The Altar Purification Ceremony of the 2023 Water and Land Liberation Dharma Assembly was held at the Mahavira Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou on October 26 (the twelfth day of the tenth lunar month).
At 6:00 pm, the Lingyin Sangha gathered at the Mahavira Hall, recited the Great Compassion Mantra together, and then proceeded in sequence towards the Hall of Heavenly Kings, Chanting Hall (Sutra Altar), the Hall of Patriarchs (Lengyan Altar), the Hall of Medicine Buddha (the Main Altar), the second floor of the Hall of Master Ji Gong (Huayan Altar), the Buddha Hall (Pure Land Altar), the Hall of Samgharama (Fahua Altar). At each altar, they purified the surroundings with water and made the altar clean and pure, sharing the benefits of the Dharma with all participants and fulfilling their wishes.
Around 7:00 am on October 27, the ceremony officially began with Dharma banners and the sound of Dharma instruments and chanting around the temple. Buddhist masters solemnly chanted sutras at the six exterior altars – the Main Altar, Huayan Altar, Sutra Altar, Lengyan Altar, Fahua Altar, Pure Land Altar (Different sutras are recited at these six exterior altars, including Avatamsaka Sutra, Śūraṃgama-Sūtra, Saddharmapundarika Sutra, etc.).
For the following seven days and nights, the Lingyin Sangha will perform such Buddhist rituals as sutra chanting, repentance, inviting the holy ones, worshiping the heaven, freeing captive animals, Yoga flaming mouth rite of releasing hungry ghosts, praying to universal Buddhas, preaching the nether world precepts, seeing holy ones off and so on. The main goal of these Buddhist activities is to invite Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as well as beings of higher realms to help all spirits of ten directions in their three lifetimes get out of their sufferings. The merits shall be contributed to the harmony of the environment, national stability and social prosperity. It is also wished that the Dharma Wheel turns perpetually and the Buddha enlightens brightly.
