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The Shuilu Fahui (l=Water and Land Dharma Assembly) is a Chinese Buddhism ceremony typically performed with the aim of facilitating the nourishment and ultimate liberation of all sentient beings in saṃsāra. The service is often credited as one of the greatest rituals in Chinese Buddhism, as it is the most elaborate and requires the labor of monastics and temple staff and the financial funding of lay Buddhist sponsors. The full name of the ceremony is the Fajie Shengfan Shuilu Pudu Dazhai Shenghui (法界聖凡水陸普度大齋勝會), which translates to "Water and Land Universal Deliverance and Grand Feast Assembly for Saints and Ordinary Sentient Beings in the Dharmadhatu."
The ceremony is attributed to the Emperor Wu of Liang, who was inspired one night when he had a dream in which a monk advised him to organize a ceremony to help all beings living on land and in the seas to be surfeited from their suffering, hence the name of the rite. Traditions hold that the ritual itself was first composed by Emperor Wu, with guidance from the Chan Buddhism master Baozhi (寶志), who is traditionally regarded as an emanation of Shiyimian Guanyin (十一面觀音; lit: "Eleven-Headed Guanyin"). The liturgy received further edits and addendums in later periods, most notably by the monks Zhipan (志磐) and Zongze Cijue (宗賾慈覺) during the Song dynasty as well as the monk Yunqi Zhuhong (雲棲袾宏) during the Ming dynasty.
During the Shuilu Fahui, all enlightened and unenlightened beings in saṃsāra are invoked and invited to attend and partake in the physical and spiritual nourishment provided. In this way, the main goal of the ritual is to facilitate the nourishment and ultimate liberation of all sentient beings, including devas, and humans. The ritual combines features of Chinese opera (including a wide range of instrumental music as well as vocal performances), the recitation of various sūtras and repentance rites similar to other Mahāyāna rituals as well as esoteric Vajrayana practices (such as the recitation of esoteric of Buddhist divinities and visualization practices). As a result, the Shuilu Fahui has been seen by traditional commentators as a union of the various different traditions in Chinese Buddhism, such as such as Chan Buddhism, Zhenyan, Pure Land, Tiantai and Huayan.
This specific encounter is also described in two later sources that were translated during the Tang dynasty (618–907): the Foshuo Jiu Mianran Egui Tuoloni Shenzhou Jing] (佛說救面燃餓鬼陀羅尼神咒經; lit "Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Dhāraṇī-spell that Saved the Burning-Face Hungry Ghost") which was translated by Śikṣānanda
Using this text, the Emperor composed the ritual, which took three years to complete. In the year 505, after receiving advice of Baozhi regarding where to hold the ritual, he summoned another eminent monk, the vinaya master Sengyou, and personally took part in the first performance at Zexin Temple (澤心寺), now named Jinshan Temple (金山寺), on the island of Jinshan near Zhenjiang in modern-day Jiangsu. Traditional accounts go on to state that the text was lost in the following Chen dynasty (557–589) and Sui dynasty (581–618).
Various references to performances of Shuilu Fahui ceremonies during the Tang dynasty were recorded in the form of steles. For instance, in his compendium (寶刻叢編, lit: "Collection of Treasured Carvings"), the author Chen Si (陳思) wrote about a stele in Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing) that was made in the year 833 which he labelled a "Tang-era Inscription on Performing a Water and Land Non-Discriminatory Ceremony"
Historical records also document the development of shuilu ritual paintings during this time. Shuilu ritual paintings are a special style of traditional based on Buddhism divinities and all other figures in Buddhist cosmology that are invoked into the ritual space during the Shuilu Fahui ceremony. These paintings are typically enshrined and arranged at various altars during the ceremony in special formations according to the ritual manual, sometimes forming a particular Mandala (such as is the case with the altar for the Ten Wisdom Kings). While the majority of these paintings usually depict Buddhist deities, a number of them also depicts non-Buddhist figures such as Taoist gods as well as the spirits of past emperors, officials and commoners since they are also invoked during the ceremony, being counted among the unenlightened sentient beings of saṃsāra that are invited to the ceremony to partake in the nourishment. In the Yizhou minghua lu (益州名畫錄, lit: "Record of Famous Artists from Yizhou") by the Song dynasty writer Huang Xiufu (黃休復), he records the biography of a Tang dynasty painter named Zhang Nanben (張南本), who was active in Chengdu in Sichuan from 880s onwards and who specialized in paintings of Buddhist figures, dragon kings, gods and ghosts. The biography states that, upon Emperor Xizong's return to the Tang dynasty capital of Chang'an following the end of the Huang Chao Rebellion, the prefectural magistrate Chen (府主陳太師) established a Water and Land Cloister (水陸院) at Baoli Temple (寶歷寺) and hired Nanben to paint over 120 paintings of the spirits of Heaven and Earth (天神地祗), the Three Officials and Five Emperors (三官五帝), Leigong and
For the performance during the Dongzhi Festival, he wrote:For the performance during the Chinese New Year, he wrote:For the performance during the Hanshi Festival, he wrote:In 1093, at least 3 Shuilu Fahui ceremonies were held for the Song Empress Gao (1032–1093) after her death at her residence, Chongqing Palace (崇慶宮) and at Fusheng Chan Cloister (福聖禪院, modern-day Nanchan Temple
出处：全宋文卷六○一五、《攻愧先生文集》卷八一
田祖告功，正资三日之雨；
飞廉作孽，忽具四方之风。
恐惧弗胜，祈禳方谨。
遽消拔木之暴，还作鸣条之和。
敢即灵祠，恭陈法食。
谢天地鬼神之大赐，广冥阳水陆之鸿因。
尚凭佛慈，俯徇人欲。
收召和气，洗旱魃之馀妖；
霈作秋霖，慰农夫之渴望。
In the late-Song period, another version of the ritual manual for the Shuilu Fahui ceremony, which was to become especially influential later, was compiled by the Tiantai monk Zhipan (志磐, 1220–1275), the author of the (佛祖統紀, lit: "Chronicle of the Buddhas and Patriarchs"), a massive encyclopedic historiographical text in 54 volumes detailing the history of Buddhism in China from a Tiantai perspective. He recorded the events leading up to his compilation of this new ritual manual in the Fozu tongji.《佛祖統紀》卷33〈16 法門光顯志〉：「述曰。昔真隱史越王。嘗過金山慕水陸齋法之盛。乃施田百畮。於月波山專建四時水陸。以為報天地君親之舉。且親製疏辭刻石殿壁。撰集儀文刊板於寺。既而孝廟聞而嘉之。賜以水陸無礙道場宸翰扁於殿。逮今百年修供惟謹。去月波里所有梵苑曰尊教。師徒濟濟率沙門族姓三千人。施財置田。一遵月波四時普度之法。先是尊教同人有謂。越王疏旨之辭。專為平昔仕官報。效君親之舉。美則美矣。而於貴賤貧富未見平等修供之意。乃力挽志磐續成新儀六卷。推廣齋法之盛。而刻其板。復依準名位。繪像幀者二十六軸。及今創立齋會。於是儀文像軸皆得其用。時主其事者。寺沙門處謙清節文學師竑。以法施者。月波住山宗淨也。以文字施者。則志磐也。當願十方伽藍。視此為法。大興普度之道。」(CBETA 2025.R1, T49, no. 2035, pp. 321c15-322a3) According to his account, a Song politician named Shi Hao (史浩, 1106–1194) once visited the island of Jinshan (where Emperor Wu of Liang participated in the first ever performance of the Shuilu Fahui ceremony according to traditional accounts) and admired the Shuilu Fahui ceremonies being carried out there. Shi Hao then donated a hundred mu of land on Mount Yuebo (月波山) and established a "Four-season Water and Land Altar"(四時水陸) there. He also personally composed ceremonial texts and had them inscribed in stone in the temple walls, as well as compiled and printed the ritual texts in the temple. His efforts impressed the Song Emperor Xiaozong, who bestowed an imperial inscription upon the temple that read: "Unobstructed Shuilu bodhimaṇḍa" (水陸無礙道場). Shi Hao's liturgy was used by up to three thousand monastics and laypeople at a monastery near Mount Yuebo called Zunjiao Temple (尊教寺), who took on the Mount Yuebo tradition of conducting universal salvation rituals during the four seasons. Eventually, some within Zunjiao Temple's community wished to adjust some aspects of the original liturgy, and so requested Zhipan, who resided at the temple, to work on a new liturgical text. Utilizing older versions of the ritual manual, Zhipan eventually finished his version in six volumes called the Shuilu yigui (水陸儀軌, lit: "Ritual Manual of Water and Land").
Yángé wénxiàn tàntǎo《普勸僧俗發菩提心 文》的校注 Annotated. 2017 Guoji qingnian Huayan xuezhe luntan lunwen ji 2017 國際青年華嚴學者論壇論文集 2017, 2017, H1-20. Website publication by Huayan College (Huayan zhuanzong xueyuan 華嚴專宗學院).
In the late-Ming period, the eminent monk Yunqi Zhuhong (1535–1615), who is the Eighth Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land tradition, published another version of the Shuilu Fahui ritual manual. His effort was part of a Buddhist revival movement which strove to reinvigorate Buddhist monastic life and practices through means such as reformation of monastic discipline as well as standardization of ritual liturgies. Choosing the Song dynasty manual edited by Zhipan (the Shuilu yigui) as the foundation, Zhuhong revised and refined the liturgy, placing particular focus on stressing ritual order and etiquette. His edition, titled the Fajie shengfan shuilu shenghui xiuzhai yigui (法界聖凡水陸勝會修齋儀軌, lit: "Ritual Manual for Practicing the Ritual of the Water and Land Grand Assembly for Saints and Ordinary Sentient Beings in the Dharmadhatu"), belongs to a category of variant Shuilu Fahui ritual manuals called the " Nan shuilu" (南水陸, lit: "Southern Shuilu"), which includes Zhipan's version of the ritual manual. Zhuhong's version of the liturgy was also widely used throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties and forms the core text of the most popular version of the Shuilu Fahui liturgy in contemporary times.
During the reign of the Qing Daoguang Emperor (1782–1850), the monk Yirun (儀潤) from Zhenji Temple (真寂寺) in Hangzhou edited and expanded Zhuhong's version of the ritual manual by supplementing explanations on certain details as well as adding more content regarding the ritual's practice and rules, resulting in a six-volume work titled the Fajie shengfan shuilu shenghui xiuzhai yigui (法界聖凡水陸普度大齋勝會儀軌會本, lit: "Compiled Ritual Manual for Practicing the Ritual of the Water and Land Grand Assembly for Saints and Ordinary Sentient Beings in the Dharmadhatu"). Later, the upāsaka Zhiguan (咫觀, active circa 1862–1908), also known as Zheng Yingfang (鄭應房), composed extensive commentaries regarding Zhuhong's version of the ritual manual, compiling them into a nine-volume work titled the (法界聖凡水陸大齋普利道場性相通論, lit: "Comprehensive Treatise on the Nature and Characteristics of the Dharma Realm of Saints and Mortals in the Water-Land Great Retreat and Universal Beneficence Assembly"). He also wrote another text based on the Shuilu Fahui ceremony titled the (水陸道場法輪寶懺 ,lit: "Precious Repentance of the Dharma Wheel for the Water-Land Assembly") which had ten volumes.
In the late-Qing dynasty, just before the founding of the Republic of China, the monk Fayu (法裕) also edited Zhuhong's version of the ritual, providing additional instructional details regarding the rituals to be performed at the Outer Altars as well as other ceremonial practices. In addition, a new preface for this version was written by the eminent monk Shi Yinguang (1862–1940), who is the Thirteenth Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land tradition. This four-volume version of the ritual manual, titled the (水陸儀軌會本, lit: "Compiled Ritual Manual of Water and Land"), remains the most widely utilized version in modern contemporary Chinese Buddhist practice throughout China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and other Overseas Chinese.
As it requires Samadhi among all of the monastics, sponsors, and guests attending, many temples usually restrict public access to the shrine so that only high ranking and assigned monks, sponsors, and special guests are invited to enter when the ritual is not in session. When a ritual session begins, apart from any pressing emergencies, no one is allowed to leave the shrine until its completion, as it is considered disrespectful to the invited beings. Offerings of food, beverages and incense, chanting and reciting of secret mantras and various sūtras, transmitting precepts and bowing in repentance on behalf of the higher and lower beings are the core procedures in the Inner Altar.
Some individual temples or Buddhist organizations are also known to add additional altars focusing on other types of rituals and scriptures. Some examples include:
The ritual at the Inner Altar begins with a series of preparatory work, including setting up the altar as well as purifying the ritual space. This is followed by the invocation of various protective deities and their attendants, including the Ucchusma, all the Ten Wisdom Kings, the Twenty-Four Protective Deities and the Eight Legions via visualizations and the chanting of . Both the Buddha Mahāvairocana and Bodhisattva Guanyin are then invited to the ritual space via visualization chanting of mantras in order to empower incantatory water, which is then used to purify and seal the ritual space. Later, ‘talisman-holding messengers’ (持符使者) are dispatched to invite all beings in the realm of ten directions to the ceremony. In the rest of the ritual at the Inner Altar, offerings are made to all the assembled beings and Buddhist teachings and precepts are conferred on the spirits of the dead. At the end, the merits of the ritual are dedicated to all sentient beings and the invited assembly of beings are sent off.
At the Outer Altars, a variety of rituals are performed, such as repentance rites (懺悔), gongfo zhaitian rites (供佛齋天) where offerings are made to the Triple Gem and deities, tantric Yujia Yankou rites (瑜伽燄口) for the nourishment and salvation of , as well as the reciting of various major sūtras in Chinese Buddhism.
The required texts for the Outer Altars as suggested by Chan Master Baozhi are the following:
In addition, during the duration of the liberation rite, one ritual session is held in the early morning for offering to the Triple Gem and Twenty-Four Guardian Deities, and five tantric Yujia Yankou ritual sessions are held at night for hungry ghosts. Some temples and monasteries may elect to include more than the prescribed texts listed.
Other than its religious significance, the Shuilu Fahui ceremony also provides an avenue for monasteries to demonstrate social engagement with the public and engage in charity works. Because of the ceremony's exquisite and very detailed ritual procedure, it often requires a non-trivial amount of funds to prepare and hold. Such funds are usually raised through sponsorships and donations from lay followers and practitioners. In many cases, funds raised from donations to temples for a given Shuilu Fahui ceremony are donated to various types of social welfare organizations.
Because holding a Shuilu Fahui ceremony might also affect a temple financially in some cases, this can be seen as a way of demonstrating skillful means by showing the importance of the concept of anatta, or non-self, in Buddhism, while still dedicating merits to relieve suffering in all beings.
Tang dynasty (7th–10th century)
According to traditional accounts, during the Xianheng era (670–674) of the Tang dynasty (618–907) period, the Chan master Daoying (道英) of Fahai Temple (法海寺) in the capital city of Chang'an was visited by the spirit of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, who requested that he reinstate the Shuilu Fahui ceremony and told him that a copy of the ritual texts that had been lost were in the possession of a monk named Yi Ji (義濟) at Dajue Temple (大覺寺).《施食通覽》卷1：「至唐咸A76亨中，西京法海寺英禪師，一日方丈獨坐。有異人，衣冠甚偉，足不履地，來謁英公曰：弟子知有六道水陸齋，可以利益幽明。自梁武歿後，因循不行。今大覺寺有吳僧義濟，得此儀文，久在篋笥，殆欲蠧損。願吾師往求，以來月十五日，於山北寺，如法修設。苟釋狴牢，敢不知報。英公許之，異人乃去。英公尋詣大覺寺，果有吳僧義濟，得儀文以歸。即以所期日，於山北寺，親臨道場。修設既畢，其日曛暮。向者異人，與十數輩，來謝英公曰：弟子即秦莊襄王也。又指其徒曰：此范雎、穰侯、白起、王翦、張儀、陳軫，皆秦臣也。咸坐本罪，幽囚陰府。大夜冥冥，無能救護。昔梁武帝於金山寺設此齋時，前代紂王之臣，皆免所苦。弟子爾時，亦暫息苦。然以獄情未決，不得出離。今蒙吾師設齋，弟子與此輩，并列國諸侯眾等，皆乘善力，將生人間。慮世異國殊，故此來謝。言訖遂滅。自是儀文布行天下，作大利益。(此是東川楊鍔水陸儀所載。)本朝東川楊鍔，祖述舊規，製儀文三卷，行於蜀中，最為近古。然江淮所用，并京洛所行，皆後人踵事增華，以崇其法。至於津濟，一也。宗賾向於紹聖三年夏，因摭諸家所集，刪補詳定，勒為四卷，粗為完文。普勸四眾，依法崇修。利益有情，咸登覺岸。」(CBETA 2025.R2, X57, no. 961, p. 115a2-22 // R101, pp. 442b14-443a16 // Z 2:6, pp. 221d14-222a16)A76 亨【CB】，享【卍續】(cf. T49n2035_p0321b28) After retrieving them, Daoying oversaw the revival of the ceremony and conducted its first performance at Shanbei Temple.
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org He also wrote of another stele near Huzhou that was made in the year 863 that he labelled "Records of the Re-establishment of the Society for the Ceremony of the Netherworld and the Living World at Xingguo Temple"
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org Another Tang-era stele called the "Record of the Water and Land Assembly of the Eastern Nengren Temple" (東能仁院水陸會記) located in Wuhu is mentioned in another book, the Yudi Beiji Mu (輿地碑記目, lit: "Compendium of Geographic Inscriptions"
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org
Song dynasty (10th–13th century)
After the Tang dynasty, Shuilu Fahui ceremonies continued to grow in popularity and were widely practiced in the succeeding Song dynasty (960–1279) by monastics, and historical records proliferated with numerous accounts of such ceremonies.
Imperial Patronage
In particular, it was relatively common for the imperial family and government to commission performances of the ritual, especially in times of conflict or upon the death of a political figure. Various Song-era historical documents such as the Xu Zizhi Tongjian Changbian (續資治通鑑長編), an extensive chronicle of the history of the Northern Song dynasty in 980 volumes by the historian Li Tao (李燾), and voluminous court records as well as miscellaneous writings by officials like Wang Anshi (王安石, 1021–1086) and Qi Chongli (綦崇禮, 1083–1142), make numerous mentions of multiple performances of the Shuilu Fahui ceremony being commissioned by the imperial families of both the Song dynasty and its contemporaneous rival Jin dynasty (1115–1234). The following are a few examples. Both the Song Emperor Yingzong (1032 -1067) and the Song Empress Cao (1016–1079) were commemorated with performances of the Shuilu Fahui ceremony upon their deaths. In 1081, the Song Emperor Shenzong sponsored a Shuilu Fahui ceremony at a temple in Guizhou (桂州) for the spirits of fallen soldiers and civilians from Nanning,
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org In 1083, Emperor Shenzong commissioned another Shuilu Fahui ceremony at a temple in Mingzhou (明州, modern-day Ningbo) that was held on the eve of a one-month mourning ceremony in commemoration of the death of King Munjong (1046–1083) of
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org In 1085, three Shuilu Fahui ceremonies (one taking place on the Dongzhi Festival, one taking place on Chinese New Year and one taking place on the Hanshi Festival) were commissioned and held in the Funing Palace (福寧殿) to commemorate the death of Emperor Shenzong. The famous poet Su Shi (蘇軾,1037-1101), also widely known as Su Dongpo (蘇東坡), wrote three separate poems, one for each occasion.
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org In 1131 and 1132, the Song Emperor Gaozong (1107–1187) commissioned three Shuilu Fahui ceremonies to commemorate the death of Empress Meng (1073–1131), and the poet Qi Chongli (綦崇礼) composed poetic prayer verses for a few of the occasions. The Empress Dowager had earlier been made reagent of a short-lived puppet state by the Jin empire when they invaded the Song capital of Kaifeng, but had shown loyalty to Emperor Gaozong by ending her regency and declaring him the rightful Emperor after he returned to the city in 1127. In 1134, Emperor Gaozong sponsored another Shuilu Fahui ceremony to provide relief to the spirits of fallen soldiers after the general Han Shizhong defeated a joint-invasion by forces from the Jin empire and its puppet state Pseudo-Qi at Chengzhou (承州, modern-day Gaoyou in Jiangsu).《佛祖統紀》卷47〈17 法運通塞志．宋〉：「四年。偽齊劉豫同金虜入寇。上下詔親征。九月上親詣天竺大士殿。焚香恭禱蚤平北虜。既而淮東宣撫使韓世忠。敗金人齊人於承州。世忠獻俘行在。因陳戰沒之人乞加贈恤。上蹙然曰。死於鋒鏑誠為可閔。即勅直學士院胡松年具詞。建水陸大齋以為濟度。是夕也有見鬼神來會甚眾。有夢戰死者咸忻然相慶。以為自此得生善趣者。上聞之大說。五年。彌月大旱。詔道法師入內祈雨。結壇作法。以四金瓶各盛鮮鯽噀水默祝。遣四急足投諸江。使未回而雨已洽。上大說。特賜金鉢○九月上幸天竺大士殿炷香。住山應如奏對如流。上說。賜萬歲香山以供大士及度牒銀幣之類。」(CBETA 2025.R1, T49, no. 2035, p. 425a27-b12) After the Jin Emperor Taizong (1075–1135) ascended the throne in 1123, he invited a sandalwood statue to Minzhong Temple (憫忠寺, modern-day Fayuan Temple) in Beijing and held a Shuilu Fahui ceremony for over seven days and nights.《佛祖統紀》卷48〈17 法運通塞志．元〉：「太宗諱晟揚割次子。改元天會。迎請栴檀瑞像到燕京。建水陸大會七晝夜。安奉於憫忠寺供養。」(CBETA 2025.R1, T49, no. 2035, p. 437c9-11)
Private patronage
Outside the imperial families, Shuilu Fahui ceremonies were also widely commissioned and sponsored by private individuals including nobles, government officials and civilians. For instance, various Song era inscriptions on niches and statues at the Dazu Rock Carvings make references to multiple performances of Shuilu Fahui ceremonies, with the site itself possibly functioning as a ritual space.“Lun Dazu Baoding wei fojiao shuilu daochang” 論大足寶頂為. 佛教水陸道場, in Hou, Yunnan yu bashu fojiao yanjiu lungao 雲南與巴蜀佛教. 研究論稿, 320–68. The government official Li Guang (李光, 1078–1159) wrote about sponsoring a performance of the ceremony at Bao'
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org Another example is the famous poet Su Shi (蘇軾,1037-1101) who was known for having sponsored a Shuilu Fahui ceremony and who even wrote a set of sixteen poems praising the sixteen classes of beings summoned during the ceremony titled (水陸法像贊, "Praises for the Dharma Images of Water and Land").《施食通覽》卷1：「水陸法像贊(并序)文忠公蘇 軾葢聞淨名之盋，屬饜萬口；寶積之蓋，徧覆大千。若知法界本造於心，則雖凡夫，皆具此理。在昔梁武皇帝始作水陸道場，以一十六名盡三千界，用狹而施博，事約而理詳。後生莫知，隨世增廣，若使一二而悉數，雖至千萬而靡周。唯我蜀人，頗存古法，觀其像設，猶有典刑。虔召請於三時，分上下者八位，但能起一念於慈悲之上，自然撫四海於俛仰之間。軾敬發願心，具嚴繪事。而大檀越張侯致敬禮，樂聞其事，共結勝緣，請法雲寺法涌禪師善本，善擇其徒，修營此會，永為無礙之施，同守不刊之儀。軾拜手稽首，各為之贊，凡十有六篇。上堂八位第一佛陀耶眾謂此為佛， 是事理障； 謂此非佛， 是斷滅相。 事理既融， 斷滅亦空。 佛自現前， 如日之中。 第二達摩耶眾以意為根， 是謂法塵； 以佛為體， 是謂法身； 風止浪靜， 非別有水。 放為江河， 匯為沼沚。 第三僧伽耶眾佛既強名， 法亦非真， 神而明之， 存乎其人。 惟佛法僧， 非三非一。 如雲出雨， 如水現日。 第四大菩薩眾神智無方， 解脫無礙， 以何因緣， 得大自在？ 障盡願滿， 反于自然。 無始以來， 亡者復存。 第五大辟支佛眾現無佛處， 修第二乘， 如日入時， 膏火為燈。 我說二乘， 如應病藥， 敬禮辟支， 即大圓覺。 第六大阿羅漢眾大不可知， 山隨綫移； 小入無間， 澡身軍持。 我雖不能， 能設此供， 知一切法， 具此玅用。 第七五通神仙眾孰云飛仙， 高舉違世。 湛然神凝， 物不疵癘。 為同為異， 本自無同。 契我無生， 長生之宗。 第八護法天龍眾外道壞法， 如刀截風， 壞者既妄， 護者亦空。 偉茲龍神， 威而不怒。 示有四支， 佛之禦侮。 下堂八位第一官僚吏從眾至難者君， 至憂者臣。 以眾生故， 現宰官身。 以難為易， 以憂為樂。 樂兼萬人， 禍倍眾惡。 第二三界諸天眾苦極則修， 樂極則流。 禍福無窮， 糾纏相求。 遂超欲色， 至非非相。 不如一念， 真發無上。 第三阿修羅王眾正念淳想， 則為飛行。 毫𨤲之差， 遂墮戰爭。 以此為道， 穴胸隕首。 是真作家， 當師子吼。 第四人道眾地獄天宮， 同一念頃。 涅槃生死， 同一法性。 抱寶號窮， 鑽穴索空。 今夕何夕， 當選大雄。 第五地獄道眾汝一念起， 業火熾然， 非人燔汝， 而汝自燔。 觀法界性， 起滅電速， 唯知心造， 是破地獄。 第六餓鬼道眾說食無味， 涎流妄嚥。 真食無火， 中虗妄見。 美從妄生， 惡亦幻成。 知幻即離， 既飽且寧。 第七旁生道眾欲人不知， 心則有負。 此念未成， 角尾A77已具。 集我道場， 一洗濯之， 盡未來劫， 愧者勿為。 第八六道外者眾陋劣之極， 蕩於眇冥， 胎卵溼化， 莫從而生。 聞吾法音， 飆超電動， 如夢覺人， 不復見夢。 修水陸葬枯骨疏同前右伏以諸佛眾生，皆具大圓覺。天官地獄，同在一塵中。是故惡念纔萌，便淪苦海。善根瞥起，A78已證法身。要在攝心，易同反掌。竊見惠州太守右丞議郎詹君範，與在州官吏，舉行朝典，破官錢，葬失所暴骨數百軀。既掩覆其形該，復安存其魂識。使歸泉壤，別受後身。軾目睹勝緣，輒隨喜事。以佛慈悲大願力，以我廣大平等心。遵釋迦之遺文，修地藏之本願。起焦面之教法，設梁武之科儀。伏願諸佛子等，乘此良因，離諸苦趣。沐浴法水，悟罪垢之本空。鼓舞梵音，知道場之無礙。三歸A79已畢，莫起邪心。一飽之餘，永無飢火。以戒定慧，滅貪瞋癡。勿眷戀於殘骸，共逍遙於淨土。伏惟三寶，俯賜證明。」(CBETA 2025.R2, X57, no. 961, pp. 115a23-116b1 // R101, pp. 443a17-445b01 // Z 2:6, pp. 222a17-223b01)A77 已【CB】，巳【卍續】 A78 已【CB】，巳【卍續】 A79 已【CB】，巳【卍續】 Su Shi's brother, Su Che (蘇轍, 1039–1112), also performed a Shuilu Fahui
Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org Shuilu Fahui ceremonies were also often commissioned by officials to mark the construction of structures such as dikes and bridges, as well as for summoning rain and controlling winds.海神庙禳风祈雨水陆疏文 南宋 · 楼钥
Liturgical variants
It was during the Song era when the earliest still-existing version known of the ritual manual for the Shuilu Fahui ceremony was compiled. This version, known as the Shuilu yi (水陸儀, lit: "Water and Land manual"), was compiled by a Sichuanese upāsaka and named Yang E (楊鍔) and was widely circulated during the during the Xining period (1068–1077) of the Song dynasty. While much of the ritual manual has been lost, three fascicles survive, namely the Chu ru daochang xu jian shuilu yi (初入道場敘建水陸意, lit: "Upon First Entering the Ritual Space to Explain the Meaning of Establishing the Water and Land Altars"), the Xuanbai zhaoqing shangtang bawei shengzhong (宣白召請上堂八位聖眾, lit: "Announcement to Invite the Noble Multitudes to the Eight Seats of the Upper Hall") and the Xuanbai zhaoqing xiatang bawei shengfan (宣白召請下堂八位聖凡, lit: "Announcement to Invite the Divine and the Mundane to the Eight Seats of the Lower Hall"). In addition, Yang E also penned the Shuilu dazhai lingji ji (水陸大齋靈跡記, lit: "Record of the Miraculous Events of the Great Ceremony of Water and Land "), the earliest surviving account of the historical development of the Shuilu Fahui ceremony. In 1096, the monk Zongze Cijue (宗賾慈覺, active 11th-12th century), who was known for practicing Pure Land as well as Yunmen Chan Buddhism, finished a four volume revision of Yang E's Shuilu yi which he also titled the Shuilu yi (水陸儀, lit: "Water and Land manual").馮國棟, & 李輝. (2004). 慈覺宗賾生平著述考. 中華佛學研究, 235-248. While much of this text is not extant, it was widely circulated during the Jin (1115–1234) and Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) dynasties and formed the basis for another later Shuilu Fahui ritual text during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) called the Tiandi mingyang shuilu yiwen (天地冥陽水陸儀文, lit: "Manual for the Ritual of All Beings of Heaven and Earth, This World and the Netherworld, and Water and Land").‘Hongji zhi fanyi: Zongze “Shuilu yi” kao’ 洪濟之梵儀: 宗賾 《水陸儀》 考 The. In Liao- Jin-Yuan fojiao yanjiu shang 遼金元佛教研究上 Studies, edited by Huang Xianian 黃夏年, 390–91. Zhengzhou: DaLiu, J. (2024). Negotiating Boundaries: A Comparative Study of the Shuilu (Water-Land) Rituals in Late Imperial China. Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 7, 70-131.
Yuan dynasty to Ming dynasty (13th century-17th century)
Under the Yuan dynasty
Shuilu Fahui ceremonies continued to remain popular under the succeeding Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), being commissioned on multiple occasions by various Emperors, who were fond of conducting Buddhist rituals.Shi Tianhong 釋天宏. 'Shuilu fahui zhi qiyuan yu lishi yange wenxian tantao'「水陸法會」之起源與歷史沿革文獻探討. 2022. College]. Huayen Buddhist College Institutional Repository 大專學生佛學論文集. https://www.huayencollege.org/files/paper/thesis/pdf/2022/13%20%E9%87%8B%E5%A4%A9%E5%AE%8F_%E3%80%8C%E6%B0%B4%E9%99%B8%E6%B3%95%E6%9C%83%E3%80%8D%E4%B9%8B%E8%B5%B7%E6%BA%90%E8%88%87%E6%AD%B7%E5%8F%B2%E6%B2%BF%E9%9D%A9%E6%96%87%E7%8D%BB%E6%8E%A2%E7%A9%B6.pdf
Under the Ming dynasty
During the succeeding Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Shuilu Fahui ceremonies became even more popular with both the imperial court and private citizenry. For instance, starting from the first year (1368) of the reign of the Ming Hongwu Emperor (1328–1398) until the fifth year (1407) of the reign of the Ming Yongle Emperor (1360–1424), the Ming imperial court consecutively held several large scale Shuilu Fahui ceremonies at Jiangshan, historically known as the Jiangshan Fahui (蔣山法會, lit: "Dharma Assembly at Jiangshan"), with invitations being sent to nearly every prominent monk from the late Yuan to early Ming period. The main purpose of performing these ceremonies was to provide salvation to the spirits of both soldiers and civilians who had perished during wartime, thereby promoting political stability and peace. Similar to earlier dynasties, the popularity of the ritual and its integral nature in the lives of the populace during this period is evident by its appearances in vernacular literature, such as the popular late-Ming novel Jinpingmei (金瓶梅). According to Hong Jingchun (洪錦淳), a notable scholar in the history of Shuilu Fahui rituals, the number of Yuan and Ming dynasty era Shuilu Fahui performances recorded in historical texts in the Chinese Buddhist canon make up only one percent of the actual total number of Shuilu Fahui ceremonies performed during this period.
Liturgical variants
In the early decades of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), another version of the Shuilu Fahui ceremonial liturgy was published in Shanxi by the monk Yijin (義金) (active circa 1368–1424) called the Tiandi mingyang shuilu yiwen (天地冥陽水陸儀文, lit: "Manual for the Ritual of All Beings of Heaven and Earth, This World and the Netherworld, and Water and Land"). This liturgy, which was likely based on the earlier Song dynasty manual edited by Zongze, belongs to a category of variant Shuilu Fahui ritual manuals called the " Bei shuilu" (北水陸, lit: "Northern Shuilu"; first coined by the eminent Ming dynasty monk Ouyi Zhixu) as they seem to have preserved the practices of Shuilu Fahui rituals that were popular in North and West China. This manual demonstrates highly eclectic features, combining elements across Zhenyan, Taoism, and folk beliefs. It was heavily influenced by the Diamond Realm and involved building an array of altars that largely resembles the Vajradhātu maṇḍala, as well as visualizations of seed-syllables and the conferment of samaya precepts. This version of the ritual manual was widely used to perform Shuilu Fahui ceremonies up until the late-Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
Qing dynasty to present (17th–21st century)
The ceremony remained an integral part of the Chinese Buddhist ritual field under the succeeding Qing dynasty (1644–1912), with both the Bei shuilu and Nan shuilu variants of the ceremony continuing to be performed.
Altars
In contemporary practice, the entire ritual is typically structurally divided into two types of rituals: those conducted at the Inner (內壇) and those conducted at the Outer Altars (外壇). In most cases, there is only a single Inner Altar while there are multiple Outer Alters. The Inner Altar is traditionally considered the most sacred and important part of the ritual and is where the most central rites are performed, so access to it is often restricted. In contrast, rituals at the Outer Altars are typically open to all participants. The primary focus is the Inner Altar, which infers the collective merits of the Outer Altars.
Inner Altar
The Inner Altar is the core of the entire liberation rite and the most elaborate of all the other shrines. The Inner Altar comprises twenty-four smaller altars: twelve for the higher beings and twelve for the lower beings. Each altar has their own classification ranging from other Buddhahood, , , sages, and Dharmapala, down to the lower beings dwelling in the Six Paths: lesser devas, Asura, humans, animals, preta, Naraka, and deceased individuals. Each altar has a set of spirit tablet decorated with paper flowers and talismans which contain the core essence of the invited spirit and a painting that describes who each of the beings are, along with a verse taken from the Inner Altar ritual text. Notably, large numbers of shuilu ritual paintings of all these being invited to the ceremony are typically enshrined at the Inner Alter. Lastly, tables are set out for the monastics and sponsors to use, complete with kneelers, the ritual text for reference, a censer, and plates with flowers to use when inviting beings.
Outer Altar
The Outer Altars usually consists of separate halls in the temple, all of which are open for public participation to help create merit for the work being done in the Inner Altar. Typically, this grouping consists of a total of six or seven altars, each focusing on different scriptures and rituals, namely:
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Procedures
Before the ceremony can take place, a purification of the entire temple or monastery space must be completed, usually presided by the abbot or elder monastics. Once it is finished, the outer and Inner Altars are opened and all will simultaneously start their own service. Even as the ritual in both the inner and Outer Altars are being held throughout the day and night, the routine morning and evening sessions of chanting and meditation in the monastery or temple are not neglected; some sponsors may choose to stay in retreat at the monastery during that time to join the daily sessions.
Procedures for the Inner Altar
The inner altar section consists of the following subsections:
Required recited texts and rituals for the Outer Altars
While the Inner Altar is conducting the ritual, separate shrines will also conduct their own sessions for reciting sūtra texts. Because of the large requirement of sūtra texts and rituals, the responsibility is often divided among the invited monastic Sangha. Therefore, having one monastic reciting a text will count toward having one required text recited.
Practice
The Shuilu Fahui ceremony is common in mainland China and Hong Kong, where many temples hold it at least once a year on particular structured dates as part of a fixed yearly cycle of festivals. In modern times, it has become usual for some temples to prepare months or years in advance by having the monastics practice and master the ritual's proceedings ahead of time. The ceremony is also popular in Chinese communities outside mainland China, such as Taiwan where various temples have held Shuilu Fahui ceremonies every year, sometimes in the name of praying for the country and raising funds.
Ritual manual
See also
Notes
External links
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