Comprehensive Guide to Food Offering (施食通覽)

About 施食通覽

Song · by 宗曉編

24,952 · about 83 min

The *Comprehensive Guide to Food Offering* compiled by Master Zongxiao of the Southern Song dynasty is an important collection of Buddhist texts concerning the rituals of food offering. This work gathers numerous discourses, rituals, and commentaries from sutras and eminent masters on food offering—particularly the *Yoga Flaming Mouth* ceremony—systematically expounding its origins, methods, and merits. Compiled during the Song dynasty, a period when Buddhist rituals flourished, it aimed to provide practitioners with authoritative references and practical guidance. As one of the core texts of the food offering practice in Chinese Buddhism, it profoundly influenced the standardization and transmission of later rituals and remains a vital source for studying Buddhist compassion and the relief of hungry ghost beings.