BUDDHIST CEREMONIES
Sayadaw Bhaddanta Silanandabhivamsa,
D.Litt
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Buddhism is unique among
religions in that it knows no ceremonies comparable to those in other
religions. Ceremonies and rituals, elaborate and tiresome in performance,
have no room in Buddhism. We do not find any instance in the Pali Canon
where the Buddha lays down the rules and methods for the performance of
ceremonies for the laity. It is left to the individual whether or not to
perform them. He has only one thing which he must take into consideration,
that is his performing of ceremonies does not clash with the teachings of
the Buddha.
In the absence,
then, of any rules governing the performance of ceremonies in Buddhism,
man cannot but follow the customs of the place where he lives, provided
that these customs do not go against the tenets of Buddhism.
If the customs or
performance of the ceremonies do not accord with Buddhist religion, or if
the religious compunction does not approve of them, then the method of
performance, rather than the ceremony itself, should be adapted to suit
the religious teachings, or an entirely new way of performing the ceremony
should be sought for.
A man will want
to do something of a ceremony when a child is born to him, or he has an
occasion to give away his son or daughter in marriage, or at the time of
death of other persons. The following are the ways of performing
ceremonies in connexion with occasions mentioned above, and they are so
arranged as to be acceptable to all Buddhists.
Name-giving-ceremony
A few days after
a child is born to a man, it occurs to him to give the child a name,— a
name which would be auspicious and pleasant to the ear. To do this he
should invite some Bhikkhus and laymen to his house and offer food and
other requisites to the Bhikkhus. When the offering of the food is over,
he should place the child in front of the Bhikkhus, take Five Precepts—
Panca Sila —from them and request them to recite Buddhist Suttas
called Parittas and give a name to the child. The Bhikkhus will
then recite such Suttas as Mangala Sutta, Ratana Sutta,
Metta Sutta, all of which can be found in Khuddaka Patha of the
Khuddaka Nikaya, and such other Suttas as they think fit to
recite on the occasion.
The leader of the
Bhikkhus will give a name to the child, or if the father desires that the
name be given by some other person, he can ask a person whom he likes, to
give the name. He is free to choose a man who will give the name, or if he
wishes, he could himself choose a name for the child. After the recitation
of the Suttas and offering are over the Bhikkhus will leave his
house, after which he can give a feast to the people whom he has invited
to participate in the ceremony.
The significance
of this ceremony is to help the child grow up in good health and live a
long and prosperous life. The effect of reciting the Suttas is to scare
away the bad spirits who might harm or even kill the child. There was an
instance, at the time of the Buddha, of a certain child who was destined
to die after seven days as a demon had got permission from his superiors
to eat the child. The parents knew this from their family ascetic and at
his advice went to the Buddha and requested Him to save the child. The
Buddha then told them to have a pandal built in front of their house and
invite eight or sixteen Bhikkhus to recite the Suttas for seven
days without stop. They did exactly as advised by the Buddha so as to save
the child. On the seventh day the Buddha Himself came to the pandal, where
a great gathering of powerful gods who came to listen the Dhamma was
formed. The demon got no chance to snatch away the child as he dared not
approach the assembly of gods. The child accordingly was saved and lived a
very long life—for one hundred and twenty years! *
Marriage
For Buddhists,
marriage is totally secular and has nothing to do with religion. No
Bhikkhus in Theravada countries officiate at marriage ceremonies. Neither
are marriage ceremonies performed at Buddhist Viharas, Temples or
Pagodas. They can be done at any convenient place other than the places
already stated.
Ways of ceremony
may differ with the place where the individual concerned lives. As
marriage is secular in its nature, the individual is free to follow the
custom of the place or country in so far as the tenets of Buddhism are not
impaired. It is, therefore, not allowable for the marriage to be held.
e.g., in a Christian Church, or to have it been officiated by a Christian.
The best place to have a marriage ceremony performed is at one's own
house, or if the house is not big enough for the gathering, the town hail
or some other suitable place. Marriage can be conducted by the parents of
both sides, or by an elderly man respected by both families, or any other
person whom the two sides choose. There will, no doubt, be rejoicings and
feasts, which can be done freely.
But if the
individual is desirous of having some religious flavour in marriage, he
can do no better than invite some Bhikkhus, a day or two after the
ceremony, and offer them food and requisites and request them to give
advice or admonition to the newly-wedded couple. The Bhikkhus will recite
some Parittas and one of them will give advice to the husband and
wife. Buddha Himself gave advice to the maidens who were about to be
married.
Buddha was once
invited to the house of a lay follower named Uggaha to accept food. When
the Buddha had finished eating food, Uggaha asked the Buddha to deliver a
sermon giving them advice. Buddha then preached to them regarding their
behavior towards their husbands.* *
In the famous
Singala Sutta *** of Digha Nikaya, Buddha laid down duties of husband
and wife to each other. These duties should be told to the newly weds so
that they may lead a happy married life.
The duties of a
wife are:—
- To do domestic work
(or to have it done) well in time,
- To please the
relatives of both her husband and herself by treating them with
affection and by sending presents, messages, etc. to them,
- To abstain even from
thought of misconduct with another man,
- To take good care of
whatever has been earned by the husband, and
- To have skill and zeal
for whatever she may have to do.
The duties of a
husband are:—
- To treat the wife with
due affection,
- To avoid superiority
complex,
- To abstain from
misconduct with other Women.
- To authorize the wife
to do what she pleases (in the kitchen and other household affairs), and
- To let the wife have
clothes and ornaments according to his rank and position in life. ***
These duties were
laid down over 2500 years ago, yet they are applicable in these modern
times. These are the duties which, if properly fulfilled, would make the
couple happy and prosperous. There is another set of advice given by her
father to Visakha, who later became the foremost female devotee of the
Buddha, before sending her away in marriage to her husband. ****
Funeral Ceremony
In order to
understand the meaning of the funeral ceremony performed by the Buddhists,
it is necessary to understand the philosophy underlying it. Funeral
ceremony performed without the knowledge of this philosophy will not be
beneficial both to the deceased and to the person who performs it. This
philosophy which is so essential in this ceremony is as follows
According to
Buddhism, a person after his death, is ordinarily liable to be reborn in
one of the 31 planes of existence. His rebirth is conditioned by good or
bad deeds which he does in the present life or in some cases by deeds done
in past lives. If he is virtuous, or if he does good deeds during his
life, he may be reborn in the world of gods where he will enjoy godly
pleasures; or if he is vicious in this life, he may be reborn in one of
the four woeful states known in Pali as Apaya, which consists of
Hell, Animal World, World of Petas and World of Asuras. He
will suffer various torments and inflictions, hunger and thirst, etc., in
those states.
Again, according
to the Buddhist Law of Kamma, even a person who has done good deeds is not
definitely certain where he will be reborn, whether in higher planes or in
woeful states. Through Kamma which he has done in past lives and
which gets chance to give result, he may be reborn in a woeful state. Such
is the Buddhist Law of Kamma. We cannot, therefore, be sure where a
person, who has passed away, will be reborn.
If he is reborn
in the world of gods or Devas, we can do nothing to help him in his new
existence. Neither could we do any thing in the case of his being reborn
in Hell or Animal World or world of Asuras. But if he is reborn in
the World of 'Petas' , we can help him. A peta does not get
enough to eat, enough to drink and enough cloth to cover up its body. It
is always hungry, thirsty and deficient in all necessities of life. It is
to help such beings that we perform ceremonies at or after the funeral.
But as we can never know where a deceased person is reborn, we perform
funeral ceremonies whenever death occurs, so that in case the deceased is
reborn in the World of Petas, he may benefit from our ceremony
here, and even or if he is reborn elsewhere we may acquire merits for
ourselves.
The ceremony
should be performed in this way:
Bhikkhus should
be invited to the house where a person has died, or to the cemetery. The
corpse should be placed before the Bhikkhus. The relatives should then
assemble and take 'Panca Sila' from the Bhikkhus. Then they should
offer the Bhikkhus some thing—a piece of cloth is usual—, and after that
they should invite the deceased to take a share of the merit for
meritorious deed by rejoicing at it. If the deceased could come and
rejoice at it, i.e. utter Sadhu! Sadhu!, he will at that very
moment be free from the woeful state he has fallen into and will enjoy
godly clothes, ornaments, abodes and so on, and he will be thankful to his
relations.
Also seven days
after the death, offering of food should be made to the Bhikkhus. The same
procedure should be repeated here, and the deceased should be invited to
take a share of the merit by rejoicing at the meritorious deed.
As a result of
this offering of food he will be able to enjoy godly food there . So, to
put it in a nutshell, ceremony connected with the death of a person should
be performed twice, once, at burial or cremation and again seven days
after death. Both should be done with the intention of helping the
deceased, if by some evil Kamma he is reborn in the World of
Petas.
Pattidana and Pattanumodana
Inviting others
to take shares of the merit by rejoicing at one's own meritorious deeds
itself is a meritorious act called Pattidana (giving of merit
acquired): and rejoicing at meritorious deeds done by others is also a
meritorious act called Pattanumodana(rejoicing at merit acquired by
others).
Besides, one's
own merit does not decrease although it is shared with others just as the
light of a candle does not decrease although other candles are lighted
with it. That is why all Buddhists, when they do meritorious deeds, invite
all other beings to take shares of the merit by rejoicing at the
meritorious deed.
Difference between
ordinary offerings and the offerings made for the benefit of the deceased
However, ordinary
offerings are made primarily for the benefit of the donors them selves and
the benefit of others, who rejoice at the offerings and thereby get a
share of the merits therefor, is only a matter of secondary consideration;
whereas offerings made at or in connection with funerals are primarily for
the benefit of the deceased and the benefit of the donors themselves is
only a matter of secondary consideration.
Besides, in the
case of ordinary offerings it is not essential that the donors and the
sharers of their merit should get immediate benefit, whereas in the case
of offerings made for the deceased it is absolutely essential that they
should on rejoicing at the offerings get immediate benefit, e.g. in the
form of godly clothes, ornaments, abodes and so on. The deceased cannot
wait for future benefits like the donors and other sharers of merits and
they can get immediate benefit only if the donees are virtuous.
Three essential
conditions for effectiveness of offerings made for the benefit of the
decease.
So three
essential conditions must be fulfilledin order that the deceased might get
the full benefit of theoffering made by his relative.
These three
conditions are:
- That the donor must
make the offering expressly for the benefit of the deceased saying "Let
the merit for this offering reach my relative so and so.
- That the donee must be
a virtuous person; and
- That the deceased
himself must rejoice in and express appreciation of the offering. *"
The first
condition does not prevent the donor from inviting other deceased
relatives and all other beings to rejoice at the offering; and take shares
of the merit therefor.
With reference to
the second condition there was an instance of a Peta, who had not
benefited by three offerings made successively to one and the same vicious
donee, crying "The vicious person has robbed me!" (i.e. of the
benefits which might have arisen to me immediately if the offerings had
been made to a virtuous person).*""
However, the
second condition is essential only for the special purpose of letting the
deceased benefit immediately by rejoicing at the offering.
Offerings without
such special object can be made to any being, good or bad. Even offering a
little food to a dog is an act of merit; the donor will get benefit
therefor; and the sharer will get benefit for rejoice thereat although the
benefit in either case may not be immediate and the amount of merit for
offerings increases with the virtue not only of the donee but also of the
donor.
This performing of
funeral ceremony or in other words, giving dana and share merit
with the spirits is the duty of every relative (nati dhamma), be he
a near or remote, as the person who has passed away from this world and is
reborn in the Woeful State of Petas always hope for an opportunity
to utter 'Sadhu', i.e., to rejoice at the dana done for his
benefit by his relatives.
For sons and
daughters, it is imperative that they perform funeral ceremony at the
death of their father or mother. Expectation that they would perform such
ceremony is one of the reasons for the parents' desire to have children.
Says the Buddha in Anguttara Nikaya: *""""Seeing five things,
Bhikkhus, parents desire a son born in the family. What five? He will
support and attend to us in our old age, having been reared by us; he will
do for us what must be done; our tradition will long endure (on account of
him); he will enjoy the heritage; and he will make offerings for us and
will share merit with us when we are dead." It is also one of the five
duties of sons or daughters towards their parents to do meritorious deeds
and to share merits with the parents who have passed away.
In conclusion, it
should be noted that only ceremonies which are in accord with Buddhism are
permissible. It is most important for a Buddhist, when performing
ceremonies, to be careful not to go to other religions or deities for
refuge discarding the Triple Gem; i.e., the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. If
the refuge in the Three Gems is discarded, he will no longer be a
Buddhist.
* Dhammapda
Commentary, Vagga 8
** Anguttara
Nikaya, Vol. II., pp. 30-31, 6th Syn. Edn.
*** Please see
Suttanta Pitaka, Digha Nikaya, Pathika-vagga, Singala Sutta, page 146,
6th Synod Edition; and Pathika-vagga Atthakatha, Singala
Sutta Vannana, page 124, 6th Synod Edition.
**** Dhammapada
Commentary, 4, Story 8.
*" Petavatthu
Atthakatha. 6th Synod Edition, p. 25.
*"" Majjhima
Nikaya, Uparipannasa Atthakattha, 4. Vibhanga Vagga,
12. Dakkhina-vibhanga Suttavannana, p. 219, 6th
Synod Edition.
*""" Anguttara
Nikaya, Pancaka Nipata, Pathama Pannasaka,
4. Sumana-vagga, 9. Putta Sutta, p. 37, 6th Syn. Edn.
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Update : 01-08-2002
