The Filial Piety Ullumbana Festival at Hoa Phuc pagoda- Hanoi

On 28th August 2016 ( 26th July Monkey year), Hoa Phuc pagoda, which was at Hòa Trúc hamlet, Hoa Thach commune, Quoc Oai district, Hanoi city, organized The Ullumbana festival for filial duty.

At 7:30 am, despite a raining downpour, nearly 4000 Buddhists gathered to the solemn ashram,overcoming all difficulties of space and weather. The main hall, Bodhidharma house, Ksitigarbha house and canvas cottages, which organizer had prepared were filled with attenders. Some young Buddhists wore raincoats, umbrellas, stood in the rain but were still keeping a single-mind towards the Three Jewels with devotion, yearning to express their sincere gratitude to deceased relatives’ noble merits.

The ceremony began with the show welcoming the Filial Piety Ullumbana season 2016. The lyrics and singing from the Buddhist hearts were offered to the Buddhas, to the parents in the Ullumbana season.

With the sincere sentiment, The Buddhist singers gave people depositional moments, overflowing emotions as mindfulness to their parents.

The skit “The useless father”, performed by the young Buddhists of Hoa Phuc pagoda was the best performance. It spreads the considerable message of love, filial piety, reminds people of a filial lesson, taking care of parents, serving them especially when they were old and weak, no longer lucid.

After the show ended, the mass highly welcomed Venerable Thich Tam Hoa, Hoa Phuc pagoda’s abbot, coming to platform to hold the reciting incense ceremony to the Buddha and to direct people to chant the filial piety Ullumbana sutra.      

Next, he graciously declared to Buddhists a sermon about “The Ullumbana day’s Origin” to help Buddhists with correct view of the origin, the significance of the filial piety Ullumbana day. It was also the luggage for Buddhists to express their sincere gratitude to parents in accordance with the Dharma, not to fall into wrong view, the superstition as well as helped them be firm on the path of liberation practice.

In the afternoon, they joined the Amitabha chanting time and attended the requiem ceremony for family ancestor salvation, fetal victims, foes, ten types of sentient beings under the guidance of Venerable Thich Tam Hoa and Hoa Phuc pagoda’s monks.

The ceremony not only brought spiritual significance towards the deceased who had not been free yet, but also had profound social meaning. It is a reminder for the young people who were cohabiting, living urgently, living without responsibility to themselves, their family and society to help them look back and change. Which contributed to restrict abortions in life today.

Below are recorded pictures.