "Take me to the head of the four crossroads; there is someone who recognises me." The master took its words and brought it to the crossroads. On the road they encountered an official riding a yellow horse and wearing yellow garments, whose carriage and clothing were entirely of the same yellow colour. The yellow official asked the insect: "Grain-thief, why are you here?" Only then did the master understand that the insect was the grain-thief. The master further asked: "Who was that person riding the horse in yellow clothes just now?" The grain-thief said: "That is the essence of yellow gold, come to repay you, master, for the cost of the grain I consumed." Through this, the master obtained gold that could never be exhausted. Truly, because the realms of humans and ghosts differ, what is sensed and seen is not the same. Therefore, the Sage instituted the yellow banner to be hung on stūpas and tombs for the deceased, enabling the spirit-consciousness to search for it, behold it, and receive true deliverance in the dark paths.