Is It Dharma-Compliant for Monks to Frequently Perform Salvation and Ancestral Redemption?

Temples that frequently perform salvation and redemption rituals tend to be highly disordered, making it impossible for monastics to cultivate their minds in peace. This is because monks generally lack sufficient cultivation, possess weak spiritual practice, and have inadequate spiritual attainment, rendering them powerless to redeem sentient beings. Consequently, the beings from the netherworld targeted for redemption cannot be liberated. They then remain in the temple causing disputes and troubles. Monastics either suffer from frequent illnesses or face numerous vexations and interpersonal conflicts, leaving them with no mind for cultivation. Normal spiritual practice becomes impossible. In some temples specifically dedicated to redemption rituals, the sheer number of beings from the netherworld who fail to be redeemed causes extreme chaos. These beings remain trapped in the temple, unable to be reborn. As their numbers accumulate without sufficient incense and offerings to sustain them, they create disturbances within the temple. Ultimately, such temples are forced to shut down. These are the consequences of excessive salvation and redemption rituals.

The core issue is that engaging in these activities prevents the monastics themselves from focusing on their spiritual path. They become entangled by their own karmic obstacles, which are already substantial, making their cultivation inherently difficult. On top of this, they expend time and energy shouldering karmic burdens for others that they should not bear. How, then, can they possibly maintain the mental state necessary for cultivation? Demanding that monastics redeem one's own creditor beings (karmic creditors) and bear one's karmic obstacles is an utterly unreasonable request. Even if monetary compensation is offered, no amount of money can be proportional when weighed against the gravity of karmic obstacles. Which is more critical: matters of life and death, or acquiring a sum of money? Anyone with wisdom can discern the answer. Therefore, one should not go to temples offering money to request monastics to perform redemption rituals for one's family members. No amount of money is sufficient, as the key issue is not about money. Such actions increase the monastics' karmic obstacles, hinder their normal spiritual practice, and prevent them from transcending the suffering of birth and death. Practices not mentioned in the Buddhist sutras and not performed during the Buddha's time should not be insisted upon.