Negotiating Boundaries: A Comparative Study of the Shuilu (Water-Land) Rituals in Late Imperial China

This study presents a comparative analysis of two distinct manuals for the Water-Land Ritual, a significant Buddhist ceremony for universal salvation originating in the ninth century and gaining prominence across China by the thirteenth century.The analysis focuses on the Fajie shengfan shuilu shenghui xiuzhai yigui [Ritual Manual for Performing the Retreat of the Grand Assembly of All Saintly and Mundane Beings of Water and Land, X no.1497; hereafter, FJSF], edited by Zhipan (ca.1220-1275) and Zhuhong (1535-1615) and prevalent in contemporary Chinese Buddhist temples, and the Tiandi mingyang shuilu yiwen [Manual for the Ritual of All Beings of Heaven and Earth, This World and the Netherworld, and Water and Land; hereafter, TDMY], which incorporates a variety of beliefs and practices (such as Esoteric and Daoist), reflecting regional variations of the ritual.By exploring ritual space segmentation, altar configurations, and participant movements within the context of the Buddhist renewal movement during the late Ming Dynasty, this paper hopes to shed light on the question of why the FJSF eventually replaced the TDMY as the dominant version of the Shuilu ritual in modern-day Chinese Buddhist temples.