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The {{Nihongo|'''segaki'''|施餓鬼||"feeding the hungry ghosts"}} is a [[ritual]] of [[Japanese Buddhism]], traditionally performed to stop the suffering of the such restless ghosts/monsters as ''[[Preta|Gaki]]'', ''[[Jikininki]]'' and the ''Muenbotoke'' (the dead who have no living relatives), [[ghost]]s tormented by insatiable hunger.<ref>{{cite book|title=Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|date=2008|first1=Jacqueline Ilyse|last1=Stone|first2=Mariko Namba|last2=Walter|isbn=9780824832049}}</ref> Alternatively, the ritual forces them to return to their portion of [[hell]] or keeps the spirits of the dead from falling into the realm of the gaki. The segaki may be performed at any time, but traditionally performed as part of the yearly ''[[Ghost Festival|Urabon'e]]'' ({{lang-sa|उल्लम्बन}} ''Ullambana'') services in July to remember the dead and the segaki ritual for offering alms to specifically hungry gaki or muenbotoke, not for spirits of one's ancestor.

The ritual is held at Buddhist temples and there is a custom to place segaki-dana (rack for gaki) or gaki-dana (shelf for gaki) at home, present offerings (traditionally rice and water) for hungry ghosts who are wandering in this world as muenbotoke during Urabon'e or [[O-Bon|O-bon]].

The segaki began as a way for [[Moggallana]] (Maudgalyayna), on instruction of his master, the Buddha [[Sakyamuni]], to free his mother from [[gaki-do]], the realm of the gaki. Alternatively, Sakyamuni ordered Moggallana to preach the [[Lotus Sutra]] or to travel to hell himself, a feat that resulted in the escape of all gaki into the world and necessitating the segaki to force them to return to their realm. Another story says that the student [[Ananda]] was told by a gaki that he would become one himself in three days; he thus had to feed strangers to prevent the transformation. In reality, the segaki is likely an adaptation of a [[China|Chinese]] festival to remember the dead.

The ritual is known as ''mataka dānēs'' or ''matakadānaya'' in [[Sri Lanka]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Buddhism |last=Buswell |first= Robert E |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |year=2004 |isbn=0028659104 |pages=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins |last=Langer |first= Rita |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2007 |isbn= 9780710304445 |pages=153, 155, 173, 187, 191}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Obon]]
* [[Ghost Festival]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Buddhism in Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese Buddhist terminology]]

{{Buddhism-stub}}
{{Japan-reli-stub}}

Segaki - Revision history

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