The Repentance Ceremony

In the late afternoon of August 27th, 2015 (Lunar July 14th Goat Year), thousands of Buddhists from various provinces gathered at Hoang Phap to attend the Ceremony of repentance.

According to Vietnam’s folk beliefs, the fifteen of the seventh month of the lunar calendar also known as  ZhongYuan festival, is  the one of the three big days of the year in Buddhism tradition. When talking about this day, people often referred to stories of absolution of wandering souls associated with the Ullumbana Ceremony. Because of this reason, Buddhists gathered at Hoang Phap to attend the Repentance Ceremony praying for their living or deceased parents.

 

Before the Repentance ceremony of reciting Buddha’s name, Junior Venerable Thich Tam Nguyen, the monk of Hoang Phap monastery, gave attendees a sermon called: "Children are a continuation of the parent-child relationship.”

When attending the Ullumbana, people whose mother or parents died are pinned the white roses on their shirt and they all always feel choked, and sad. As a matter of fact, being orphaned is a general rule for anyone on this earth. However, if we look into the nature deeply and closely, we understand that our parents never die spiritually, because we, the children now, are the continuation of ancestors and parents relationship. Parents gave all the genetic materials to their children and children are expected to bring their ancestors to a better world. Bowing to the Buddha, chanting or meditation is also the time when we're practicing religion for our beloved relatives.

 

In our family, if we don’t get an opportunities to practice, contact Buddhist dharma; or we have no close relationship with good teachers, and good friends, we may run a risk of    inflicting on our relatives, offspring, or spouses. Everyone should adopt a spiritual lifestyle in establishment of family relation, so that everyone can live a happy life and in love.

After the sermon, the Repentance Ceremony took place as usual.

Some images are as below: