Please tell me why sutras are used as memorial services.

The original meaning of memorial service is to take care of superiors, such as religious people. Since it is not possible to take care of the deceased directly, they took care of the religious people by initially offering meals, etc., and later with goods, money, etc., and the merits of their good deeds were transferred to the deceased. The mechanism is Fujimoto Akira's “Why can merit be converted?” Please see (Kokusho Publishing Association).
The Buddha decided to preach and praise the person who made the offering and praising them for their good deeds, as it is difficult to see with just a memorial service for taking care of them. Even now, in Southeast Asian Therawadas, sermons are given after giving alms.
In China, Korea, and Japan, at first, it was national Buddhism, and monks held memorial services for the nation. Politicians make requests to monks. The method was a ceremony, and since the sutras themselves were thankful that they were made in the future from India and China, I was reciting them.
In Japan, from around the Kamakura period, there were monks who joined the public. Rather than chanting sutras, the relationship between sermons and public offerings is closer to the original.
However, the number of monks that increased nationwide at the request of the shogunate during the Edo period also came back into shape. Not all monks have learned enough to preach, so it's easier to be a monk if it has a form.
Does that make sense now? We are now in an age where the question is asked.
I say chanting sutras is an ascetic practice that calms the mind. The meaning of the ceremony is interpreted more broadly than the content. (The content is held at a study session.) Also, giving alms is a good act. I always preach after reading the sutras.

In yesterday's Taiga drama, there was a story about Oda Nobunaga repairing the wall of the Imperial Palace (the emperor's residence). The fence that Nobunaga's father had repaired during his lifetime was destroyed again, and Nobunaga repaired it, but in the drama, Nobunaga called the restoration a “memorial service for his father.”
When bereaved families and the like take their place do something that the deceased person would be happy to do, I have a feeling that it will somehow become a “memorial service.”
I think chanting sutras is one of the good deeds that the deceased seemed happy with. Other than that, I feel that giving (donating) offerings (donations) to temples and monks that the deceased believed in is also likely to be a memorial service.
Therefore, inviting monks to the memorial service to entertain them also seems to be a comfort for the deceased.
Also, in Buddhism, there is an idea that the merits of good deeds can be transferred (transferred) to others.
Merits such as chanting sutras and giving alms are used for new creatures where the dead have been reborn.
The grandparents who died may have now been replaced by babies in a stroller somewhere.
I recite sutras on behalf of that person, hoping for the happiness of being born again somewhere.
I believe that if good deeds increase in space, others living in space will also benefit.
May the merits of the sutras spread throughout the world.

Actually, there were people who had similar questions even when the Buddha lived,
“Buddha, there are people who say that when you give sutras, people think of dead people, but is that true?” I asked.
Then the Buddha quietly picked up the stone underfoot and threw it into a nearby pond,
“If you say a stone floats around this pond and pray, do you think that stone will float?”
“No, no, Buddha, there's no way that a stone will emerge because of that.”
“That's right. The stone sank under its own weight. No matter how much people around you ask them to surface, it won't come up. Similarly, people who suffer after death are determined by bad deeds (misdeeds) that person themselves made until their death. Just because people around you say sutras doesn't mean you can do anything about it.”

The Buddha is taught that chanting sutras does not benefit the dead.
All of a sudden, we talked about nothing, but what are sutras for?

The first thing you should know is that sutras are not only read for those who have passed away. Of course, there are also sutras performed as a memorial service for the deceased and ancestors, but originally it is a place where everyone present, including the deceased, can learn the precious teachings that the Buddha taught us the way to be truly happy, and it is the original way of Buddhist rituals such as funerals and memorial services.

Also, the Buddha was not able to explain matters after death, but he also explained that “heart and karma (karma) will not perish.” If we think about it based on that premise, we can learn sutras filled with Buddha's wisdom in front of the consciousness of our ancestors that continue continuously, and if we are living now can live a good life, our ancestors will also be delighted, and that will probably be the best memorial service.

Hello, Yossy-san!

> If you think about it objectively, it makes me think it's like reading a picture book to a child.

Reading picture books to children is a very good thing. Children are learning a lot more from picture books than Yossy-san thinks. So, if you were to use that as an analogy, it would mean that chanting sutras is a good thing after all...

Something like “Pocket Lotus Sutra” by Michiei Okuri is good. My friend was so moved that she was crying.

Buddha also said that what can be compared is a good thing.

All teachings are metaphors. It is safe to say that there is no teaching (Buddhism) that is not a metaphor.

It is very rare to encounter Buddha's teachings.

Your ancestors may also have lost their way these days, so it would be nice if they could encounter Buddhism, get away from their doubts, overcome their sins and regrets, develop wisdom, and walk the path.

If Yosshi-sama also works hard and lives a good life, it may bring great benefits to those who see that way of life (story). It really is a walking sutras.

I drank too much whiskey and I'm sleepy, so I'm going to bed. Good night.

Yossy-sama

In my humble answer to the question below, I have touched on the merits of reciting the Heart Sutra.

https://hasunoha.jp/questions/47880

[... The Heart Sutra is a sutra that explains “the sky,” which is an important idea of wisdom in Buddhism. At the end of Master Shantarakshita's “Chukan Solemn Theory,” it is said that if you can develop this “emptiness” wisdom in your mind, the more you deepen your understanding of “sky” to the extent that it is stated that “if you can naturally benefit (be useful to sentient beings),” that alone will benefit sentient beings. Also, its merit means that you can use it as food for enlightenment for yourself, your ancestors, or all sentient beings. So, of course, even if you just recite the Heart Sutra, which explains the essentials of the wisdom of “the sky,” it will of course be a merit to your ancestors...]

This is because reading sutras means you can receive the power of Buddhist wisdom, so the power of that wisdom contributes to making your actions better, and as a result, it leads to accumulation of merits.

Also, it is important as a memorial service to always turn the merits that have been accumulated up until now, the merits that will be accumulated in the future, etc. towards everyone's enlightenment.

Since sutras, titles, nembutsu, mantras, etc. have received the blessing power of the Buddha in various ways, it can also be said that wisdom can be given through the power of that blessing.

At first, even if you just read it, it may be insignificant, but it becomes a Buddha relationship, and eventually it becomes more than just reading it, and even if you think that it is something that further leads to a Buddha relationship.

Of course, it's not this life, and it may blossom in the next life, leading to the next.

In any case, it doesn't matter little by little, so I want to develop a Buddhist relationship. One of them is chanting sutras.

Kawaguchi Hidetoshi Gassho