Wishing for Peace Ceremony at the Beginning of the Lunar Year

Spring is the time for ceremonies. It is also the time for wishes and aspirations as well as for praying for human best wishes. The fifteenth of Lunar January is also called Tet Nguyen Tieu, which is the important ceremony in Spring. Traditionally, on March 5, 2015 (the fifteenth day of lunar year of the Goat), Hoang Phap Pagoda solemnly held an early in the year Peace ceremony where thousands of Buddhists in Hochiminh City and its suburbs took part.

According to Vietnamese people, coming to a pagoda and\r\ntaking part in such a ceremony has been the finest cultural trait for all\r\nVietnamese expecting the best things for them during the year. Each of the\r\nparticipants does pray for him-/herself such lucky and peaceful things as good\r\nhealth, prosperity, promotion or advancement in their careers throughout the\r\nnew year. Youngsters of both sexes even pray for their ties of love.\r\nNevertheless, as Buddhists we should be aware of right consciousness based on\r\nthe Buddha’s teaching. That is, we should light a torch for ourselves in our\r\nlife’s path. In other words, not a single being can bless or visit calamities\r\non any of us. To be more correct, we should say that no one can bring neither\r\nhappiness nor suffering to us but we, ourselves, can. New year peace ceremony\r\nmust therefore be the occasion on which people are able to come to a pagoda or\r\nshrine to listen to the Dharma, chant the Buddhist scriptures, contemplate and\r\noffer things to Trinity in an attempt to increase our kind heart as well as\r\ndecrease our cruelty. It is also the occasion on which people can reflect on\r\nthemselves so as to make their cultivation better  -  doing\r\nbetter deeds and avoiding evils -  and bring benefits to themselves\r\nand to others.

In his new year Dharma talk, Senior Venerable Thich Chan\r\nTinh, Hoang Phap Pagoda Abbot, told the participants the story about Visakha,\r\nthe female great donator during the Buddha’s time.

Madam Visakha was a great Dharma protector and her help\r\noffered to the Trinity was not less than that of Anthapindika’s. But,\r\nunfortunately, her lifetime was not well known to the public.

Textually, Visakha means ‘lady’s private room for\r\ncontemplating moonlight’. Her beauty could be compared to the month of May’s\r\nmoonlight which meet five elements, such as  hair, skin, flesh, bone\r\nand youth  - all these must be fine. She was born into a wealthy\r\nfamily in successive generations (her paternal grandfather was a famous wealthy\r\nhouse holder and her father was notary Dhananjaya.

Besides having a beauty which is better than anyone else,\r\nVisakha was also a model of virtue, a correct and decent with a docile temper\r\ngirl. In a walk with her servants within a park, her beauty together with her\r\nvirtue made eight Brahmins who were famous physiognomist admired her. Later,\r\nthese eight Brahmins advised the wealthy house holder named Migara to get her\r\nas his son, Punnavaddhana’s wife. Her marital ceremony was considered\r\nunprecedented, which was attended by various social classes -  from\r\nkings to aristocrats and the common people.

Once in her husband’s family, Visakha performed her duty as\r\na right daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, owing to her husband’s father who\r\nstrictly followed the false advice from his advisors,  intended to\r\ndrive her out from his family. Visakha then asked her protective Brahmins to\r\ncome to her house and explained all the questions as well as the doubts that\r\nher husband’s father had put forth. After having understood everything, Sir\r\nMigara admired and esteemed her good virtue as well as her conduct and chastity\r\nand finally offered an apology to her three times and granted her the permission\r\nto invite the Buddha and the monks to his home for a direct offer. The whole\r\nfamily of Miggara were fully converted after the offer by the Buddha.

From that time on, Visakha became an efficient protector for\r\nthe order. She offered a sum of money equivalent to the value of the jewels\r\nattached to the nuptial gown that her father had made for her as his present to\r\nher on her marriage day (many pieces of valuable jewellery, including diamond,\r\ngold, silver and precious stone) so as to build a monastery named The Eastern\r\nBud Mother. In addition, she also vowed to regularly provided foods, clothes,\r\nand medicine to the Buddhists. Visakha was the lady at whom various elements\r\nwere combined, such as beauty, wealth, virtue, longevity and wisdom. Reality,\r\nVisakha was a good example for many Buddhists to follow.

After the Dharma talk, Sen. Venerable Thich Chan Tinh also\r\ninformed the attendants a piece of good news : Hoang Phap Pagoda is making a\r\nfilm named ‘The Road to Enlightenment Shore’ with an expense up to over two\r\nmilliards of VND. This is a film about the Buddha and the nuns. The film is\r\nsupposed to be finished at the end of the year 2015. Hoang Phap Pagoda\r\nearnestly expects the monetary help from its Buddhists so that the film may be\r\nfinished soon.

After the preaching, all the attendants together started the\r\nYear-beginning Peace ceremony at the elation of all the present Buddhists. In\r\nthis ceremony there was also the co-operation of singers  -  Cam\r\nVan, with the song entitled ‘The letter on New Year days’, Phuong Uyen and\r\nThien Bao Trang with the song entitled ‘Listen to the coming of Spring’ and the\r\nlittle singer Truc Tien with the song entitled ‘Best wishes for Spring’.

Enclosed with this are some recorded pictures: