A Dharma service, also known as a Buddhist or liturgical service, refers to gatherings for activities such as teaching the Dharma, making offerings to the Buddha and the Sangha, and practicing generosity. At its core, it involves assembling and practicing in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings (the Dharma). Generally, a monastery’s morning and evening chanting services, regular group practice sessions, and various repentance rites based on scriptures describing the vows of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas all fall within the scope of Dharma services.
Contemporary Dharma services include a wide range of practices such as Buddhist liturgical chanting, offerings, sutra recitation, prostrations, Buddha-name recitation, mantra chanting, and visualisation. This blend of methods is a unique feature of Chinese Buddhism. In contrast, during the Buddha’s era, they were simply gatherings for listening to and teaching the Dharma.
After the Buddha’s enlightenment, he traveled along the banks of the Ganges River, teaching people according to their needs and held more than three hundred Dharma assemblies. At that time, people would gather to listen to the Buddha’s teachings, observe precepts together, or receive offerings from emperors and wealthy donors, and so on. All these activities can be considered the early forms of Dharma services. After the Buddha entered parinirvana and was no longer present in this world, the scenes of teaching and hearing the Dharma ceased. Afterwards, Venerable Mahākāśyapa and five hundred arhats convened to compile the Buddha’s teachings into scriptures through oral recitation and transmission among the disciples, as the spirit of sharing and spreading the Buddhadharma began to take shape.
Besides sutra recitation, both monastic and lay followers also constructed stupas far and wide. Every morning and evening, they walked around the stupas with reverence, paid homage, offered incense and flowers, and sang praises of the Buddha’s virtues. Over time, the Buddha’s followers not only made pilgrimages and paid veneration to his sacred sites and relic stupas but also began holding regular gatherings among themselves. During commemorative Dharma services, these gatherings were especially spectacular. Activities extended beyond teaching the Dharma and reciting sutras; out of reverence and remembrance of the Buddha, offerings of incense, flowers, lamps, and music, as well as liturgical chanting, also became part of Dharma services.
Returning to the original spirit of the Buddha’s teachings
At their core, Dharma services — whether listening to the Buddha’s teachings, receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the scriptures, or participating in ritual and doctrinal repentance ceremonies — are all skillful means to help us embrace the original spirit of the Buddha’s teaching, which is that all sentient beings may be freed from suffering, find joy, and realize Buddhahood.
Although the forms of Dharma services inevitably evolve with time and circumstance, their core spirit endures. Do the leading monastics and participants genuinely understand the Buddha’s original purpose in appearing in this world, and the intentions of the great patriarchs and masters in establishing repentance rituals? Attending a Dharma service is not like going to a temple fair just to watch the spectacle, nor is it merely a matter of entrusting rites for the deceased to the monastics and assuming the merit is thereby gained. Nor should it be solely about seeking emotional comfort, such as praying for relief from disaster, avoiding misfortune, or guiding the departed. These are simply forms of reassurance in a worldly sense.
The Great Compassion Repentance is a repentance liturgy widely observed in Chinese communities — nearly every monastery and Buddhist centre worldwide regularly conducts the Great Compassion Repentance Service.
Origins: This repentance liturgy was first composed in the Song Dynasty by Master Siming Zhili. It was based on the Sutra of the Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded, Great Compassionate Heart Dhāraṇī Sutra (often shortened to the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī Sutra), translated during the Tang Dynasty by Master Bhagavaddharma. The Great Compassion Mantra in the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī Sutra has been widely recited and venerated by the general public since the Tang Dynasty. In the preface to his liturgy, Master Zhili also noted that although he had memorized the Great Compassion Mantra since childhood, he did not yet understand how it was to be practiced. After ordaining and studying the teachings and contemplative practices of the Tiantai School, he examined the Buddhist scriptures and discovered that the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī Sutra could be used for both contemplative practice and the performance of ritual ceremonies. He therefore composed the Ritual Procedure for the Great Compassion Mantra of the Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, which became the original basis for today’s Great Compassion Repentance.
Ritual content: Master Zhili retained the Great Compassion Mantra and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s Ten Great Vows from the sutra, and added procedures such as confession, repentance, and Chan-style contemplation. Following the structure of the Lotus Samādhi Repentance Ceremony, he developed ten sections for the ritual, including cleaning and adorning the practice space; purifying the three karmas; establishing the sacred boundary; making offerings; inviting the Three Jewels and the Devas; praising and expressing sincerity; performing prostrations; making vows and reciting mantras; repentance; and practicing meditative contemplation. The procedure in its entirety would take twenty-one days.
The current version of the Great Compassion Repentance Ritual is based on a Qing Dynasty repentance liturgy. From the Yuan Dynasty onwards, the study of Buddhist doctrine gradually declined. In the late Ming Dynasty, Vinaya Master Jianyue Duti simplified Master Zhili’s version to meet the needs of the times and accommodate practitioners of different capacities. He renamed the repentance liturgy of the Great Compassion Repentance Ritual, which is now known by that title. Later, during the Qing Dynasty, monastic Master Jixian further revised the ritual, establishing six major sections, including preparing the practice space and purifying the three karmas; making offerings according to the Dharma; heartfelt homage; making vows to maintain clear awareness; sincere confession and repentance; and circumambulation with sincerity. This version became the widely circulated one in use today.
Compared with Master Zhili’s original work, the current repentance liturgy is more simplified and places greater emphasis on ritual values. Nevertheless, it remains focused on Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s Ten Great Vows and the recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra, which serve as the foundation for the ritual’s repentance and vow-making practices. According to the Great Compassion Repentance Ritual, after making offerings and paying sincere homage to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions, the ritual does not proceed immediately to the repentance section. Instead, practitioners first make vows to remain mindful and aware, and this is precisely where the essence of the Great Compassion Repentance Ritual resides.
Therefore, practicing a full Great Compassion Repentance Ritual involves more than just reciting the Great Compassion Mantra or engaging in sincere confession and repentance. Instead, through personal awakening and self-awareness, one cultivates the Bodhicitta that aligns with Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s compassion. Although we do not possess a thousand hands and eyes, performing the repentance ritual allows us to visualize ourselves as one with Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, adopting Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s compassionate, tender, and forbearing mindset. By integrating our repentance vows into daily life, we can benefit all sentient beings and assist those around us whenever and wherever they need it.
Excerpted from the book, 50 Questions about Dharma Services, compiled and edited by the Editorial Department of Dharma Drum Culture
The Bodhisattva Precepts — the cradle of all Buddhas of the past, present, and future.
“All sentient beings with minds should embrace the Buddha’s precepts. When sentient beings accept the Buddha’s precepts, they enter the state of Buddhahood; their status becomes equal to the Great Awakening — they become true children of the Buddhas”.
The Brahmajāla Sūtra refers to the Bodhisattva Precepts as the “Great Precepts of Thousands of Buddhas.” All sentient beings, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas attain Buddhahood through accepting and upholding the Bodhisattva Precepts. At Dharma Drum Mountain, the model for transmitting the Bodhisattva Precepts was compiled by Master Sheng Yen, who drew on the writings of earlier masters and his integrated understanding of the original sutras and treatises. This model emphasizes adapting to the changing times and bringing forth the Bodhisattva spirit, offering content that is concise yet rich.
For a disciple of the Three Jewels and a Mahayana Buddhist, the Bodhisattva Precepts are of the utmost importance. Without taking the Bodhisattva vows and receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts, one cannot truly be considered a Mahayana Buddhist. Buddhas are realized through the Bodhisattva path. Without accepting the Bodhisattva Precepts and walking the Bodhisattva path, one cannot become a Buddha. Therefore, the path to Buddhahood begins with receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts.
The Bodhisattva Precepts emphasize adapting to changing times, especially in promoting the Bodhisattva spirit, thereby encouraging practitioners to arouse the unsurpassed Bodhicitta. Their content is grounded in the “Four Great Vows” and the Three Cumulative Pure Precepts, with the Ten Wholesome Deeds serving as the guiding principle for purifying the three karmas of body, speech, and mind.
The purpose of the Bodhisattva Precepts Recitation Ceremony is to help those who have already received the Bodhisattva Precepts to continually remember and uphold them. During the recitation, participants can examine and reflect on their actions, speech, and thoughts, repent for any violations of the precepts, and promptly vow not to repeat them. Even if one has not violated any precepts, the ceremony can still help cultivate mindfulness and vigilance. Those who have not yet received the Bodhisattva Precepts are also welcome to participate, creating the conditions for receiving the precepts in the near future.
Through a solemn, carefully structured ritual, practitioners can arouse Bodhicitta and, in turn, fully appreciate the meaning of the Precept Recitation Ceremony. In addition to cultivating Bodhicitta within the community of sentient beings, one can also help others awaken it, embracing all sentient beings with equal compassion and acceptance.
Excerpted from Chan Meditation Center, New York — Dharma Service Liturgy
Origins of Bathing the Buddha Ceremony
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Washing away afflictions through ritual, purifying ourselves
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Benefits of bathing the Buddha
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