Repentant Ceremony on May 30th, Year of Mouse

On July 20th, 2020 lunar May 30th, Year of Mouse), the good men and believing women in and out of Ho Chi Minh City returned to Hoang Phap Pagoda to attend the periodic penance ceremony.

Before beginning the rite, Junior Ven. Thich Tam Thach had a dharma talk to the participants with the topic: Anger and how to treat anger.

In the face of daily conflicts, we cannot avoid unfortunate things that come to us. When met with such things, the mind will arise unpleasant, angry and then instinctively have bad thoughts, words, actions that hurt the surrounding others. Then, we will create unrest in this life and take unwholesome causes in the next life.

By quoting the Buddha's teachings in the scriptures, he clearly explained many different aspects of anger: a general overview of the anger, the causes of arising, the harmful effects, ways to eliminate and protect the mind ...

Venerable encouraged and advised to the Buddhists who try to cultivate in order to slowly control the self-mind, practice patience before the unsatisfied of the mind. Every day, we will practice sitting down, contemplating our mind, using kindness and compassion toward someone who is "malevolent" with us and cleverly influencing good thoughts, being mindful and observing the breath to see if our mind of anger is present?

Afterwards, the mass listened to the song Sand and Dust of Life performed by singer Nguyet Thu. The lyrics are like a wake-up call about impermanence, encouraging people to be good. We shouldn't extremely worry about life, and then lose human love.

After that, the mass started the repentant rite as usual.

Some images recorded: