Segaki

Segaki Boat (Otoyo Town, Kochi Prefecture)

The segaki (施餓鬼; "feeding the hungry ghosts") is a Japanese Buddhist ritual, traditionally performed to stop the suffering of the such restless ghosts/monsters as Gaki (餓鬼, lit. "Hungry Ghosts"), Jikininki (食人鬼, lit. "Man-eating Ghost/Oni") and Muenbotoke (無縁仏, lit. "Without Buddha")--the dead who have no living relatives)--all ghosts tormented by an insatiable hunger.^[1] Alternatively, the ritual forces them to return to their portion of hell or keeps the spirits of the dead from falling into the realm of the gaki. The segaki may be performed at any time, but traditionally performed as part of the yearly Urabon'e (Sanskrit: उल्लम्बन Ullambana) services in July to remember the dead and the segaki ritual for offering alms to specifically hungry gaki or muenbotoke, not for spirits of one's ancestor.

The ritual is held at Buddhist temples and there is a custom to place segaki-dana (rack for gaki) or gaki-dana (shelf for gaki) at home, present offerings (traditionally rice and water) for hungry ghosts who are wandering in this world as muenbotoke during Urabon'e or O-bon. Various Japanese Buddhist traditions also typically have different segaki rites.

In Chinese Buddhism, there are various rituals that correspond to the Japanese Buddhist segaki rite, such as the mengshan shishi, which is carried out during daily evening liturgical services, as well as the yujia yankou, which is often after or as part of regular temple events and services like the shuilu fahui ceremony. The ritual is known as mataka dānēs or matakadānaya in Sri Lankan Buddhism.^[2][3]

Origins

Segaki rites have precedents in several Mahayana sutras regarding rituals performed for the salvation of gaki. According to the Yulanpen Sutra, Maudgalyayana, who was one of the Buddha's principal disciples, once used his powers to search for his deceased parents and discovered that his deceased mother was reborn into the gaki realm. She was in a wasted condition and Maudgalyayana tried to help her by giving her a bowl of rice. Unfortunately as a gaki, she was unable to eat the rice as it was transformed into burning coal. Maudgalyayana then asked Śākyamuni Buddha to help him, whereupon Buddha explains how one is able to assist one's current parents and deceased parents in this life and in one's past seven lives by willingly offering food to the sangha or monastic community during Pravarana (the end of the monsoon season or vassa), which usually occurs on the 15th day of the seventh month whereby the monastic community transfers the merits to the deceased parents, etc..^[4][5][6]

Account to another sutra that had variously been translated as the Sutra on the Dharani for Saving the Flaming-Mouthed Hungry Ghosts" (佛說救拔焰口餓鬼陀羅尼經) by Amoghavajra and the Sutra on the Dharani and Divine Mantra for Saving the Flaming-Faced Hungry Ghosts (救面燃餓鬼陀羅尼神咒經) by Śikṣānanda (jp) (實叉難陀) during the Tang dynasty,^[7] Ananda, another of the Buddha's principal disciples, was practicing meditation in a forest when he suddenly encountered a terrifying gaki king. This gaki king was emaciated, with flames burning fiercely across its face, and it appeared to be in extreme agony. The gaki king introduced itself as either Mennen (面燃, lit: "Burning Mouth") or Enku (燄口, lit: "Flaming Mouth"), and warned Ananda that he would fall into the gaki realm (餓鬼道) in three days. To avoid this fate, Ananda was instructed to make offerings to hundreds of thousands of gaki and Brahmin sages, providing each with a measure of food, and to make offerings to the Three Jewels (三寶, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha). The encounter prompted Ānanda to beg Śākyamuni Buddha for a way to avert his fate, at which point the Buddha revealed a ritual and dhāraṇī that he had been taught in a past life when he was a brahmin by the Bodhisattva Kannon. 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. Through the power of the dharani (a sacred mantra), the offered food was transformed into a spiritual offering. This offering was dedicated to the Three Jewels and equally distributed to hungry ghosts and other beings. This act could alleviate the suffering of the ghosts, enabling them to abandon their ghostly forms and be reborn in the heavenly realm. Following the Buddha's instructions, Ananda organized a vegetarian feast to offer to the monastic community, and prayed for blessings, thereby attaining liberation.^[8]

See also

• Dharma name
• Exorcism
• Ghost Festival
• Obon
• Yujia Yankou

References

1. Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse; Walter, Mariko Namba (2008). Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824832049.
2. Buswell, Robert E (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 21. ISBN 0028659104.
3. Langer, Rita (2007). Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins. Routledge. pp. 153, 155, 173, 187, 191. ISBN 9780710304445.
4. 辛嶋静志 Karashima Seishi (October 2013). 「盂蘭盆」の本当の意味 —千四百間の誤解を解く [The Real Meaning of Urabon [Yulanpen] –The Solution to a 1400 Year Misunderstanding]. 大法輪 (The Great Wheel of the Dharma) (in Japanese): 185. 東アジアの盂蘭盆と東南アジアのワン・オ一クパンサーなどは、いずれも、釈尊の時代に規定された様に七月十五日の自恣の日を祝っているのだが（日本ではこのことはすでに意識されていない）、東南アジアでは古代インドの暦に基づいて行われるのに対し、東アジアでは、中国の太陰暦に従っているので、ニケ月の差があり、これらが同一の行事ということに気付く人は少ない。English Translation: Both the East Asian Urabon [Yulanpen] and Southeast Asian Wan Ok Phansa [Thai name for Pravāraṇā] are celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month, the day of Pravāraṇā just as it was promulgated in Lord Buddha's time (in Japan, this matter is not known to people). In Southeast Asian countries, they use the ancient Indian calendar [or Buddhist calendar] as opposed to East Asian countries where they use the Chinese calendar. As there is a two month difference between the two calendars, few people realized that the two are [in fact] the same event.
5. Karashima Seishi (March 2013). "The Meaning of Yulanpen 盂蘭盆 "Rice Bowl" On Pravāraṇā Day" (PDF). Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advance Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2012. XVI: 293. Pravāraṇā (Pāli Pavāraṇā) zizi 自恣 and suiyi 隨意 in Chinese, is a ceremony held at the end of the three-month rainy season retreat [also called vassa] by Buddhist monks. In Theravada Buddhism and in Nepal, it was and is still held on the full moon day of the seventh or eight month. i.e. Āśvina (September–October) or Kārttika (October–November) respectively.
6. 辛嶋静志 Karashima Seishi (February 2014). 盂蘭盆之意-自恣日的"飯鉢" [The Meaning of Yulanpen 盂蘭盆 "Rice Bowl" On Pravāraṇā Day]. 中華文史論叢 (title tr. to English - Journal of Chinese Literature and History) (in Chinese) (114). Translated by 裘雲青 (Qiu Yunqing): 286. 對佛教徒來說，自古印度年曆（元旦相當於公曆三月中至四月中）四月十五日（公曆六至七月）或五月十五日（公曆七至八月）開始的三個月是雨安居。直至今天，西藏、尼泊爾、東南亞地區的僧人依然在此期間行雨安居。這一習俗也傳到沒有雨季的中國大陸中原地域，年曆和數字被原封不動地保留下來，但由印度年曆變為中國太陰曆。在中國、日本、朝鮮半島等東亞地區，雨安居從陰曆四月（公曆五月）開始，持續三個月。English Translation: From the Buddhist viewpoint, based on the Ancient Indian calendar [or Buddhist calendar] (New Years is in the middle of March to the middle of April [in the Gregorian calendar]) the 15th day of the fourth month [Āṣāḍha] (June to July [in the Gregorian calendar]) or the 15th day of the fifth month [Śrāvaṇa] (July to August [in Gregorian calendar]) is the start of three month period called vassa. From ancient times to even today, the monastic community of Tibet, Nepal and Southeast Asia still follow this schedule to observe vassa. This custom was also transmitted to China which does not have a rainy season, the calendar and dates preserved unchanged from the original but instead of using the ancient Indian calendar, the lunar Chinese calendar is used. In China, Japan, the Korean peninsula and other East Asian regions, vassa starts on the fourth month of the lunar Chinese calendar (May (in the Gregorian calendar) and lasts 3 months. [n.b. Since the start of vassa is fixed in East Asia in the fourth month, Pravāraṇā is also fixed to the 15th day of the seventh month].
7. 晨鐘暮鼓: 淸规戒律・节日风俗・法器僧服 (in Chinese). 上海古籍出版社. 2003. p. 45. ISBN 978-7-5325-3515-6.
8. 中国佛教文化论稿 (in Chinese). 上海人民出版社. 1991. p. 290. ISBN 978-7-208-01232-5.