Repentance ceremony on Oct. 14th, Year of the Dragon at Suoi Phap Pagoda, Tay Ninh

On Nov. 14th, 2024 (Oct. 14th, Year of the Dragon), good men and believing women returned to Suoi Phap pagoda in Tay Ninh province (belonging to Hoang Phap pagoda ‘s Sect) to attend the periodic penance rite.

Before the rite, Junior Thich Tam Huong, Abbot of Suoi Phap Pagoda had a dharma talk titled "Merit and Blessing.”

 

Good deeds outside are blessings, they do not come naturally or are given by God and Buddha, but are created by our three karmas of body, speech and mind. For example, good deeds like helping people, giving alms or making offerings… bring happiness and benefits to the majority.

 

Practicing self-reflection and meditation is a merit. Cultivating the virtues of patience, compassion, joy, humility, generosity; Practicing the methods of reciting Buddha's name, meditating, reciting mantras... also to gain merit; Reducing or eliminating greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, selfishness and arrogance is merit.

 

Peace, happiness, and success in life are because of blessing; enlightenment, wisdom, freedom from suffering, and the elimination of afflictions, and attainment of sainthood are because of merit. When Buddhists create blessings or practice merit, we should not be attached to it. Instead, we should do things without seeing ourselves doing them, and practice things without thinking of ourselves practicing them. If we can do this, we will be free from attachment and greed for what we have done.

 

After the Dharma talk, the mass entered the penitential ritual as usual.

 

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