Repentance ceremony on Aug. 29th, Year of the Snake

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Update: 20/10/2025

On Oct. 20th, 2025 (Aug. 29th, Year of the Snake), good men and believing women inside and outside HCMC returned to Hoang Phap pagoda to attend a periodical penitential rite.

Repentance ceremony on Aug. 29th, Year of the Snake

The monks of Hoang Phap pagoda in HCMC, Junior Thich Tam Lap had a dharma talk named “How to live to please people's mind?” to all Buddhists before the rite.

Many times in life, we ask ourselves: how to please everyone? But the more we try, the more we realize that it is impossible. Because each person has their own "frequency", a different way of feeling and thinking; in fact, only when we meet someone who is in tune with us, we can connect. Instead of trying to be loved and please others, let's return to taking care of our inner feelings and body. Let's learn from the virtues of earth: tolerance, water: flexibility, wind: freedom, fire: bright and enduring.

Let's practice looking at life with the compassionate eyes of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara: not judging, not arguing, not clinging to praise or criticism of good or bad. When knowing how to live a little simpler, a little more straightforward, a little slower, our life will become easier. And then, we don't need to please anyone anymore, just living peacefully with ourselves is enough.

After the Dharma talk, the mass entered the penitential ritual as usual.