佛說盂蘭盆經 1.5

1.5

The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, at the time of the Saṅgha's pravāraṇā, the Saṅgha of the ten directions should, on behalf of parents of seven past lives and present parents who are in distress and hardship, prepare rice, delicacies of a hundred flavours, the five kinds of fruits, vessels for drawing and pouring water, incense, lamp oil, candles, beds, and bedding. Place all the sweet delicacies of the world into vessels and offer them to the venerable Saṅgha of the ten directions. On this day, all the assembly of noble ones—whether meditating in mountain valleys, having attained the four fruits of the Way, walking beneath trees, freely possessing the six supernormal knowledges and instructing śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, or great bodhisattvas of the ten stages provisionally manifesting as monks in the great assembly—all unite in single-mindedness to receive the food in the pātra bowls. Endowed with the pure precepts and the path of the assembly of noble ones, their virtue is vast as the sea. Whoever makes offerings to such monks of the pravāraṇā will see their present parents, parents of seven past lives, and the six kinds of kin escape the suffering of the three lower realms, attaining immediate liberation, with clothing and food naturally supplied. If someone still has living parents, their parents will enjoy blessings and joy for a hundred years; if their parents of seven past lives have already passed away, they will be born in heaven, taking birth spontaneously with sovereign ease, entering the heavenly light of flowers, and receiving boundless bliss." At that time, the Buddha commanded the monks of the ten directions to first chant aspirational prayers on behalf of the donor's family for their parents of seven past lives, dwelling in meditative concentration, and only then accept the food. When first receiving the vessels, they should place them before the Buddha's stūpa; after the Saṅgha has finished the aspirational prayers, they may partake of the food themselves.