Guanyin Classroom › Learning to See › Homa

Invited, Then Sent Off

How a homa comes to a close

Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and classical text in 「」 is kept in the original.

Homa · Seeing the ending

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Only a little fire is left in the hearth. On the left, water is being sprinkled down. On the right, someone holds up a cup. Above, one figure is in the middle of leaving, and at the far right, beyond a dotted line, there are two glows of light. Look at what everyone is doing.

Illustrative line drawing.

Photos and sources

Sutra LibraryFire Deity (Ka-ten, Agni)Kyoto National Museum collection, late Heian period, 12th century; via Cultural JapanOpen license CC BY 4.0, free to useThe Vedic fire god Agni became the "Fire Deity" (Katen) in Japanese esoteric Buddhism; at the start of a homa, he is the first to be invited into the hearth.View original and source ↗

Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.