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Urabon-e
Ceremony Address Today, on this occasion of the Urabon-e ceremony, I have sincerely recited the sutras and chanted Daimoku together with you. I have also offered my heartfelt prayers for the peaceful repose of all your deceased relatives and the individuals for whom you have requested a memorial. I am truly pleased to see that you have put forth great efforts to travel long distances to attend this ceremony on a weekend day such as this. Urabon (ullambana in Sanskrit) is an ancient East Indian word. Ura (or ullam) means: “the suffering of a person who is hanged upside down.” Bon (or bana) refers to the various forms of offerings presented to numerous priests to save people from suffering in the world of Hunger. The origin of the Urabon-e ceremony goes back to Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), one of Shakyamuni’s disciples, who saved his deceased mother from suffering in the world of Hunger. Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) possessed supreme mastery of occult powers. In contrast to an ordinary person, he had special powers. An example of this was his six supernatural powers. These six powers consisted of the following: 1. The power of knowing the past lives of oneself and others. 2. The power of seeing anything anywhere, regardless of how distant it may be. 3. The power of eradicating all earthly desires and illusions. 4. The power of transforming into any form and of being anywhere at will. 5. The power of hearing any sound anywhere. 6. The power of knowing the thoughts of all other minds. Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) wanted to know where his deceased mother had gone and what she was doing. Therefore, he used these powers to search for his mother. He found that his mother had not attained enlightenment and that she had not been reborn as a human being. He could not imagine that he would find her in the three evil paths of Hell, Hunger, and Animality, but he looked for her there, just to be certain. To his surprise, he found his mother in the world of Hunger. She was in miserable form. Her throat was as thin as a needle, and her abdomen was large and distended. Her entire body was skin and bone. She had no access to water or food. Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) mother had transformed into an unsightly, starving figure. Even if she had food, she would have been unable to eat much, since her throat was as thin as a needle. She was unable to satisfy the hunger in her distended stomach. She was constantly starving. Why did Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) mother descend into the world of Hunger? While Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) mother was alive, she was greedy and was always desiring things. She was constantly committing sins of greed. Even though she had large amounts of food, she never gave anything to others. She possessed a great deal of knowledge, but she never shared it with people. And she never presented offerings to the Three Treasures of the Buddha, the Law, and the Priesthood. As a result of her sins, she fell into the world of Hunger after her death. It was extremely upsetting for Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) to see his mother experiencing such suffering. He immediately used his occult power to send food to his mother. The starving mother was overjoyed to see so much food appear before her eyes. She should have shared the bounty with the other individuals who were suffering in the same world of Hunger, but she hid the food with her left arm, as she tried to devour everything by herself, using her right hand. As soon as Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) mother took a bite, the food in her mouth turned to fire and burned her. Alarmed by what he saw, Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) quickly doused her with water. However, the water turned into oil and further burned his mother. Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) had spent a long time to master his occult powers, but ultimately, he was not able even to comfort his own mother. Then, Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) went to Shakyamuni and sought guidance from him on how to save his mother from the suffering of Hunger. Shakyamuni stated, “Your mother descended into the world of Hunger as a result of her greedy ways. If you, as her child, perform the opposite deed – the practice of offering alms, which is one of the Bodhisattva practices – then you would be able to save your mother. The almsgiving must be substantial. On the 15th day of the 7th month, you must offer alms to all priests.” During the rainy season in India, all priests congregated in one location to perform their practices. They did this to prevent themselves from inadvertently killing small insects, which they were likely to do, if they walked about during the rainy season. The final day of this practice together was on the 15th day of the 7th month. Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) offered a great amount of food to numerous priests on the 15th day of the 7th month, the last day of the practice. He asked the priests to grant him a small amount of the food that he had just offered, and he sent this to his mother in the world of Hunger. For the first time, the food did not turn to fire, and Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) mother was able to eat it. In this way, Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) was able to save his deceased mother from the suffering of Hunger. Learning from his experience, he thereafter did not rely on his occult powers; he devoted himself assiduously to his Buddhist faith and practice. Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) was assured achievement of enlightenment in the future, since he listened to and believed Shakyamuni’s sermons on the Lotus Sutra. Such is the origin of the Urabon-e ceremony that I performed today. Maudgalyayana’s (Mokuren’s) body in itself represented the entity of his parents. If Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) performed an evil deed, then not only Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) but also his parents would be punished for it and suffer the consequences. By contrast, if Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) performed a good deed, then the parents would also enjoy the benefits as a result. If Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) attained enlightenment, his parents would simultaneously attain the same. It is impossible for a parent to fall into Hell and for the child to achieve enlightenment at the same time. The opposite is also true. Since olden times, Nichiren Shoshu has taught the principles of a perpetual memorial for the dead and continual commemoration, in which all 365 days of the year are considered to be opportunities to offer memorials for the deceased. As we assiduously devote ourselves to our Buddhist practice and receive benefits, we are able to honor and memorialize our parents and ancestors. The essential significance of the bon memorial for the deceased is characterized by our performance, as living individuals, of chanting Daimoku, establishing and offering the toba memorial tablets, sending the resulting benefits to our parents and ancestors, and honoring and memorializing them, based on the true teachings of the Daishonin. Let us thoroughly embrace this essential significance and perform our Buddhist practice, according to the true objectives set forth by the Buddha. Today, on this occasion of the Urabon-e memorial service, I have referred to the story of Maudgalyayana (Mokuren) to describe the origin of the Urabon-e ceremony and to explain the significance of making gokuyo offerings. I sincerely thank you for your attendance today. You have come 2 weeks in a row – last week, to attend the oko and this week to attend this urabon-e ceremony. Thank you very much. |