The Vesak 2015

In the atmosphere welcoming the Vesak Day being taken place over the world, on June 1st, 2015 (April 15th Goat Year) Hoang Phap pagoda solemnly organised the Vesak Ceremony (Buddha Calendar 2559 – Solar Calendar 2015), thousands of Buddhists who are from all over the country came to attend the Vesak ceremony.

In the solemn atmosphere, at 9 a.m., Venerables of Hoang\r\nPhap pagoda started the Vesak ceremony. After the rite of offering incense to\r\nBuddha, hundreds of balloon were set into the sky to pray for peace and liberty\r\nfor people over the world.

Next, they came to the Great Hero Hall, and Buddhists\r\ngathered in the  lecture hall to continue the ceremony.

After the announcement of reason and introduction for\r\nceremony, all spent a minute’s silence to pay homage to the Buddha – the great\r\nmonk in history of mankind. To continue the agenda, the teenagers from\r\nBuddhists’s families of Hoang Phap pagoda offered flowers sincerely respect to\r\ncongratulate Vesak. On behalf of the Venerables, Junior Ven. Thich Tam Nguyen\r\nread the opening speech, Junior Ven. Thich Tam Tien explained meaning of the\r\nceremony.

 To witness and attend the ceremony, Senior Ven. Thich\r\nChan Tinh – the Abbot of Hoang Phap pagoda, head of organization board had some\r\npieces of Dharma to all. On this occasion, the Senior Ven talk how Buddha\r\nhelped layman work out with own salvation by merit, wisdom and good appearance.\r\nThat is the story of Upali Snob (the 56th Madhyamagama sutra) Brahmayu\r\nBrahman (the 91stMadhyamagama sutra). Upali is a famous house owner, an  respected\r\nman. After having a talk of punishment and karma with Buddha, Upali changed his\r\nopinion and become a Buddhist. He respected the Buddha and is happy to be\r\nBuddhist layman. Since that time, he changed his attitude to Jainism because of\r\nawareness of right and wrong.

 Brahmayu Brahman, 120 years old, has a good knowledge\r\nof Veda sutra and phisiognomy and astrology. He is senior aged and famous\r\nchiromancer at Mithila. He heard that Buddha has 32 good appearance. So he\r\nordered his disciple, Uttara, came to see and investigate the Buddha. After he\r\ngets confirmation of Buddha’s good appearance from his disciple. He believed\r\nthat Buddha is Enlightened One and came to kowtow and kiss Buddha’s foot,\r\nsurprising all. The Buddha preached and enlightened him. So he was elated and\r\ntook refuge.

 To end the Dharma talk, the Senior Ven told a story of\r\ncrow and peacock in Khuddaka sutra – chapter 339. When peacock appears, the\r\ncrow loses its value. When sun rises, the light of glowworm lose effectiveness.\r\nLight of Dharma is like light of sun. It’s like the  beauty of a\r\npeacock which makes layman become dim and devalue. Due to merit, wisdom and\r\ngood appearance, Buddha winned the heart of layman at that time. Being a\r\nBuddhist, we feel happy as a man and disciple of Tathagatha. Thus we should be\r\njudicious to judge right and wrong for the way of peace and joy.

The Vesak ceremony this year had performances of\r\nsingers  Duy Linh, Khanh Ngoc, Duyen Quynh, Duong Quoc Hung, Thu Trang and\r\nTruc Tien by songs offering the Triratna.

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 Following photos are taken: