The Great Mengshan Food Offering — A Buddhist Rite for Benefiting Beings of the Six Realms

The Mengshan food offering is aimed at relieving wandering hungry ghosts. In the Song dynasty, there was a master known as Budong (also called the Ganlu, "Sweet Dew," Great Master), who lived on Meng Mountain in Sichuan. Moved by compassion for wandering spirits, he compiled the Mengshan Food Offering by bringing together the Yoga Flame-Mouth ritual and core esoteric tantric texts, and it soon became a staple daily liturgy in Buddhist monasteries. In modern times, Master Xingci championed the Mengshan food offering widely, adding six instructional addresses to the ritual, and the expanded version became known as the Great Mengshan Food Offering. Each year on the evening of the fifteenth day of the seventh month and during the winter dharma sessions, Lushan Donglin Monastery holds a solemn Great Mengshan food offering ceremony in keeping with longstanding tradition.

The Origin and Merits of the Mengshan Food Offering

The Great Mengshan food offering has its earliest origins in the time of the Buddha himself. Venerable Ananda was once meditating in a forest when he suddenly encountered a ghost king named Mianran, who warned him that he would fall into the ghost realm in three days. Ananda asked how he might avoid this fate, and the ghost king told him he would need to offer food to all beings across the six realms and to countless hungry ghosts. The next morning, Ananda went to the Buddha and asked him to teach him a food offering method. The Buddha taught Ananda to recite the Mantra for Transforming Food, which causes a small amount of food to multiply sevenfold again and again, until it becomes immeasurable. He also taught him the Sweet Dew Mantra, which transforms ordinary water into sweet dew. This marked the beginning of the food offering practice during the Buddha’s lifetime.

When Buddhism arrived in China, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty, the emperor had a dream one night in which a great monk urged him to hold a grand Water-and-Land Assembly to liberate beings across the six realms. Acting on the advice of the monk Zhigong, Emperor Wu compiled Buddhist scriptures into a ritual centered on two core mantras, drawing on both exoteric and esoteric texts, and built an altar for the liberation of beings. This was the origin of food offering practices in China.

During the Tang dynasty, two esoteric monks, Vajrabodhi (known as Jingangzhi) and Amoghavajra (known as Bukong), also built their Flame-Mouth ritual around these two core mantras, supplementing them with passages from both exoteric and esoteric texts. This lineage has been passed down to the present day, and remains the most widely practiced form of food offering, known today as the Flame-Mouth Food Offering. In the Song dynasty, Master Budong (also known as Master Ganlu, the "Sweet Dew" Master) compiled the Mengshan Food Offering Ritual on Meng Mountain in Sichuan, drawing on the Sutra for Delivering Hungry Ghosts through the Flame-Mouth Ceremony and an esoteric water-offering practice. He centered the text on the same two core mantras, gathering passages from a range of esoteric sources into a single, cohesive ritual manual. Holding a ceremony in strict accordance with this ritual is called "performing the Great Mengshan."

In daily monastic practice, the Mengshan food offering ritual is part of the standard evening liturgy, performed to benefit wandering spirits; this shorter, daily version is called "performing the Small Mengshan." It may be performed by one or more lay practitioners, as long as the ritual procedures are followed correctly.

The food offering brings manifold merits. As recorded in the Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Distinctions of Karmic Retribution for the Elder Shoucheng Jia, offering food and drink brings tenfold merit: long life; a radiant, healthy appearance; strength; unimpeded, eloquent speech; fearlessness; freedom from laziness and the esteem of others; being cherished by all; great karmic merit; rebirth in the heavenly realms at the end of this life; and swift attainment of nirvana.

The Great Mengshan Food Offering Ritual

In the Song dynasty, Master Budong, moved by compassion for wandering spirits, compiled the Mengshan food offering by bringing together the Yoga Flame-Mouth ritual and core esoteric tantric texts; it soon became a standard daily practice in the Chan tradition. In modern times, Master Xingci championed the Mengshan food offering, adding six instructional addresses to the ritual, and the expanded version became known as the Great Mengshan Food Offering.

When the Great Mengshan food offering is performed, an altar is set up at the center of the space, with a Buddha image enshrined on top. Arranged on the altar are fresh flowers, seasonal fruit, incense burners, and candlesticks, along with a cup of white rice and a cup of clear water. A senior monk is invited to preside over the rite and expound the dharma; he sits behind the Buddha image, while the chant leader, yuetang (ceremonial assistants), and others sit on either side, with all in attendance participating joyfully.

Facing the altar, a "lonely spirits’ platform" is set up, holding spirit tablets that represent all beings of the six realms across the ten directions. After incense is lit, a yellow cloth or rope is stretched from the platform to the front of the altar, so that all ghosts and spirits may bow, hear the dharma, and receive food there without hindrance, and attain great benefit.

The rice and water placed before the spirit tablets must be fully cooked and palatable; raw vegetables may not be offered. The proper times for offering food to ghosts are the hours of xu (7–9 p.m.) and hai (9–11 p.m.). After the silent meditation rest period and for the duration of the food offering, no one may drink tea or eat. Please keep this in mind carefully.

The Six Instructions

During the Great Mengshan food offering ceremony, the officiating master delivers six instructional addresses, summoning lonely souls and hungry ghosts from the ten directions, sprinkling them with sweet dew, offering them food and drink, leading them to take refuge in the Three Jewels, guiding them to repent their harmful karma and arouse the four great vows, so that they may hear the dharma, receive nourishment, be freed from the wheel of suffering, and swiftly attain bodhi. The text of these six addresses is both elegant and rich in meaning, offering great benefit to all beings. The full text is recorded below.

The First Instruction

Beings of the six realms across the ten directions, listen with care. The true nature of emptiness is serene and still: originally, there is no world, no sentient beings. Self-nature is inherently complete; how could there be karmic fruition or dharmic phenomena? It is only a single deluded thought that divides the ten realms into distinct parts. Chasing after the six sense objects, the ten thousand conditions grow turbulent. The wondrous turns to illusion, and ignorance arises across the nine paths. Mistaking true emptiness for mere nothingness, the defilements of the four forms of birth arise one after another. Thus beings cycle through rise and fall without end, and birth and death know no cessation. Though the human and heavenly realms hold immeasurable pleasure, when blessings are exhausted one falls once more into the three lower realms, where intense suffering burns without pause, and liberation is hard to attain. To speak of such suffering truly stirs grief. Now, relying on the supreme merit of this food offering, we universally liberate all those burdened by wrongdoing. We call upon the assembly to chant a verse that directly points to the dharma gate of mind-only, that you may awaken to what is inherent and what is produced within your own mind—like a bright mirror that holds and reflects all things. The fruits of good and evil are borne by each being themselves. Cause and effect turn without the slightest error. Next we chant mantras, whose secret power dissolves all hell realms, the eight difficulties, the three evil paths, the four forms of birth, the nine realms of existence—all bonds are fully released. Then we chant the Universal Summoning Mantra, calling all beings of the six realms from the ten directions, as well as all those throughout history who suffered untimely disasters and calamities, near and far. By the power of this mantra, may they all come to this dharma assembly. Having arrived, they have already gained liberation. Yet there are beginningless karmic enmities and entanglements that bind them. If they now share the same space and the same feast, they may see one another and give rise to hatred. So we chant the Divine Mantra for Resolving Enmity, whose inconceivable power dissolves hatred instantly, like ice melting in warmth. From now on, wherever they are placed and whatever they encounter, they will see one another with shared joy. Thus they take refuge together in the Three Jewels, together hear the dharma, together receive the dharma food, and together attain liberation. All you beings, arouse perfect sincerity. Kneel with joined palms, and join the assembly in chanting in unison to welcome the Three Jewels.

The Second Instruction

We have just invited the Three Jewels; their vast compassion will surely be present among us. Now each of you must bring forth a sincere heart and reverently take refuge. The Three Jewels are rarely encountered even in a thousand lifetimes, and hard to meet even in ten thousand kalpas. Those who take refuge gain infinite merit; those who bow and recite have their sins extinguished, as countless as the sands of the Ganges. They are like a wondrous elixir that cures every ailment. Thus the Three Jewels are supreme: their merit and virtue are vast beyond conception. When sentient beings take refuge sincerely, the seed of bodhi is born within them. I now proclaim the great names of the Three Jewels for you. Follow my voice and take refuge in the Three Jewels.

The Third Instruction

You beings of the six realms have now taken refuge in the Three Jewels, and the seed of Buddhahood has been planted within you; you are now fit to walk the bodhi path. Reflect further on this: since beginningless time, your three karmic actions of body, speech, and mind have been impure, and the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion have blazed fiercely within you. In every thought, you have created unwholesome karma—boundless and immeasurable. Without diligent repentance, how could it ever be dissolved? So now, following the repentance verse of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, I will guide you. Stand reverently before the Three Jewels, and following my voice, openly disclose your faults with sincere, earnest hearts, beseeching compassionate forgiveness.

The Fourth Instruction

You beings of the six realms, having repented, your karma is now pure. Yet since beginningless time, the karmic seeds you have created are immeasurable. Only through long, diligent repentance can they gradually be fully eradicated. You must understand this: sin arises from the mind, and repentance of sin arises from the mind as well. When the mind is extinguished, what sin remains? In every circumstance and at every moment, you must refrain from discriminative thoughts arising. Then the root of sin is cut off—this is called true repentance. Having repented diligently, you must now arouse the four great vows as your foundation. Stacking merit like a mountain, you should cultivate the six perfections to fulfill them completely. I now proclaim the verses of the four great vows for you. Kneel reverently before the Three Honored Ones, and following my voice, arouse the vows with single-minded resolve.

The Fifth Instruction

You beings of the six realms, having now made the vows, know this: the vows are like the great ocean, profound beyond measure. Practice is like a lofty mountain, filled only when fully completed. You must cultivate the great practices of the six perfections to fill the ocean of the four great vows. To fill this ocean of vows, you must urgently work for both your own benefit and the benefit of others. For your own benefit, you must keep your three karmic actions pure, undertake what is hard to do, endure what is hard to bear, persevere through countless kalpas of diligent practice, and never entertain the thought of retreat. For the benefit of others, you must cultivate the six perfections diligently, perfect the ten thousand practices without fail, broadly liberate sentient beings, and never tire of hardship. When self-benefit is thorough, benefit for others grows vast. The six perfections and ten thousand practices universally transform and harmonize. Like a rescuer of the distressed, you must first strengthen your own capacity: the more beings you save, the easier your practice becomes. Now we turn again to your own karma: the fixed karma you have created since kalpas past has not yet been fully dissolved. So we will now chant Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Mantra for Destroying Fixed Karma, that it may be completely eradicated. Next we chant Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s Divine Mantra for Dissolving Karmic Obstructions, that they may vanish swiftly, like ice melting. Moreover, due to habitual stinginess and greed, your throats have long been locked tight. So we chant the Mantra for Opening the Throat, that it may open wide, free of obstruction, and you may be fit to taste the pure flavor of the dharma. Relying on the luminous, esoteric sacred words above, may all inner and outer obstructions be fully dissolved. Next we request the samaya precepts, that the root of your precepts may be wholly pure, like a bright pearl shining with luster. All merit cultivated will be perfectly fulfilled. Next, the secret Mantra for Transforming Food is chanted. Each grain multiplies sevenfold; seven again become seven; seven times seven without end. Thus from this one portion of food, immeasurable food is produced; yet all this immeasurable food returns to the one. The one is the immeasurable, the immeasurable is the one. Each and every portion is born, layer upon layer without end, filling empty space and pervading the entire dharma realm, universally relieving hunger and thirst, freeing all from suffering and granting them joy. Next, the secret Mantra for Transforming Water is chanted, transforming ordinary water into sweet dew, pervading the dharma realm like an ocean of nature; all beings universally receive coolness and clarity. This food and this water mutually pervade and interpenetrate. Those who taste or touch them have their six sense faculties purified. Those who see or hear of them are delivered from all suffering. The One-Word Water-Wheel Mantra: this food and this water are utterly pure and marvelously intermingled. The Ocean of Milk Mantra: this food and this water are fresh and pure in essence. Then the great names of the Seven Tathāgatas are proclaimed: those who hear them are instantly liberated, and ascend to the wondrous body of the lotus throne, at once joyful and glorious. You beings, listen with single-minded, focused attention.

The Sixth Instruction

We have now expounded the dharma gate of food offering. You disciples of the Buddha have realized the wondrous, fundamental mind, and together entered the realm of cool clarity. The verses have pointed to the truth that all dharmas are mind-only. The mantras have shattered the barriers of manifold suffering. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels, you enter the wondrous fruit and escape the wheel of suffering. The path leads to the gate of liberation. Firmly arouse the four great vows: to seek Buddhahood and liberate beings, to strive diligently toward the fruit of nirvana. First, through the power of repentance, your vows deepen further. Then, through the merit of destroying fixed karma, your root karmic sources are purified. Thereafter, by receiving the samaya precepts, the unconditioned precept-body of the Mahāyāna is fully perfected. Food is transformed into colors, fragrances, and flavors that mutually pervade and interpenetrate. Water is transformed into sweet dew, falling universally and moistening all beings. Hearing the names of the Seven Tathāgatas, one is immediately freed from the suffering of the six realms. This is a dharma assembly of equality, where the noble and the lowly partake alike; this is a boundless field of practice, where enemies and kin are treated without distinction. All the merit of the foregoing sutras and mantras merges with the suchness of the Heart Sutra. All chapters, exoteric and esoteric alike, follow the secret treasury of rebirth in the Pure Land. The Mantra of Universal Dedication: may all sentient beings throughout the dharma realm fully attain bodhi. The auspicious verse is sung: may all sentient beings upon the earth always find fulfillment according to their wishes. You have now encountered this supreme condition, and have already heard the world-transcending dharma gate. You must constantly awaken and illuminate yourself; do not let the mind grow deluded, do not cling to appearances. Once you fall into the dark realms, it is hard to return even after ten thousand kalpas. Since you have already understood this, may you swiftly attain complete transcendence. The Buddha, moved by compassion, will at once grant you liberation. Your body will be borne upon a lotus flower, your form radiant with light. You will forever hear the wondrous sounds of Amitābha, and directly awaken to the patient endurance of the unconditioned. With sincere hearts, join the assembly in unison, chanting the Buddha’s name and making the dedication.

The Great Mengshan food offering is performed for the benefit of beings in the ghost realm, yet it in fact benefits both the unseen and the living. As Master Yinguang observed: "When performing the Mengshan offering, if one is utterly sincere, even fierce ghosts will respectfully obey the Buddha’s decree and cease causing harm. For this reason, those suffering from illnesses caused by karmic enmity that medicine cannot cure will recover quickly through sincere recitation of the Buddha’s name or Avalokiteśvara’s name. This is because the resentful ghosts, having received the grace of the Buddha’s name, are reborn in higher realms and depart."