Ullambana – Ceremony of filial piety at Cambodian Hoang Phap Pagoda

July (lunar calendar) - season of filial piety inspires overwhelming emotion of children to parents - who gave birth to us and raised us. Whoever you are regardless of inferior or superior status, the desire of filial duty performance is surging through almost all of us, especially during this season.

On that spirit, On Aug 19th, 2016 (July 17th, monkey year, lunar calendar – year 2560 Buddhism calendar), Cambodian Hoang Phap Pagoda solemnly celebrated great Ullambana- Filial Piety ceremony.

 It is known that to prepare for this great event, Hoang Phap Pagoda in Vietnam,  home office,  held a tour for more than 400 Buddhists visiting and attending the ceremony at its branch in Cambodia.

 Right after the opening speech made by Venerable Thich Tam Truc, the abbot of Cambodian Hoang Phap Pagoda, the ceremony officially took place. As he said, Ullambana, a filial piety ceremony is a lofty and beautiful festival of Buddhism in particular, and Vietnamese in general. Venerating parents has been a Vietnamese morality as well as Buddhist code of ethics when we affirm Buddhism is the religion that teaches and guides people to practice filial piety.

Although Cambodian Hoang Phap Pagoda has not had a main hall yet. It is just a temporary prefab on the empty landwith simple infrastructure the sangha and Buddhists here always follow Buddha’s teachings, trying their best to build a Pagoda for Vietnamese’s spiritual needs in Cambodia.

 Also, during the ceremony, Venerable Thich Chan Tinh, Abbot of Vietnamese Hoang Phap Pagoda, again reminded Buddhists of fulfilling their filial duties as a thankful response to parents’ great love and cares. Besides material offerings, Buddhists should help parents approach Buddha dharma for the sake of their happiness in both this life and the after lives. Ven. Thich Chan Tinh wished the great assembly a happy and meaningful Ullambana with lots of merits of filial piety. Additionally,  good news was announced in this event: Cambodian Hoang Phap Pagoda has got a building permit from the Cambodian government. Ven. Thich Chan Tinh would like to encourage Buddhists to lend the pagoda a hand in building a Vietnamese Pagoda here, a spiritual refuge for Vietnamese expatriates. The Pagoda would open a charity school for Vietnamese children here. This is not an overnight process, but a long term effort from the mass. Hopefully, all the Buddhists together with the sangha contribute to the fulfilment of  the noble desire! 

The end of the ceremony was the Ullambana sutra chanting as usual.

 In the program, there was the performance of songs about parent’s love and caring. Monk Tam Tuong performed the song "Mother’s Tears" on the saxophone, little boy Thien Tung, little girl Khanh Linh and little Ngoc Phung sang the songs “Father”, “Mother” and "I Love Mom" respectively ​​. Especially there was the participation of Cambodian dancers with their graceful traditional performance.

 Following are some recorded photographs: