Offering Vegetarian Meals to Monks on Behalf of the Deceased

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva further told the elder that, for beings burdened with such karmic offenses, there remains one more way their family members can help them after their passing: offering vegetarian meals on their behalf. Offering vegetarian meals, also called preparing and hosting a vegetarian feast, means that the family themselves prepare pure vegetarian food to make offerings to the Sangha. In this way, they can assist—that is, help the deceased break free from the three evil realms.

The essence of this practice of preparing a vegetarian feast lies in reverence—carrying it out with utmost respect and devotion. But what does such reverence look like in practice? Before the Sangha has finished eating, and throughout the entire process of preparing the meal, none of the rice, the water used to rinse it, or the discarded vegetable trimmings may be thrown onto the ground. Instead, they must be collected in a proper container.

The food you prepare must first be offered to the Buddha and to the Sangha. You cannot eat it yourself before it has been offered. To eat first demonstrates a lack of reverence. Food that has already been eaten becomes remnants, and if you then offer these remnants to the Buddha and Sangha, that is disrespectful. This is what is called improper food—food offered in violation of the precepts and not in accordance with the Dharma. Likewise, tossing the vegetable trimmings, rice, and rinse water onto the ground shows a lack of diligence. The proper practice is to wait until after the offering has been made and the Sangha has departed, and only then to dispose of the trimmings and rinse water. This is how you uphold diligence.

In some southern provinces of China, the devotion shown in preparing food for the Buddha and the Sangha can reach extraordinary levels. Last time, I heard a lay practitioner from Chaozhou say that, when they hoped to help prepare the vegetarian meals for the consecration ceremony of our Donglin Grand Buddha statue, they described how they stir-fry the dishes—kneeling the entire time. Such profound reverence! If you fail to follow the proper procedures and show insufficient respect, then even though you have made the offering, the deceased person will not benefit from it.

If you maintain diligence and purity, and offer to the Buddha and Sangha with devotion, then the deceased will receive one-seventh of the merit generated, while the living relatives in this world will receive six-sevenths.

To sum up: Elder, if the beings of South Jambudvipa are able, after the passing of their mother, father, or other family members, to host vegetarian feasts and make offerings on their behalf—doing so with a sincere heart, diligently and faithfully—then both those still living in this world and those who have passed away will benefit.

As Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was speaking these words, the countless nayutas of billions of spirits and ghosts from Jambudvipa who had gathered in the Trayastrimsha Heaven—vast in number, reaching into the hundreds of millions—all who attended the Dharma assembly, upon hearing Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's teaching, were moved to give rise to the supreme bodhicitta.

Why were these spirits able to give rise to the supreme bodhicitta at this Dharma assembly? Although spirits and ghosts are generally more upright and may cultivate wholesome karma, they still possess their own afflictions. For instance, they tend to harbor intense hatred, and they consume meat and blood. That is why, when making offerings to spirits and ghosts, people often offer wine and meat—either out of fear of provoking their wrath, or because such beings, when angered, will make life difficult for you. Many people offer meat and wine to spirits simply to appease them and avoid trouble.

Yet in this chapter, these spirits finally heard Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva teach that making such offerings to ghosts and spirits brings them no real benefit. Upon hearing this, they turned the light of awareness upon themselves and realized that, although dwelling in the realm of ghosts and spirits allowed them to benefit some people, they caused harm to far more. Moved by this reflection, they aspired to give rise to the supreme bodhicitta, determined to follow the example of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva himself.