Burning incense in the censer perfuming the Dharma Realm
The whole Dharmadhatu concentrated on faithful prayers
Offering sacrificial food with great mercy
Tomb-sweeping and ancestor worshiping ceremonies
in the Forest of Stupas
Offering ritual
The Yoga Flaming Mouth Ceremony
Lay believers and visitors joined the ceremonies
Qingming Festival, one of the most important traditional festivals for the Chinese, fell on the 5th of April this year. A traditional holiday express respect for the deceased, and to pay gratitude towards the Buddhas and great masters of previous generations who nurtured all believers with the Buddhist Dharma, Lingyin Temple hosted solemn ancestor memorial and worshiping ceremonies. Tombs of previous masters were swept, sacrifice was offered in front of their stupas, and rituals were performed in the Tablet Hall to commemorate the deceased.
At around 10am on the morning of 5th, a sunny spring day in Hangzhou, the ceremonies began in the Mahavira (Main) Hall of Lingyin Temple amid solemn statues of Buddhas and purifying Buddhist music. The rituals started with the chanting of the Incense Praise, when all attendees sang in chorus that “Incense in the censer now is burning; All the Dharma Realm receives the fragrance”(beginning lines of the Incense Praise). Afterwards, the Sangha headed for the Lingyin Forest of Stupas for tomb-sweeping. Magnificent worshiping ceremonies were held in front of the stupas of great masters and vandana of previous generations such as Master Dabei, Master Xingkong and Pre-abbot Muyu, who were commemorated for their valuable contributions to the transmission of Buddhism and their nurturance to later Buddhists. The Venerables then went to old and new halls where tablets of ancestors of lay disciples and householders are enshrined so as to worship them, chanting Sutras to relieve the souls of the deceased from suffering.
Since the evening of 4th April, Lingyin Venerables provided offering to the starving ghosts with the Yoga Flaming Mouth Ceremony, relieving dead families as well as enemies of the deceased, together with all sentient beings, from lower realms to the Pure Land.
