Mind Of Filial Piety - Bodhi Mind.

All the time, the Ullumbana ceremony reminds ...Buddhists of the debt they owe their parents, to uphold the spirit of filial piety and arouses the feelings of human sympathy. It is believed that a mothers affection towards her children is like the vast ocean that nurtures and sustains all of us while a fathers love towards his children is like a fortress that protects us from waves of calamities ...

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Namo Buddha Shakyamuni 

Dear the honored Monks and Nuns, delegates, lay Buddhists\r\nand all of the participants.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Today is August 03, 2014 (July 08 lunar calendar), the Co Am\r\nPagoda is celebrating the Ullumbana ceremony and now we are here to attend the\r\nceremony and share the joy with all. On behalf of the district party committee,\r\nPeoples Council, Peoples committee and Fatherland Front Committee of Dien\r\nChau, I would like to respectfully welcome your attendance and I wish the event\r\na great success.
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\r\nDear all the participants.

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The Ullumbana season of the Buddhist calendar 2558 -\r\ncalendar 2014 is coming to pious children. The ceremony is one of the three\r\nmajor Buddhist ceremonies that is formally celebrated by the monks, the nuns,\r\nand lay Buddhists every year. The best and most humanistic perspective of the\r\ncelebration is the Parents affection towards their children and their filial\r\npiety - A psychologically significant development of human behavior.

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All the time, the Ullumbana ceremony reminds Buddhists of\r\nthe debt they owe their parents, to uphold the spirit of filial piety and\r\narouses the feelings of human sympathy. It is believed that a mothers\r\naffection towards her children is like the vast ocean that nurtures and\r\nsustains all of us while a fathers love towards his children is like\r\na fortress that protects us from waves of calamities.

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Therefore, the Ullumbana celebration is also the chance for\r\nus to live in this reality, to create happiness for human beings and all\r\nsentient beings around us. It is this inborn tendency of love for all sentient\r\nbeings that makes difference between man and animals. It is also the true idea,\r\nwhich compassion and wisdom and human civilizations come from.

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In the written record of human religious experience,\r\nthe Buddha was the only to mention filial Piety: "Our parents are like\r\nliving Buddhas at home". That truth undoubtedly contains profound, lofty\r\nand humanistic values. When Buddhism was introduced into Vietnam, national\r\nethics has mingled well with Buddhist morality. The Vietnamese people have\r\ninherently attached great importance to filial piety and liberation, ​​so they\r\naccepted Buddhist teachings in a natural manner. The fact is that all of us owe\r\na great debt to our parents for giving us life and raising us and that\r\nVietnamese Buddhists attend the Ullambana ceremony on the fifteenth, July\r\n(lunar calendar) annually has been one of the ways to show their filial piety\r\nfor ages. It is also considered as a traditional religion, the beauty of filial\r\npiety throughout the long history of the Vietnamese culture.

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Through the ups and downs of the history and economic,\r\ncultural, social development of the nation, filial piety has exertedan\r\ninteractive influence on the cultural life in the past and present. The\r\nVietnamese have always been proud to be the "dragon and fairy\r\ndescendants". It is believed that the ancestors of the Vietnamese\r\nare Lac Long Quan and Au Co, who showed their wholehearted love towards their\r\nchildren and saved them from tribulation. The story of "Dragon and Fairy\r\nDescendants" encourages us to be good-natured, maintain ethical standards\r\nand recollects the huge debt of gratitude we owe our parents and ancestors.

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We all may learn the Vietnamese legend of "Banh Chung\r\nand Banh Day (Vietnamese Sticky rice cake and Rice cake" whose content\r\nconveys a message of gratitude of birth and upbringing of their parents. Lang\r\nLieu, the King Hungs 18th gentle and dutiful son, offered him some Banh chung\r\ncakes that symbolize the earth and some Banh Day cakes that symbolize the\r\nheaven, which means to esteem the parents merits as the heaven and the earth,\r\na safe sanctuary for their children. It is like a fresh wind blowing in the\r\nVietnamese cultural scene that contributes to maintaining sustainable personal\r\nethics. For that reason, in this world, however successful some people are\r\ntheir mind should remain deeply engraved with "gratefulness" for\r\ngiving them lives.

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In the course of human evolution, filial piety was always\r\nmentioned and appreciated in the Buddhas lectures and here is his quote\r\nin  the Anguttara Nikaya , page 147:

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"Those who are compassionate to their parents are\r\ncalled Brahma. (the creator of all beings in Indians Hindu beliefs at that\r\ntime) Those who pay homage to their parents are considered Gurus. Those who\r\nhonor their parents are praised and worth offering with food, drink, clothing\r\nand bedding and after death rejoice in heaven."

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Not only does the Buddha uphold the spirit of filial piety:\r\n"Mind Of Filial Piety - Bodhi Mind; Filial Piety Virtue - Bodhis\r\nVirtue" but also the ancient saints and sages used to advise people to\r\nexercise filial piety and consider it a noble duty. So the genuine monks daily\r\nchanting sutra and reciting Buddhas name in their lifetime is to follow the\r\nBuddhas teaching about filial piety. The bell sound shows life liberation.\r\nAlso, wooden bell sound brings people to nothingness.

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 Each pagoda, a sacred place, has been\r\nacknowledged by many Vietnamese as a physical and spiritual refuge from an\r\nuncertain world. A pagoda is also the place where people pin their faith for\r\ntheir living at present and their death afterwards. The most significant\r\nfeature of Buddhism is to confirm the superior status of humans in the mundane\r\nworld in which those who want to escape from suffering must strive for a better\r\nlife, work hard by themselves, practice the ancestor and Gods worship and on\r\nthe first and the fifteenth day of each month (lunar calendar) they should make\r\nofferings of flowers, fruits and others ... to the pagodas to pray for peace,\r\nhealth, good fortune and prosperity in life.

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While lies, deceit, jealousy and envy are now rampant in our\r\nsociety, Buddha teaches people to practice self-improvement and virtues of\r\nfilial piety, so the Ullambana ceremony is the time for them to express their\r\nfilial piety towards their parents. The valuable good inclination help people\r\ntake the opportunity to look back at them and to be well aware of their\r\nshortcomings so that they may remedy them promptly fulfill filial piety towards\r\ntheir parents, grandparents, ancestors and see themselves more responsible for\r\ntheir family and homeland.

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Dear the honored Monks and Nuns, delegates, lay Buddhists\r\nand all of the participants.

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On the occasion of Ullumbana Day, may Buddhas bless you, the\r\nhonored monks and the Buddhists, and may you find peace and joy in the right\r\nway of cultivation, and be in auspicious conditions in the dharma propagation.\r\nAlso, may your deceased be reborn in the good realms. By the way, I would\r\nrather all of you put filial piety into practice, were always the exemplary\r\ncitizens, devout Buddhists and substantially contributed to turning our Dien\r\nChau homeland into the land of prosperity and civilization. 
\r\nThank you very much for your listening. 

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Above is the Speech of the President of Dien Chau district -\r\nNghe An province at Ullumbana ceremony at Co Am pagoda in Dien Minh commune,\r\nDien Chau district, Nghe An province dated August 03, 2014. (July 08, 2014\r\nlunar calendar)

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Translated into English by Mr. Tran Xuan Thanh, layman.

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