Shuilu Fahui

The Shuilu Fahui (Chinese: 水陸法會; pinyin: Shuǐlù fǎhuì; lit: "Water and Land Dharma Assembly") is a Chinese Buddhist ritual performed by temples and presided over by high monks. The service is often credited as one of the greatest rituals in Chinese Buddhism, as it is also the most elaborate and requires the labor of monastics and temple staff and the financial funding of lay Buddhist sponsors. 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. The ritual itself was first compiled by the Chan Buddhist master Bao Zhi (Chinese: 寶志; pinyin: Bǎozhì, 418 - 514), who is traditionally regarded as an emanation of the Eleven-Headed Guanyin (Chinese: 十一面觀音; pinyin: Shíyīmiàn Guānyīn), and the liturgy received further edits and addendums in later periods, most notably by the monk Zongze (Chinese: 宗赜; pinyin: Zōngzé) during the Song dynasty and the monk Zhuhong (Chinese: 袾宏; pinyin: Zhūhóng) during the Ming dynasty. The full name of the ritual is the Fajie Shengfan Shuilu Pudu Dazhai Shenghui (Chinese: 法界聖凡水陸普度大齋勝會; pinyin: Fǎjiè Shèng Fán Shuǐlù Pǔdù Dàzhāi Shèng Huì), which translates to "Grand Water and Land Assembly for the Universal Salvation of the Divine and the Mundane in the Dharmadhatu".

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, Esoteric, Pure Land, Tiantai and Huayan.