Goma: The Fire Ritual

Japonista Dictionary › Ideas and practice

Goma (護摩), from the Sanskrit homa, is the fire offering of esoteric Buddhism. A priest builds a fire on a special altar and feeds it with offerings while chanting and forming mudrā, so that the flames, understood as the wisdom of the Buddha, consume delusion and carry prayers upward. It is the most dramatic rite in Japanese Buddhism and is performed daily at many temples.

The rite

The priest sits before a square altar, gomadan, with a hearth at its centre. Around it are bowls of grains, oil, incense and flowers, and an array of ritual implements. Wooden sticks, gomagi, on which worshippers have written their wishes, are fed into the fire in ordered handfuls. The rite visualises an inner fire as well: the burning of the passions in the practitioner's own heart.

Fudō and the fire

Although many deities can preside, the goma is most often dedicated to Fudō Myōō, whose own halo is fire. Temples such as Shinshōji at Narita perform it several times a day before crowds of worshippers.

The great outdoor fires

Mountain ascetics of Shugendō perform a vast open-air version, saito goma, around a pyre of cedar branches. When the fire has burned down, priests and sometimes the public walk across the embers, a rite of purification.

Collecting notes

• Goma altars, hearths, ladles and offering bowls of gilt bronze occasionally leave temples, and sets are rare.
• Smoke-darkened images of Fudō from goma halls carry a patina that tells of centuries of ritual. It should not be cleaned away.

In the collection

Browse esoteric Buddhist art and Fudō Myōō figures. Our collector concierge can search Japan for goma implements.

See also

• Mikkyō: Esoteric Buddhism
• Kōro: incense burners
• Caring for Buddhist Statues