Repentance ceremony on January 1st, Year of the Goat

In the afternoon of March 19th, 2015 (January 29th Goat Year), inside and outside Buddhists of the city came to Hoang Phap pagoda to attend monthly repentance ceremony.

This is real matter in our life for not only men but also\r\nwomen. Maybe, it becomes a problem if we have no solution and right\r\nawareness.

According to statistics, Vietnam ranks first in Southeast\r\nAsia and third in Asia in alcoholic drink consumption. About 2,6 billion liters\r\nof alcoholic drink were consumed every year. Especially in 2014, 3 billion\r\nliters of beer were consumed – and it came third in the world. Nearly 40\r\nmillion men drink. That is reason of 70% traffic accident, 70% family\r\nviolence... In the world, 6000 people per day or  2,2 million people\r\neach year died of drink… It’s really terrible statistics to our society.

There are many causes that lead people to drinking:\r\ntradition, stress, failure in business, discord in family, invitation of\r\nfriends, proving oneself…All in all, they drink anytime when they are merry or\r\nsad, successful or  unsuccessful. People set out many unreasonable\r\nreasons  for their drink regardless of the  immeasurable\r\nharm of  alcoholic drink.

In the Dharma talk, Junior Ven. showed great harm of alcohol\r\nabuse through story of  Presbyter Sagata (Minor Sutra, part 4) and\r\nthe son-in-law who drank alcohol with the father of his wife. Unanticipated\r\neffects proved damage effects not only on one life but also future generations\r\nif we are “demon of addictive drunkenness”.

 Above all, using alcoholic drink breaks the fifth rule\r\nof five percepts for Buddhists. This is reason of death and birth cycles in the\r\nlowest realms of existence forever. Then, he told people the story which is\r\nextracted from Pitaka - Vibasha and concluded that using alcoholic\r\ndrink breaks 36 mistakes as Buddha’s teaching in Sutra of basic differentiation\r\nbetween good and evil –. So, being Buddhist, we must realize damaging effects\r\nof alcoholic drink and apply methods to avoid  its harmful effects.\r\nAs a result, life of everyone and the whole society is more prosperous and\r\nhappy.

After the Dharma talk, the Buddhists joined in reciting the\r\nname of Amitabha Buddha as usual.

Following are recorded images: