The Goma fire ritual

Goma ritual at Kawasaki Daishi Temple, Japan:



The Goma rite is an awesome site to behold. It involves complex manipulation of body, speech, and mind for various purposes.

The Goma (護摩) Ritual of consecrated fire is unique to Esoteric Buddhism and is the most recognizable ritual defining Shingon among regular Japanese persons today. It stems from the Vedic Agnicayana Ritual and is performed by qualified priests and acharyas for the benefit of individuals, the state or all sentient beings in general. The consecrated fire is believed to have a powerful cleansing effect spiritually and psychologically. The central deity invoked in this ritual is usually Acala (Fudō Myōō 不動明王). The ritual is performed for the purpose of destroying negative energies, detrimental thoughts and desires, and for the making of secular requests and blessings. In most Shingon temples, this ritual is performed daily in the morning or the afternoon. 

en.wikipedia.org...

This video captures the almost hypnotic drone of the drumming and chanting, and has some beautiful shots of the flames rising high.

a reply to: Never Despise

Wow, thanks for sharing this! is this an ancient ritual? Have you ever been to one of their rituals?

a reply to: Night Star
Yes this goes back a long way to ancient India originally. I was lucky to attend several of these when I was in Japan some years ago. Very impressive.