Wednesday, 03/26/2025
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Feeling about Ullambana
Update: 20/08/2014
We remember our parents not only on a holiday but also on\r\nweekdays when the night falls, we gather to chat and to share the happiness or\r\nthe sadness of past time in a warm and happy atmosphere at home.
\r\n\r\nHowever, to the orphaned children or the children born by\r\nparents but just like the orphans because of many reasons that make them sad\r\nand lack of love; who can they share with them those oncoming misfortunes?\r\nPlease do not be pessimistic, sad and crying. Keep looking forward to see that\r\nthe life is so lovely and worth living because there are a lot of hearts that\r\nsympathize with the misfortune and there are many hands caring and protecting\r\nunlucky lives. Buddhism which is particularly a mercy and suffer saving\r\nreligion; and pagodas do open its gate to greet not only the Buddhists but also\r\npeople from many places. It helps us live in happy peace and diligently\r\npractice, moral standards, duties from children and social responsibilities.
\r\n\r\nOn Lunar July, at the lecture halls and the\r\ncourts of Hoang Phap pagoda, Hoc Mon Province, Ho Chi Minh City, many people\r\ngather to attend the Ullambana ceremony. We all settle our minds to express\r\ngratitude to our parents. It is somelancholy and moved and can’t help\r\ncrying when the abbots and the monks from the branches of Hoang Phap pagoda\r\noffer the wreath and the garlands of ball strings, hold the skinny and weak\r\nhands of our old parents.
\r\n\r\nThe sound of the monochord and the zither blending together\r\ngently create many deeply emotional gamut’s, which sound like\r\nthe sweet voices of mothers’ lulling us to sleep and the warm voices of\r\nfathers’ keeping echoing in our ears as to follow with the eyes to their\r\nbeloved children. Suddenly, I wonder when the impermanence will come. There\r\nwill be a time we have to separate our parents, which is the harsh rule of\r\n“birth, age, sickness and death†of lifespan that no one can escape from.
\r\n\r\nSo, the master reminded, ‘the role of the Buddhists both\r\nat-home and leaving-home are so important in promoting their family members or\r\npeople around to understand Buddhist dharma because Buddhism is a wisdom and\r\nenlightened religion basing on spiritual resource to practice as the\r\nMaudgalyayana Bodhisatva’s pious sample in order to eliminate the unfortunate\r\nthings’. We will feel happy and warm in mind and the Buddhism will help whoever\r\nfrom escaping the round of rebirth to be reborn in the Pure Land.
\r\n\r\nNow, we realize there are not only parents but also the\r\nAbbots, the Monks and the Nuns in pagodas whom we always respect to as our\r\nparents of valuable spiritual supports.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe vast ocean water is less than a mother’s love.\r\n\r\nThe immense cloud cannot cover a father’s devotion
How wonderful and noble it is when we are able to enjoy that\r\nhappiness. There are many authors and poets who write about this sacred theme –\r\nan unforgettable subject.
\r\n\r\nThe Ullumbana Celebration at Hoang Phap is so fantastic\r\nand meaningful, which leaves an impressive image in so many people. In this\r\nsolemn and reverent day, we would like to pin a fresh rose on the chest even it\r\nis red or white to show ourappreciative and repaid tradition of gratitude in\r\nBuddhism and in Vietnamese culture. The current motion has no longer been\r\noccurring when the next motion comes. We will attend the Ullumbana Celebration\r\nat Hoang Phap pagoda in Cambodia. The trip on Lunar July 16th 2014. This\r\nis one of the branches of Hoang Phap pagoda – Hoc Mon district – Ho Chi Minh\r\ncity, on Highway 21st – Svay Rolum hamlet – Saang district – Kandal\r\nprovince.
\r\n\r\nCambodia territory borders Viet Nam on the southwest. Its\r\npopulation is less comparing with other countries in Asia, about 6.7 million\r\npeople. Its most special and famous relics are two temples like Angkor Wat and\r\nAngkor Thom, which last in the longest history along with the oldest\r\narchitecture. Generally, the living here is poor and people have to live\r\nfloating on the Sea Lake or along the Mekong river bank. Educated standard here\r\nis low; therefore most of market places and entertainment realms are invested\r\nby the foreigners.
\r\n\r\nFor Buddhism, there are many pagodas whose believers worship\r\nthe Buddha. On King Sihanouk’s customs and habits, citizens growing up have had\r\nto cultivate in pagodas before getting married, which is the unwritten law and\r\nit lasts from many generations for ages until now.
\r\n\r\nThe relationship between Viet Nam and Cambodia\r\nare united their brotherhood to construct the two nations together. From then,\r\nCambodian Vietnamese in provinces such as Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Tra Vinh, An\r\nGiang and Kien Giang have been very devout.
\r\n\r\nEarly morning on lunar July 17th 2014, our group\r\nincluding the Abbot, the monks and about 300 Buddhists came to Hoang Phap\r\npagoda branch in Cambodia to attend the Ullambana Celebration.
\r\n\r\nThe area of the pagoda is quite wide, which is being\r\ntemporarily built to wait for the operating license. Although there are so many\r\ndifficulties and obstacles, the meaningful and dignified Ullambana Celebration\r\nis full of attendances at the courtyard. In the solemn time, the master\r\ncarefully advised us in detail, also covering the monks who had left their\r\noriginal monastery. He is both father and mother leading us the right way\r\nconsisting of studious practices, knowing how to sow good causes to get good\r\neffects and spreading open hearts to others.
\r\n\r\nWe would respectfully thank to the Senior, the Most Masters\r\nand the Monks who give us a firm refuge in Buddha’s Dharma as a precious school\r\nfor us to turn from ignorance to enlightenment and achieve the Buddha’s fruits.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe ship without steering wheel will turn round.\r\n\r\nChildren without parents will not give good advice.
The Ullambana is an important day in Buddhism to remind\r\nBuddhists of repaying piety to their parents in the merciful, wisdom,\r\nenlightened halo of the Buddha. We will always remember what the Buddha and the\r\nmaster taught us to repay such four great graces as for nation’s, parents’,\r\nbeings’, and Triatna’s grace and that eternal love increases more and more\r\nthrough every Ullambana in the incense of aloe wood glisteningly spreading with\r\nlove in the country and in the monastery.
\r\n\r\nHoc Mon, August 17th 2014.
\r\n\r\nTranslated into English by Nguyen Khanh Hoa.
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