Sunday, 04/19/2026
The Vesak Great Ceremony in 2024
Update: 22/05/2024
At 6 a.m, three series of drums and the bell was sounded to greet the monks to enter the stage for starting the rite of incense offering to the Buddha.
Attending this ceremony were the presence of Most Thich Chan Tinh, Master of Hoang Phap Pagoda, Junior Thich Tam Truong, Abbot of Hoang Phap Pagoda together with the Abbot of facilities belonging to the Hoang Phap sect, pagoda’s monks and Buddhists everywhere.
After having stated the reason and introduced the ceremony, Junior Thich Tam Truong gave a speech on the Vesak and its meaning.
Giving preaching words in the ceremony, Most Ven. Thich Chan Tinh had a dharma talk to the attendees.
Buddha appearing in the human world is an extremely rare event. He has a great personality like the sun at dawn, dispelling the long dark night of delusion, helping to light the way for sentient beings to escape the sins of ignorance.
Standing in the vastness of sky and earth, humans feel small and scared before the natural phenomena of the universe. People feel lonely without spiritual support, and have eternal questions about the origin of life and death; happiness and suffering of human life. With the initial idea to explain the creation of the world, Monotheism and Polytheism were born as a lifeline for those looking for a place to worship. These religions and belief systems believe that there is a supreme being who gave birth to humans and created all things. From there, people pray, beg, and worship the natural beings who have the ability to bestow blessings, or pain; Believers are gradually led into superstitions, immersed in forms of worship, entrusting their lives to the sacred one and being slaves to theocratic ideology. The idea that God created humans becomes a truth, humans must obey God as a matter of course. The world is already suffering because it lacks a guide, it is even darker because the masters who lead the wrong way inevitably fall into the pit... confused humanity is lured by wrong thoughts with no way out. From here, many generations had to serve those who were considered representatives of the gods, hope these ones pray for them to have peace when living and they can enjoy the joy of heaven when dying.
In the era of dark and delusional thoughts, the Buddha was born, bringing the light of truth to dispel the darkness of ignorance, helping humanity see the bright path. When other religions put their faith in external gods, Buddha pointed out humanity towards itself. He revealed to sentient beings: Everyone has Buddha nature, everyone can become a Buddha. Each person must be responsible for their own actions, words, and thoughts because it is we who make ourselves polluted, ourselves who make us pure, no one makes us pure or polluted; Success or failure, happiness or suffering, liberation or falling are not outside the process of cause - condition - effect. Each person has sown his own cause, and then must accept its consequences when it is bloomed. There is no god or saint who can reward or punish us. The Buddha taught very practical things: This is suffering; This is the cause of suffering; This is the cessation of suffering; and this is the path to end suffering. Suffering is a reality that everyone has to experience to varying degrees. The cause of suffering is ignorance and craving. These two causes lead sentient beings to rotate in the six realms; He points out the middle path which is the guideline for all practice. Those who want to end suffering must practice the eightfold path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. These are eight practice methods that lead to happiness, peace, and the end of all suffering.
Commemorating the Buddha's birth is not only an opportunity for His disciples to remember the appearance of a noble and rare person in this world, but also an opportunity for us to review valuable lessons through His life, learn about the noble teachings that He left behind as a priceless legacy for humanity. Today, we are very fortunate to be human, meet Buddha's teachings, hear His noble teachings, and to have many conditions to practice those noble things. On this occasion, the Most hope that each Buddhist, both leaving-home and lay people will make an effort to study, practice the teachings, and actively propagate the Dharma, thereby achieving peace and happiness in the present, as well as the future. A true Buddhist will bring good values to himself and others, make the Dharma a light for posterity.
Continuing the program, the participants spent one minute recalling the Shakyamuni Buddha’s grace, listening to the bell and verse chanting from Junior Thich Tam Tri.
The sound of the prajna drum bell rang out in the sacred atmosphere, monks and Buddhists performed the ritual of celebrating the Buddha Birthday and releasing balloons - a symbol of peace and freedom.
After the bathing of the Buddha honor-statue, the great ceremony closed in the joy of all participants.
Contributing to the success of the ceremony were musical offerings from Singers Anh Duy and My Hanh
After that, the Buddhists gathered at the Dharma Wheel Building to recite the Buddha's name and participate in the competition Quiz Buddhadharma. The attendees will strengthen their knowledge, have the opportunity to learn deeply about Sakyamuni Buddha life.
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