17 Nov 2024

The rituals of Buddhists 佛教的儀軌

Just like praying in the morning, evening and during meals for Christians, or scripture chanting in the morning and evening for Catholics, there are prayer rituals for Buddhists.

就像基督徒的早、晚、飯時祈禱,天主教徒的早、晚誦經一樣,佛教徒也有祈福儀式。


The formal prayer rituals run at a monastery. The lay-men and the followers pray with a specific intonation and rhythm led by monks. The chanting includes scriptures, mantras or the saint's name, praise, aspiration, the Three Refuges, and finally the Dedication of Merits. The scriptures, mantras, praises and the Dedication being chanted will be different for different reasons (such as for newborn, someone passed away, disasters, or commemoration of a saint, etc.)

正式的祈禱儀式(法會)在寺院舉行。居士和信徒將在僧人的帶領下,以特定的語調和節奏來誦經。念誦內容包括誦經、誦唸真言或佛號、讚謁、發願文、三皈依文,最後是迴向謁。因不同的原因(如為新生兒、過世者、災難、紀念聖人等),所念的經文、咒語、讚嘆詞和迴向詞都會有所不同。


The ritual for lay-Buddhists is easier. When there is no ritual in the monastery, they may pray at home with their own intonation and rhythm. The Three Refuges are specified and necessary both at the monastery and at home, but the scriptures, mantra, aspiration, and dedication of merits may be chosen and specified by the lay-men. Furthermore, instruments such as "wooden fish" are not necessary at home. This is a simple and flexible ritual at home that has been handed down since the peak of Chinese Buddhism in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

居士在家的儀式(課頌)比較簡單。當寺院沒有法會時,他們可以在家中用自己的語調和節奏祈禱。三皈依是在寺院和在家中必須指定的,但經典、真言、發願文、迴向文可以由居士選擇和指定。而且,「木魚」之類的法器在家裡也不是必需的。這是自唐宋時期中國佛教鼎盛時期以來一直流傳下來的一種簡單而靈活的家庭儀式。


For followers that are beginners of Buddhism and have not yet been formal Buddhists, they may not have the idea of making aspiration and dedication as to their less understanding of the scriptures and teachings from Buddha, so, chanting the saint's name is the easiest way for them to get started. 

對於剛學佛、還沒成為正式成為佛教徒的信眾來說,由於對佛經和教義的了解較少,可能沒有發願和迴向的觀念,所以誦唸佛號是他們開始修行的最簡單的方法。

No comments:

Featured post

對我的文章發表評論或批評的方法 The ways to make comments for my articles

如有任何建議,讀者可以 在Facebook上發送私人訊息至“ArKai1975” ,或電郵至kaikaysk@gmail.com。 For any suggestions, readers may send privace message on Facebook at ...