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New Year Pagoda Visits to Pray for Peace
Update: 19/01/2023
IN THE PAST…
According to history, the pagoda is the place that protects and guards the Vietnamese nation from the early days of building and defending the country. In particular, in the early Ly Dynasty (Ly Nam De, 541-547), Khai Quoc pagoda (meaning National Founding) was built and in the reign of King Le Hy Tong, it was renamed as Tran Quoc Temple (meaning Guardian of the Nation). Today, it is located on an island east side of West Lake (Tay Ho district), and it has a history of nearly 1500 years which is considered the oldest pagoda in Thang Long - Hanoi.
The eternal custom of the ancestors
Reminiscence of the Pagoda – Most Thich Man Giac
In the old days when modern technology of the West had not been heavily introduced into the East, the pagoda was the spiritual refuge for a village or a commune. If children got sick, people would go to the temple. Praying for peace, people would come to the temple. If there was rice or food shortages, people would go to the temple. When having family problems, people would go to the temple. Wanting to learn about a religion, people would come to a pagoda. The pagoda is in the heart of Vietnamese people as a "cultural center" of the village. The chanting of the verses, the sound of the wooden fish drum and the bell during the praying session is an indispensable "spiritual food” which heals any mental wounds as well as transforms human beings’ suffering and pain. Every time the great bell rings, it awakens the soul. To the locals, hearing the early bell means time to work in the fields with the hoe, hearing the afternoon bell means it is home time.
May this bell ring the Dharma Realm
Which even resonates in the dark and the distance
Those who are lost should stop
Waking up from a coma to find the way back.
Verse for ringing the great bell
…AND NOW
In the past, spring in the temple was simple with pots of stuffed square sticky rice cake and cylindrical rice cake. On the days leading up to Lunar New Year - Tet, the villagers gathered at the temple to wrap cakes and decorate apricot and peach trees. A few quiet and peaceful sutras made Tet more cozy.
Today's era is the age of digital technology. People have more forms of entertainment than the previous generations. The old customs which are gradually lost and forgotten may only be seen and reproduced in the exhibition seasons of ethnic festivals.
In the spirit of integrating with the world, today's pagodas have decorated and made playful models to meet the tastes of tourists from all over the world on New Year's Day. Hoang Phap Pagoda is one example. It maintains and continues to hold exhibitions which display miniatures and models to recreate the traditional Tet atmosphere of the nation. Besides the peach and apricots scene, people can pose by the windows, auto-rickshaws, garlands or models of the year's mascot. Having a look around, one may find cake pots, fire stoves, rustic thatched-roofed bamboo houses, rural banana bushes… These unexpected scenes may make you feel nostalgic and sentimental.
Visitors also receive a lucky red envelope which has a few meaningful verses about spring and life when visiting the temple at the beginning of the year. Thanks to that, everyone can enjoy the scenery and get a spiritual gift. Happiness will be shown through visitors’ smiles and their hearts will be filled with joy.
Due to the different era, today’s pagoda festival is not as simple and quiet as in the past. Yet, in that epochal change, there is still an invariable flow to allow visitors to have a pleasant visit. Regardless of how short a verse of a sutra or a statement of Buddha's teaching, it can heal the soul and awaken the awareness in each of us.
The temple is a place of peace, a place of love, and a source of happiness!
Wishing everyone a safe and auspicious New Year's Day!
Tam Cung
Translated into English by Thai Nhuoc Don