Liberation Rite of Water and Land

The tradition & historical record

The Shuilu Fahui (Chinese: 水陸法會; lit. 'Water and Land Dharma Assembly') is a Chinese Buddhist 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 Dharma Realm." 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 Buddhist master Baozhi (寶志), who is traditionally regarded as an emanation of Shiyimian Guanyin (十一面觀音; lit: "Eleven-Headed Guanyin"). ¹

Traditional records state that the Shuilu Fahui ceremony originated during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang (464–549), who was historically renowned as a devout patron of Buddhism. According to accounts, Emperor Wu had a dream one night in which a holy monk told him about a ritual called the Shuilu Guangda Mingzhai (水陸廣大冥齋, lit: "Grand and Expansive Netherworldly Ceremony for beings of Water and Land") which had the ability to deliver universal salvation to sentient beings in samsara. The next day, he consulted with ministers and śramaṇas at court about his dream, but no one had an explanation except for the Chan Buddhist master Baozhi (寶志; 418 - 514), who told him to search through the Buddhist canon. In doing so, the Emperor found a scriptural text which recounted Ānanda's encounter with a ghost king named Jiaomian (焦面; "Scorched Face"). 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[zh] (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[zh] between the years 700 - 704, and the Foshuo Jiuba Yankou Egui Tuoluoni Jing[zh] (佛說救拔燄口餓鬼陀羅尼經; lit "Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Dhāraṇī that Rescued the Flaming-Mouth Hungry Ghost") which was translated by Amoghavajra between the years 757 - 770. ¹

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). After retrieving them, Daoying oversaw the revival of the ceremony and conducted its first performance at Shanbei Temple. Various references to performances of Shuilu Fahui ceremonies during the Tang dynasty were recorded in the form of steles. For instance, in his compendium Baoke Congbian (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" (唐修水陸無遮齋題). 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" (重置興國寺冥陽齋社記). 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"), by the author Wang Xiangzhi (王象之). Historical records also document the development of shuilu ritual paintings during this time. ¹

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. ¹

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 Yongzhou, Qinzhou and Lianzhou who had perished during the Song–Đại Việt war. 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 Goryeo. 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. ¹

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. The government official Li Guang (李光, 1078–1159) wrote about sponsoring a performance of the ceremony at Bao'en Chan Temple (報恩禪寺) for some goats that he had raised as pets after they had been offered to him as gifts. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Shuilu Fahui”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Liberation Rite of Water and Land is Chinese Buddhist ritual, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²