Ullambana Sutra

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The Ullambana Sutra is a Mahayana sutra which consists in a brief discourse given by the Gautama Buddha principally to the monk Maudgalyāyana (Mokuren in Japanese) on the practice of filial piety. The text is considered of questionable authenticity by many.

In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Mahāmaudgalyāyana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This practice is the basis of the Obon ceremony in honor of one's ancestors which is still observed widely in Japan. Judging from that, it may be inferred that this sutra has had considerable influence.

External links

• [The Ullambana Sutra in Chinese]
• [The Ullambana Sutra translated by The Buddhist Text Translation Society]
• [Why should someone practice filial purity?]

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