The Ksama (repentance) Celebration 29th April, Goat Year

In the late evening of 07th May 2015 (29th Mar. Goat year), Buddhists from HCMC and neighboring provinces gathered at Hoang Phap pagoda to attend The Ksama Celebration.

As usual, before the celebration, a Dharma talk was given by\r\nthe pagoda’s Venerable. In this time, Jun. Ven. Thich Tam Dao, the deputy of\r\nHoang Phap pagoda, had a talk named: "A few basic characteristics of\r\nBuddhism".

Buddhism has been present in the world for more than 2500\r\nyears, but the Buddha’s teachings always fit and update during the time, which\r\nis  innovative and deep for those who study and do research. Buddhism\r\nhas a lot of features, but there have 5 things in general:

Humanity: Buddha is a real man in history, not a\r\ndivine who can bless or give calamities. Through the self-improving practice,\r\nhe enlightened the truth of life and then brought tenets to teach the world, to\r\nhelp people get away from suffering to reach for peace and happiness. Buddhism\r\nalways gives prominence to the will of the people, he declared: "All\r\nbeings have the potential to become the Buddha".

Equality: In the teachings of Buddhism, there is no\r\ndistinction among old or young, men or women, rich or poor. He embodied the\r\nspirit of absolute equality in a society full of class distinction at his time.\r\nAnyone can attain enlightenment whether he or she is a person carrying feces, a\r\ngeisha or any class in the society. In his teachings people live in harmony,\r\nequality and non-class discrimination.

Loving kindness, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity: Buddhism\r\nhas always taken the Loving kindness, Compassion to be the\r\nfoundation. Buddhists are taught not to do things that do harm to all living\r\nbeings. The sign of Bodhisattva is the most obvious symbol representing the\r\ntypical spirit of loving kindness in Buddhism. Loving human beings and all\r\nliving things is the essential feature of Buddhism.

Wisdom: In addition to the spirit of Loving kindness,\r\nit is wisdom. Buddhists take it as a career. The Buddha taught:\r\n"Forward yourself with a torch and lit up with Dharma". If you want\r\nto have wisdom, try hardly to learn, reflect what you have learned and\r\nfrom that practice to get best results. When the practice leads success, guide\r\npeople to cultivate together.

Suffering, impermanence and selflessness: these proves\r\nthe true teachings of Bhagavan. He taught the suffering but also teach how to\r\novercome it. He taught the impermanence and selflessness so that people should\r\nnot impress,  cling to the circumstances and do things itself, since\r\nthey are not controlled by impermanence and selflessness.

These five basic characteristics are the most typical\r\nfeatures those have made Buddhism exist and develope throughout the history of\r\nmankind.

At the end of the talk, on behalf of Hoang Phap’s monks, he\r\ninformed of the attendance of Vesak day at Hoang Phap pagoda on 15th Apr.\r\nof the goat year and at Hoang Phap pagoda in Cambodia on 14th Apr. of the goat\r\nyear.

All decisively recited the name of Amitabha Buddha\r\nand chanted five precepts of laypeople.

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Here are the images recorded: