Are there ghosts or not? The answer is yes. Should we take them seriously or not? The answer is yes and no. Didn’t Confucius tell us to “respect all ghosts from a distance”?! The words say it all – “Respect” means there are indeed ghosts; “From a distance” means we’d better take them seriously enough yet not too seriously.
Just politely make them offerings at the proper time, and it will suffice. Too much worshipping becomes flattery. If you expect them to tell fortune, to give blessings, or to perform supernatural powers, then you are heading into a wicked path.
Only the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are worthy of our respect at close range! Give it a shot, how about that?
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
鬼神 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
或問: 有鬼神歟? 無鬼神歟? 曰: 有。鬼神可信奉歟? 不可信奉歟? 曰: 亦可亦不可。何謂也? 曰: 夫子不云乎「敬鬼神而遠之」! 蓋一言盡其曲折矣! 「敬」之云者，有也。「遠」之云者，信奉而不信奉也。祀之以時，交之以禮，如是而已耳。過信而諂奉焉，冀其報吉凶、降福佑、獲靈通，則駸駸然入於邪矣。噫! 有可敬而不可遠者，諸佛諸菩薩是也。胡弗思也?
Buddha Mind 