What is Goma? The meaning of the Esoteric Fire Ritual
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What is the Goma Ritual?
The Japanese word Goma comes from the Sanskrit Homa, a ritual of pouring offerings into a sacred fire central to the Vedas, the earliest texts of the Hindu tradition. As Buddhism developed after its founding in the 6th Century BC, practitioners gradually began to reinterpret older Indian rituals and deities through a Buddhist lens, including the Homa.
This form of Buddhism, called “esoteric” for its emphasis on direct transmission of its complicated practices and teachings, traveled eastward along the Silk Road and was eventually brought to Japan by Kōbō Daishi Kūkai in the 9th Century. The school Kōbō Daishi founded is called Shingon Buddhism. “Shingon” means “True Words,” and is the sino-Japanese translation of “mantra,” the sacred phrases spoken during the Goma and other esoteric rituals.
What’s Happening at the Altar
Since the center of the action of a Goma is happening at the ritual altar, it’s perfectly natural to wonder what the priest is up to. All Shingon ritual follows a basic structure of inviting a deity, making offerings to them, attaining union with them, making more offerings, dedicating the merit of the practice to all beings, and then sending the deity off. The Goma is more visually striking than many Shingon rituals, but it is, in fact, something like an afterparty where the practitioner visualizes the hearth as the mouth of the deity and pours in additional offerings.
Shingon ritual is based on engaging our faculties of body, speech, and mind. Rituals engage the body through mudras or “seals,” hand gestures that correspond to the action being performed. They engage speech through mantras, sacred phrases that embody the Buddhas. They engage the mind through visualizations of the Buddhas and their activity. These three functions come as a set, and you’ll see during a Goma how dynamic the use of these so-called “Three Mysteries” can be in Shingon ritual.
The specifics of these practices are passed from a Shingon teacher to their student, and some elements are kept hidden from view. Below is a broad sketch of the various stages of a Goma. Depending on the temple and priest, some stages are cut for time.
Cleansing the ritual space and invoking Fudō Myō-ō, the main deity of the ritual (explained below). You’ll know when the deity has arrived because the priest will ring a bell, the sound of the Buddha’s teaching echoing through the universe. After that the priest makes offerings and then unites his body, speech, and mind with that of the deity.
Inviting and making offerings to Agni, the deity of fire. Since fire is the medium of the practice, it’s only polite to first invite and entertain Agni. Incidentally, Agni was the object of the original Homa rituals.
Here the priest will stack pieces of wood and light the fire. You can tell when the transitions between the following stages happen when he adds fresh wood and relights the hearth. He’ll toss a leaf into the fire to serve as a seat for the deity being invited, and toss another toward the edge of the altar for them to return on.
Inviting and making offerings to the head of Fudō’s group in the Mandala, Prajña Bodhisattva. Prajña is the feminine embodiment of Wisdom, and casually speaking is Fudō’s boss.
Inviting and making offerings to the main deity of the ritual, Fudō Myō-ō. This is the stage where 108 sticks representing the 108 afflictions are offered. After that, the priest will also offer any goma-gi, votive sticks that participants inscribe with prayers.
Inviting and making offerings to all the Buddhas throughout the universe.
Inviting and making offerings to the Devas, deities of nature and the elements that protect practitioners of Buddhism.
Making final offerings for Fudō, including a final ring of the bell, and sending him off.
Fudō Myō-ō, the Goma Deity
Though Goma can be performed for any of the numerous deities venerated in Shingon Buddhism, the most common is the wrathful deity Fudō Myō-ō. “Fudō” means “Unmoving,” and “Myō-ō,” means “Wisdom King” or “Mantra King.”
Fudō's appearance is sometimes a shock to those familiar with Buddhism as a relaxed, peaceful religion of quiet meditation. His face bears a furious expression, he holds weapons in his hands, and he is surrounded in an auriole of flame.
However, this wrathful form is actually the deepest expression of the Buddhas’ compassion. Unlike moon-white skin of the Buddhas, Fudō’s skin is blue-black with the mud and grease of our world of suffering. His wrathful form represents “tough love” that rescues those set deep in habits that cause suffering. He sits on a rock symbolizing the strength of his meditative power. He holds a sword that cuts delusions and a rope to lasso wayward souls. On top of his head is a pristine lotus–from the muck of reality blooms the pure flower of Enlightenment.
Fudō’s flame is the bright wisdom that consumes all selfish attachments that lead to suffering. Shingon philosophy rests on the teaching of the “Threefold Equality,” which is that one’s own body, speech, and mind are exactly the same as the body, speech, and mind of the Buddhas, and exactly the same as the body, speech, and mind of all other beings in the universe. Thus Fudō’s bright wisdom flame is exactly the bright wisdom inherent in your own mind, and you share that bright wisdom with every person and creature you meet.
This is the real purpose of practicing the Goma, to enact the timeless process of bright wisdom consuming the fuel of delusion. At one point in the ritual, the practitioner tosses in 108 sticks, representing the 108 desires that cause human suffering. This number is calculated by multiplying the six senses (the five senses plus consciousness), by three emotional states (like, dislike, and neutrality), by two conditions (pure and impure), and finally by the three dimensions of time (past, present, and future): 6 × 3 × 2 × 3 = 108. Just as the lotus of enlightenment blooms in the muck of existence, the Goma’s flame of wisdom feeds on the fuel of delusion.
Although the priest at the altar is the one performing the Goma ritual, the reality the ritual embodies is just as much yours as anyone’s. As Kōbō Daishi said, “The Buddhas’ teaching is not somewhere far away; it is in your own mind.” You can participate fully by bringing your very own body, speech, and mind, just as they are, to the ritual space, and engaging them alongside others through chanting Fudō's mantra.
Nōmaku sanmanda bazaradan senda makaroshada sowataya un tarata kanman
The above is an introduction from a prayer booklet I put together for use at Gomas I perform monthly near Temple 11 of the Shikoku Henro. You can download the booklet below. Please contact me for attendance details or prayer requests.
A special thanks to Don Weiss for the goma images used in this article.
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