Guardian Spirits the Buddha Talks About in Agon Sutras
In Mahaparinirvana Sutras and Agon Sutras, Shakyamuni Buddha recited the following verses and preached Lord Sunidha and Vassakāra about Shinrei or Holy Spirits which protect us.
Those who receive the protection of Holy Spirits always encounter good fortune.
Holy Spirits venerate the living when he venerates them.
Holy Spirits revere the living when he reveres them.
It is like a mother protecting her child.
(“The Buddha’s Last Trip in Mahaparinirvana Sutras” translated by Hajime Nakamura, published by Iwanami Bunko)
The spirit that becomes a guardian spirit is at the level of the realm of the Holy Spirit, which is the highest spirit. (It reaches this realm through the spiritual leader’s service performed for Shugorei Kuyo or the service for guardian spirits.)
The holy spirits protecting us, which the Buddha preaches about in the Mahaparinirvana Sutras, are guardian spirits. The Buddha teaches us that having a guardian spirit brings us constant good fortune.
How to Perform Meitoku Kuyo
The Meitoku Kuyo or Service of Ancestral Virtue’s purpose is to send many anguished unliberated spirits, which do not cause malice, towards the path of Jobutsu or Buddhahood.
The respected Confucian scholar Masahiro Yasuoka states,
“When we trace back twenty generations, we find that each of us has over a million ancestors; when we go back thirty generations, we find over a billion.”
With my spiritual sight, I can see all the ancestors who do exert spiritual interference onto a family. The spirits with the most direct effect come from the past three or four generations. There are exceptions, but this is normally the case.
On the other hand, the influence coming from the spirits' of the ancestors who have not yet attained liberation often stretches over a greater range often seven or eight to as far back as ten generations. Sometimes he is aware of negative influences emanating from some obscure source going so far into the past that he cannot identify it. This sort of general negativity does not come from one individual spirit but from two or three spirits. Sometimes even from a group of ten or more spirits who clump together. I consider the existence of this negativity to be more of a kind of karma instead of a distinct sort of innen.
Being an unlocalized form of spiritual interference, it is clear that it also produces a negative strain on the descendants' circumstances and needs to be removed. The method of the service designed as a dedication to unliberated spirits is known as the Meitoku Kuyo, or the Service of Ancestral Virtue.
Let me explain. When an unliberated spirit attains liberation through this service, latent accumulated merit within him or her manifests to the sponsor of the service, hence, what I call “ancestral virtue.” The latent virtue of the ancestors in the shadow of the spiritual realm works behind-the-scenes to positively affect the lives of the descendants who made the effort to have them liberated.
Having Meitoku Services performed brings about the blessing of wonderful, unexpected good luck. The fortunes of the family then improve.
The Meitokukuyo differs from Gedatsu Kuyo in that the individual participates in the process. I perform the Gedatsu Kuyo service by myself, but the Meitoku Kuyo involves the efforts of the individual as well. I bless a special memorial tablet he takes home and places in front of his individual Gohoto or stupa on the family altar. He is given a special meitoku mantra which he is instructed to chant regularly before the Gohoto as he prays for the liberation of his ancestors. He is also instructed to do so in order to receive the accumulated merit. (The rest omitted)
Excerpt from “Meitoku Kuyo To Get A Guardian Spirit,” by Seiyu Kiriyama, published by Hirakawa Shuppan, Inc.