The Water and Land Dharma Service is the most comprehensive and sophisticated service in the Chinese Buddhist tradition. It involves the simultaneous recitation of many scriptures and an elaborate arrangement of altars to facilitate the service.
The crux of the service is in the Inner Altar, where the presiding venerables invite and make offerings to sentient beings in all realms. While numerous outer altars are diligently practicing, they dedicate those merits so that the inner altar can smoothly conduct its proceedings. The entire service takes at least one full week and usually spans two weeks at Hsi Lai Temple.
The sutras recited include the Avatamsaka Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Surangama Sutra, Medicine Master Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Golden Light Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Brahma Net Sutra, Perfect Awakening Sutra, and the Emperor Liang Repentance, among many others. The schedule also includes additional services such as the Celestial Offering Dharma Service, Steadfast Mindfulness in Three Periods Dharma Service and Flaming Mouth Dharma Service.
Unique to the Water and Land Dharma Service is a portion on Conferring Precepts upon the Departed. As part of the Inner Altar’s proceedings, the names of the deceased registered for the service are summoned and are allowed to receive the bodhisattva precepts. By upholding these precepts, they will be able to transform themselves and others regardless of which realm they are currently in. They ultimately generate the karmic conditions necessary to attain a fortunate rebirth and continue progressing towards awakening.
This elaborate service has gone through many changes since its inception. Like the Emperor Liang Repentance Service, it traces its origins to Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty. One night, the emperor dreamt of an encounter with a monastic who instructed him to identify a way to help all sentient beings in the Dharma realm. The emperor sought Master Baozhi’s guidance and thus began the service. It is said that before they first conducted this liturgy, the emperor held the candles were all extinguished. As they started the service, the candles lit up on their own, thus signifying that this service was indeed productive.
Throughout Chinese Buddhist history, there have been multiple versions of the service, but one common trait is the use of scrolls in the Inner Altar. Dozens of scrolls line the periphery of the hall and depict the various kinds of beings invited to the service. These range from the buddhas and bodhisattvas to various walks of human life, to those in the darkest of spiritual realms, showing that in this service, there is no distinction between who receives offerings and who does not. Because all beings are equally benefited, it is also called a Dharma service for “universal liberation.”
While the Inner Altar requires advance registration, participants may join whichever Outer Altars have space. At Hsi Lai Temple, we provide English editions of the Avatamsaka Sutra for reading and translated liturgies for the Inner Altar, Surangama Sutra, and Lotus Sutra.