Altar offering ceremony during Vu Lan festival in Tay Ninh

In the “Vu lan - Bao filial piety” sutra, the Buddha taught that the full moon of the seventh month is the Tu Tu day, which is when the monks finish their summer retreat. This is the time when the body and mind of the monks/nuns are very pure, so they hold an offering ceremony to ask the monks/nuns to pray for their living parents to increase their blessings and longevity, and for their deceased ancestors to be reborn in the Pure Land.

Altar offering in Vu Lan ceremony at Phuoc Luu pagoda (Trang Bang).

Chan te is one of the important rituals of the Vu Lan Thang Hoi festival, in which "chan" is understood as saving, "te" is saving all living beings from the shore of delusion to the shore of enlightenment. According to folk beliefs, the seventh lunar month is also known as the month of "Dia quan pardon" or understood as the time when the gates of hell are opened to grant amnesty to the deceased. Among these deceased people, there may be relatives in this life or many previous lives, so with that compassion, pagodas in Tay Ninh have held a universal Chan te ceremony to make offerings to all kinds of lonely souls and hungry ghosts who come to the festival to worship Buddhas, listen to Dharma talks, receive alms and rely on this merit to be reborn in the Pure Land.

The dharma altar is set up on a high platform, a golden table is where the memorial tablet is placed with the words "Respectfully invite. Homage to the Buddha Sakyamuni, Homage to the Great Compassionate Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Homage to the Great Witness, Ananda, the Buddha of the Five Directions. Behind the golden table is the table of the sutra masters, next to the Lion Throne (dharma seat) is the position of the high priest.

Opposite the golden altar is the altar of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, Great Master Tieu Dien, Dharma protector Vi Da, and also the place where the lonely ghost tablet is placed, “Serving the four lives, six paths, three generations, old enemies, fallen soldiers, and dead compatriots”. In the image of Mr. Tieu, a red paper is used to cut out the shape of fire and paste it on his mouth according to the story “The mouth spits fire and ghosts”. On the left and right sides of the altar are the altars of the Ten Kings of Hell and the Four Heavenly Kings.

Offerings in the altar.

The altar is decorated with many flags, streamers, and banners, and five-colored paper is used to cut the altar objects. Offerings include incense, flowers, lanterns, tea, fruit, food, rice, salt, water, rice cakes, offerings, banh it, banh u, votive paper money, and coins for the wandering souls... which are tied into a basket or placed in a basket on a high platform.

The board of monks in the ritual of ordination consists of five people. Among them, the chief priest is a highly virtuous and dignified monk. One person is the vicar who holds the hand chain and bell to give orders during the ceremony, one person is the reviewer who holds the wooden fish, two people are the forward and backward ones who beat the head. Later, many boards of monks in the ritual of ordination have two (or four) more people, one person holds the spirit, one person holds the chopsticks. The monks in the board of monks also assist in chanting.

The priest bowed to the founder, the Buddhist monks offered sacrifices and invited the wandering souls to the altar of Great Master Tieu Dien. In front of the altar of Mr. Tieu, there was a basin of clear water with three lit candles. After the monk read the message, the candles in the basin of water would be burned.

The abbot burned incense at the golden altar; the Buddhist monks chanted and invited the Buddha. The abbot held the Dharma mudra. The vinayas recited, “Please invite the abbot to ascend the Dharma seat and wait for the lonely ghosts to preach the Dharma,” which means inviting the abbot to ascend the Dharma seat and preach the Dharma for the lonely ghosts.

The priest makes a mudra during the ritual of healing.

Playing the Prajna gong, the priest ascended the Lion Throne, facing the Lion Heart Dharma, when turning his face away, the priest made the Shakyamuni seal and recited the Buddha's name. At this time, the Buddhist monk read a passage from Nguyen Du's "Funeral Oration for the Ten Kinds of Living Beings" to highlight the meaning of the rite of the rite, this is a unique combination of Vietnamese literary works into Buddhist rituals. Duy Na clapped his hands and read the "Hoi Khai Mong Son Toi Thang Duyen"... The priest announced the opening of the dharma assembly, and the wandering souls came to listen to the dharma talk to rely on this merit to be reborn, to escape from the cycle of reincarnation.

In the ritual, there are 13 invocations that clearly state the 12 types of wandering souls and a general invocation. In addition, the ritual also includes a section on taking refuge in the Three Jewels. When Buddhists take refuge, they can eliminate the suffering of hell; when sentient beings take refuge, they can eliminate the suffering of hungry ghosts; when wandering souls take refuge, they can eliminate the suffering of animals.

One of the monks went to the altar of Tieu Dien Dai Si to perform the Nhu Dang part, which is a blessing spell that makes the food offerings transform and fill the ten directions so that all the hungry ghosts can enjoy it together. He also prayed for the hungry ghosts to be full, abandon greed, quickly escape the path of suffering, rely on the Buddha Dharma, take refuge in the Three Jewels to together achieve Buddhahood.

At this time, the fire on Mr. Tieu's mouth was removed, the priest blessed and released money, rice, and flowers to offer to the wandering souls. The fire on Mr. Tieu's mouth was blessed by the priest, according to folk beliefs, this object is very sacred and can ward off evil spirits and cure children's night crying, so people attending the dharma assembly came to ask for it or the monks divided it into small pieces to give to them.

The Phuc Di Van part of the ritual is read by the Buddhist monks with the meaning of awakening the lonely souls - after listening to Phuc Di, the blindness will disappear and they will be completely pure and clear.

Buddhists attend the charity ceremony during Vu Lan festival.

The Chan Te ritual was completed, the priest made the Vien Man seal to send off the wandering souls, the Ban Kinh Sutra read the Hundred-Character Mantra, praised the Cuu Kho Yoga Sutra and dedicated the merits. At the end of the ritual, the Ban Kinh Sutra read the sentence "Thuong lai tu thiet Mong Son am lo dharma thuc nhut dien cong nghia ton duc van phan, phu triem sa gioi, hoa nam thanh cong" - which means that the merits of establishing Mong Son am lo dharma thuc nhat dien have been completely accomplished, permeating the entire world .

Through the chants, chants and ceremonial music under the command of the handcuffs, the sutras and verses have high and low tones, the music sounds deep and quiet, reminiscent and loving like a fervent prayer and easily touches people's hearts, the profound teachings remind the masses as well as the wandering souls to awaken and return to Buddhism.

Furthermore, the ritual also creates more solidarity and close connection between pagodas through the fact that a Buddhist Council often consists of many pagodas. Currently, in Tay Ninh, many Buddhist Councils have been established, typically including monks Thien Chanh (Phuoc Luu Pagoda), Quang Thanh (Linh Son Pagoda), Thien Long (Giac Nguyen Pagoda) in Trang Bang town; monks Hue Tri (Linh Son Thanh Lam Pagoda), Thien Luan (Phuoc An Pagoda), Hue Dat (Buu Nguyen Pagoda) in Go Dau district, monks Tinh Van (Linh Son Tien Thach Pagoda), Niem Thang (Hiep Long Pagoda) in Tay Ninh city... At the pagoda, monks open classes to teach rituals and have trained many generations in Tay Ninh and many neighboring areas inside and outside the province.

The ritual of worship has the content of warning the world to turn back to goodness, adding to the meaning of Vu Lan festival of filial piety, expressing gratitude to parents and remembering the merits of ancestors - a good cultural tradition of Buddhism in particular and of Vietnamese people in general.

Thanh Phat Fee

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/dan-chan-te-trong-tiet-vu-lan-o-tay-ninh-a177326.html