Ullambana offering ceremony

...A memorial service for ancestors held mainly on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. It is also called the Ullambana offering ceremony or the Ullambana festival, or simply Ullambana. It is also called the Tamamatsuri (Festival of the Souls), the Shoryo-e (Festival of the Spirits), or Obon. Ullambana is said to be a transliteration of the Sanskrit avalambana, meaning "hanging upside down." According to the Ullambana Sutra, it is said to have originated from a ritual held by Maudgalyayana to offer a memorial service to the Three Treasures in accordance with the teachings of Shakyamuni in an attempt to save his mother, who had fallen into the realm of hungry ghosts, from the suffering of hanging down.

*Some of the terminology used in relation to the Obon Festival is explained below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…陰暦7月15日を中心に行われる祖霊供養の法会。盂蘭盆供会，盂蘭盆祭ともいい，略して盂蘭盆と称し，広く魂祭（たままつり），精霊会（しようりようえ），お盆などといわれる。　盂蘭盆はサンスクリットavalambanaの転訛したullambanaの音写とされ，倒懸(さかさづり)の意で，《盂蘭盆経》によると，目連が餓鬼道に落ちた母の倒懸の苦しみを救おうとして，釈迦の教えに従って祭儀を設けて三宝に供養したことが起源であると説かれてきた。…

※「盂蘭盆供会」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報