The Shuilu Fahui () 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"). 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, asuras and humans. The ritual combines features of Chinese operatic tradition (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 Vajrayāna practices (such as the recitation of esoteric mantras 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, Zhenyan, Pure Land, Tiantai and Huayan.
History
Liang dynasty to Sui dynasty (6th–7th century) 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.《施食通覽》卷1：「大梁武帝，治化清時。道利寰中，兵戈永息。唯崇佛理，寢處優閑。艸履葛巾，布被莞蓆。精持齋戒，濟䘏含生。悲念四恩，心緣三有。晝夜焚誦，靡暫停時。遂感聖賢，同扶邦國。忽於中夜，夢一高僧。神清貌古，雪頂厖眉。前白帝言：六道四生，受苦無量。世有水陸，廣大冥齋。普濟含生，利樂幽顯。諸功德中，最為殊勝。宜以羞設。帝既覺悟，詰旦升朝，躳臨寶殿。即以夢水陸之事，首問大臣及諸沙門，悉無知者。唯志公奏曰：但乞陛下廣尋經教，必有因緣。帝依奏，即遣迎大藏經論，置于法雲殿。積日披覽，頗究端由。及詳阿難遇焦面鬼王，因地建立平等斛食。乃創製儀文，三年乃就。其間所得事類，具出一十一本經論。其文既備，心猶有疑。一慮聖意罔周，二恐凡情未愜。遂乃再嚴廣內，特建道場。俯及夜分，親臨法席。跪膝致敬，手捧儀文。顧謂侍臣，息除燈燭，悉令暗冥。帝乃虔誠，焚香發願。敘其感夢，撰此齋文。儻若理契聖凡，利兼幽顯，願禮拜起處，道場燈燭，不熱自明。或體式未周，利益無狀，所止燈燭，悉暗不明。言訖，投地作禮。禮[A68]已，燈燭盡明。帝睹之，神情大悅。於是欲營此齋，乃召志公以問：當就何處？志公曰：宜以深山幽谷中，羞設最奇。貧道竊睹潤州澤心寺(即金山寺舊名也)，江上一峯，水面千里，潭月雙照，雲天四垂，堪會神靈，境通幽顯。時天監四年二月十五日夜，帝召僧祐律師，宣文鳳舸，親臨法會，興于水陸大齋，饒益幽冥，普資群彚。自後陳隋兩朝，其文堙墜。」(CBETA 2025.R2, X57, no. 961, pp. 113c04-114a3 // R101, p. 440a10-15 // Z 2:6, p. 220c10-15)[A68] 已【CB】，巳【卍續】 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. According to these sūtras, Ānanda once encountered a ghost king named either Mianran (面燃; lit: "Burning Face") or Yankou (燄口; lit: "Flaming Mouth") that warned him about his impending death and rebirth in the realm of hungry ghosts which would happen unless he was able to give one measure of food and drink the size of a bushel used in Magadha to each of the one hundred thousand nayutas of hungry ghosts and other beings. The encounter prompted Ānanda to beg Śākyamuni Buddha for a way to avert his fate, at which point the Buddha revealed a ritual and a dhāraṇī that he had been taught in a past life when he was a Brahmin by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who is known in East Asia as Guanyin (觀音菩薩). Part of the ritual involved the brief invocation of the names of four Buddhas. According to the sūtra, the performance of the ritual would not only feed the hungry ghosts but would also ensure the longevity of the performing ritualist. The sūtra ends with Ānanda performing the rite according to the Buddha's instructions and avoiding the threat of rebirth into the realm of the hungry ghosts. Buddhist traditions hold that he eventually achieved longevity and attained the state of arhathood.
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).
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.
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).Baoke congbian, reprinted in Sturgeon (2011), https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=699772. 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" (重置興國寺冥陽齋社記).Baoke congbian, reprinted in Sturgeon (2011), https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=322196. 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"), by the author Wang Xiangzhi (王象之).Yudi beiji mu, reprinted in Sturgeon (2011), https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=993487. Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 2011. Chinese Text Project. http://ctext.org
Historical records also document the development of shuilu ritual paintings during this time. Shuilu ritual paintings are a special style of traditional Chinese paintings based on Buddhist 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 maṇḍala (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 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 Dianmu (雷公電母), the spirits of mountains and marshes (嶽瀆神仙) and well as past emperors and kings (自古帝王).Yizhou minghua lu, reprinted in Sturgeon (2011), https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=679309. 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