Shuilu Fahui

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"). 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.