The Ullambana Ceremony at Dong Cao Pagoda In Thanh Hoa Province

Before the ceremony, there were performances on the merit of parents’ by singers inside and outside the district and young Buddhists of Dong Cao pagoda.

At 9:00 a.m., all Buddhists respectfully welcomed the Venerables coming to organize the ceremony. The witness in the ceremony was : Venerable Thich Tam Hieu - Committee of the Director Board of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Nghe An province, Abbot of Can Mon pagoda; Venerable Thich Tam Hung - Abbot of Dong Cao Pagoda and the monks of Hoang Phap Pagoda (Ho Chi Minh City) and more than 1,000 Buddhists from everywhere attended the ceremony.

After declaring the reasons, introducing the program and participants, the Buddhist youths of Dong Cao Pagoda represented all the monasteries, offered the offerings to the ten directions of Three Treasures to create good conditions in the Ullambana Ceremony. 

 Next part was the ritual of rose pinning, and everybody listened to Buddhist Le Thi Lan reading the meaning of pinning roses. In that sacred time, everybody spent a minute of recollection to commemorate the great gratitude of the Buddhas, to thank the care of the teachers, parents' nourishment, gratitude of compatriot, the living beings of all kinds, the soldiers who had sacrificed for the peace and happiness of all people. Followed by the deep sweet lyrics of the song "A Rose Badge" by singer La Phuong Thanh. 

After that, the custom of offering “Gratitude of Parents” speech was guided by MC Ngoc Bich, which helped everyone once again look back the great gratitude of parents when they received roses to pin on the chests. Following the program, everybody enjoyed the song “Father’s Words” presented by Nguyen Van Thach. 

An indispensable part of the program of the  ceremony was the ritual of offering robes, young Buddhists of Dong Cao pagoda represented all to offer offerings to Venerable. On behalf of all Venerable, Venerable Thich Tam Phong and Venerable Thich Tam Hung praised the spirit of filial piety of all the Buddhists and promised to receive the offerings. he also had some words to encourage everybody   in the Ullambana. Besides that, young Buddhists Hoang The Quy sang the song "Mummy, Please  believe in me". 

 Especially in this ceremony, the Buddhist youths of Dong Cao pagoda performed short comedy "Mother's Love". After that, everybody chanted Ullambana prayer. 

On this occasion, the pagoda sent 30 gifts worth 300,000 VND per each (envelope: 200,000 VND, 1 liter of cooking oil, 1 kg of sugar and  1 box of vegetarian noodles) to needy Buddhist people who live inside and outside area of the district. 

Translated into English by Cao Thanh Tuyen