The Wuzhe Assembly and the Transformation of Ritual Generosity: Transmission from India to China

This paper reexamines the origin and ritual character of the Wuzhe Assembly (Ch. wuzhe hui 無遮會), a large-scale Buddhist religious gathering described by the Chinese monk Xuanzang at the court of King Harṣavardhana. Since the nineteenth century, scholars have generally identified the Wuzhe Assembly with the pañcavārṣika (“Five-Year Assembly”). Building on recent philological research, this paper argues instead that the term more likely reflects the Sanskrit nirargaḍamedha, a ritual concept associated with unrestricted generosity and large-scale ceremonial giving that may ultimately derive from the Brahmanical sarvamedha (“universal sacrifice”). By reassessing textual and historical evidence from Indian and Chinese sources, the paper shows how this ritual idea was transformed within Buddhist contexts into large public religious gatherings combining royal patronage, merit-making, and communal participation. The study thus highlights how ritual concepts and forms of religious celebration were transmitted and reinterpreted as Buddhism moved from India to China.