In Taiwan, there is a kind of Buddhist sangha called “sangha of ritual”. It originated from the tradition of “sangha of yoga” in the Ming Dynasty. In 1382, the Hongwu Emperor divided the Buddhist sangha into three categories — Zen, Learning and Ritual — according to the culture of Chinese Buddhism at that time. Firstly, Sangha of Zen mainly practiced Zen meditation. They lived in monasteries remote from cities. Secondly, Sangha of learning lived in temples. They were mainly engaged in the learning of sūtra and treaties of different Buddhist schools. Like the sangha of Zen, they also did not take part in the society. The third one is the sangha of ritual. They learnt all kinds of Buddhist ceremonies, the most important of which is Yoga flaming mouth feeding. So they were also named the sangha of Yoga. In late Ming Dynasty, ordination was corrupted due to financial difficulty of the government. Everyone was able to purchase a Buddhist certificate to be a fake monk. So such categorization of sangha became irrelevant from late Ming onwards.
In Qing Dynasty, the government made Buddhist sangha a lower class in the society. Religions were only for poor people to survive financially. So there was no request for Buddhist cultivation for sangha. The division of the aforementioned categories was practically irrelevant. The sangha of Yoga started deeply participating into the folk communities in China. Later they even diversified in different locations and geographical features. They were active in the lay communities that they were even called the “sangha on-call”. Functions of the “sangha on-call” differed in different parts of China. In the north, like Beijing, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and mainly Shanghai, they were called the“sangha of sutra” and divided by the names of the sutra they study. On the other hand, those in the south, like Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, were called the“sangha of offerings”. It is because they emphasized offerings (joss sticks and flowers) in the ceremonies.
Basically World War II is the main milestone to discuss the inheritance of Yoga ritual of Taiwan sangha of ritual. Before WWII, although there were Ming, Qing and the Japanese Taiwan systems, the Fujian system prevailed in Taiwan. This Fujian system comprised of three monasteries in different counties of Fujian. In the application of Yoga flaming mouth feeding, the version from Yongquan Temple, Mount. Gu, having their own styles of chanting, was mainly used. Meanwhile Taiwan Buddhism was greatly influenced by the Japanese during the period of Japanese Taiwan, especially in costume and ceremonial presentation. After WWII, sangha from the north came to Taiwan with Kuomintang, so the northern style of sutra chanting was introduced. This greatly affected the Buddhist practice, ceremonies and culture in Taiwan.
In Taiwan, no matter which kind of sangha you are, or which monastery do you come from, there is a special assessment if you want to join the sangha of ritual. The prerequisite to be a host in a grand ceremony is passing the host assessment of Yoga flaming mouth feeding. So it is common for masters to hold a Yoga flaming mouth feeding when there is a need to access a protégé.
There is a special structure for the ritual of Yoga flaming mouth feeding. Although there are different versions in use nowadays, its main aim is to cleanse the world spiritually. In contemporary Buddhism, Yoga flaming mouth feeding ritual does not only aim at hungry ghosts. It has a higher goal to cleanse the three lower migrators (hell beings, hungry ghosts and animals) out of the six (the other three being gods, human-beings and demigods). Like a process of exorcizing, Yoga flaming mouth feeding ritual helps purifying souls from bad karma. Under the blessing of Buddha, one will reborn.