Quote:
Giving rise to the thought of awakening, we present a vessel of pure food, offering it to all the hungry ghosts in every country of the innumerable lands in the dharma realm throughout all space in the ten directions. Please come and gather here, you departed long ago, and all spirits, from earth gods of mountains and rivers to demons and wraiths of barren wastes. Taking pity on you all, with this food we feed you now. ... We also pray that your bodies, conveyed by this dharani-food, may leave suffering behind and gain liberation; that you may attain the joy of birth in heavens; that you may, in accordance with your wishes, be delivered to one of the pure lands in the ten directions ... with the prayer that together with all sentient beings we may quickly attain buddhahood and not seek any other rewards.
Bernie changed the words quite a bit, avoiding the overt references to rebirth in other realms, wraiths and spirits:
Quote:
Raising the Bodhi Mind, the supreme meal is offered to all the hungry spirits throughout space and time, filling the smallest particle to the largest space. All you hungry spirits in the ten directions, please gather here. Sharing your distress, I offer you this food, hoping it will resolve your thirsts and hungers. I pray that all who receive this offering will return its merits to all Buddhas and to all creations throughout space and time, in this way they will be thoroughly satisfied. I further pray that in receiving this meal all your sufferings will be eliminated, and that you will be liberated, so that being joyously reborn you will play freely in the fields of the Pure Land. Raising the Bodhi Mind and practicing the Enlightened Way, you become the future Buddhas without any further regress.
HOWEVER ... from that point, the ceremony is then filled with about a dozen magical Dharani to help accomplish the task, naked sounds said to have power akin to "