Offering flowers during Buddha's birthday

The statue of the Buddha's birth is placed solemnly by Buddhists amidst fresh, fragrant flowers.

In Vietnam, the Buddha's Birthday celebration is held on the 15th day of the 4th lunar month, lasting from the 8th to the 15th of April (lunar calendar), with each temple having a different official celebration day. During this time, temples and monasteries hold various celebratory activities such as setting up altars for cultural performances, parades of flower floats, releasing lanterns, giving lectures on Buddhist teachings, and the ritual of bathing the Buddha statue. Through these activities, sentient beings and Buddhists commemorate the day the Buddha was born, leading sentient beings to liberation and enlightenment, leading to a life of peace and freedom.

Before the main ceremony, Buddhists will decorate and prepare the altar and the main hall of the temple in a solemn and dignified manner. Offering flowers to Buddha has become a spiritual tradition, expressing the devotion of Buddhists towards the Buddha's realm.

At Hiep Long Pagoda (Ward 3, Tay Ninh City), the Buddha's Birthday celebration took place on April 8th. To prepare for the grand ceremony, the day before, Ms. Cao Thi Hong Xuyen (Ward 3, Tay Ninh City) and Mr. Nguyen Thanh Duy (Ward 2, Tay Ninh City) were busy arranging flowers and decorating the main hall at the foot of the Buddha's birth statue. They started working at 7 a.m. and finished everything by 8 p.m.

Ms. Hong Xuyen has been arranging flowers for Buddhist offerings for over 20 years. She is a devout Buddhist who took refuge at Hiep Long Pagoda. Upon entering the Buddhist faith, she vowed to offer flowers to Buddha on major holidays. “I noticed that on important holidays, fresh flowers create a solemn and vibrant atmosphere at the temple, so every time there's a ceremony, I buy flowers to offer. But when I bring them in, there's no one to arrange them, so I try arranging them myself.”

"Seeing that things were going well, I started arranging flowers at Hiep Long Pagoda, then went to other pagodas. Some years, I would arrange flowers for 3-4 pagodas in a single day. Most were small pagodas with Buddhist followers who were still struggling financially. It was all volunteer work," said Ms. Hong Xuyen.

During a visit to the temple to pray, Thanh Duy saw Ms. Xuyen arranging flowers. Curious, he learned about it and helped her. Finding the work meaningful, Thanh Duy began to learn and developed a passion for flower arranging. "Before, I really liked flower arranging, but I wasn't good at it. When I came here, Ms. Xuyen taught me, and after arranging flowers for many temples and learning more designs on the internet, I gradually became passionate about this work."

"During Buddhist festivals, I, along with Ms. Xuyen and other members of the group, raise money to buy flowers, and then arrange them. I'm also in charge of decorating the two flower floats of the Management Board of the Ba Mountain Temple System and the Management Board of Buddhism in Go Dau District to parade with other flower floats in the province on April 14th," Thanh Duy said.

Driven by their passion for flower arranging, for the past three years, during Buddhist festivals, Mr. Thanh Duc (Ward 1, Tay Ninh City) and his group of friends have been going to Go Ken Pagoda to display flowers. Everyone contributes their time and effort, but sometimes, when flowers are scarce, they pool their money to buy them.

"A few years ago, I only arranged flowers in simple ways like borders or baskets. This year, I've started creating new designs with more elaborate and sophisticated details and arrangements," said Thanh Duc.

Ms. Pham Thi Ngan (Truong Tay commune, Hoa Thanh town), who is arranging chrysanthemums as a border at the base of the statue of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva at Go Ken Pagoda, said: "Normally, after taking my children to school, I have a lot of free time. Seeing that the pagoda needed someone to help arrange flowers, I and another friend went together."

"Here, those with experience and skill arrange the more elaborate flower arrangements, while we just follow the pre-existing borders, so it's not difficult. Working is fun, meaningful, and brings good fortune," Ngân said.

Instead of directly going to work at the temple, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich's group of friends (Hiep Ninh ward, Tay Ninh city) discussed buying flowers to offer at Go Ken Temple (Hoa Thanh town) and other temples in Tay Ninh city, including Nhu Lai, Hiep Long, Thien Phuoc, and Hong Phuoc temples.

“Every year, the whole group buys flowers and makes flower arrangements to offer to Buddha, but this year we changed things up a bit. Because some members of the group have other commitments, we bought flowers to offer at the temple and other Buddhists came to make flower arrangements. Offering flowers to Buddha is a beautiful cultural tradition in Buddhism, to express reverence to Buddha and to pray for good things in life,” shared Ms. Ngoc Bich.

Ngoc Dieu

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