On the occasion of Vu Lan festival in 2024, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with folk culture researcher Nguyen Hung Vi - former lecturer of the Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).
On the occasion of Vu Lan festival in 2024, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with folk culture researcher Nguyen Hung Vi - former lecturer of the Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).
Minh Quan(Thực hiện) • August 18, 2024 7:30 *****
PV:Ngày nay, lễ Vu Lan không đơn thuần chỉ có ý nghĩa tôn giáo thiêng liêng mà còn có ý nghĩa đặc biệt sâu sắc, hướng mỗi người trở về với cội nguồn dân tộc, về với đạo lý “Uống nước nhớ nguồn” với tổ tiên. Xin ông cho biết lễ Vu Lan có nguồn gốc từ đâu?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi: “Vu Lan” hay “Vu Lan bồn” là tín ngưỡng văn hóa cổ xưa của Ấn Độ, trước cả khi Phật giáo ra đời. Ba chữ "Vu Lan bồn" là chuyển âm tiếng Phạn đọc là Ullambana, Hán Việt phiên và đọc thành “Vu Lan bồn” (nghĩa là “treo ngược”) nhằm ám chỉ nỗi khổ của những người bị đọa vào kiếp Ngạ quỷ ở cõi Diêm phù đề, chịu nỗi đau như người ta bị treo ngược vậy.
Trong sử thi cổ đại Mahabharata người ta đọc thấy nhiều lần nhắc tới việc hành lễ Vu Lan bồn. Như vậy, Phật giáo đã tiếp thu nền tảng tín ngưỡng đó và điển phạm hóa thành pháp hội và ghi thành truyền thuyết trong Kinh tạng của mình. Khi đã vào Kinh tạng của Phật giáo, nó thường được kể thành truyền thuyết “Mục Kiền Liên cứu mẫu”.
Mục Liên là đệ tử bậc nhất của đức Phật, người đã từng cùng đức Phật đi giảng đạo, tu hành đạt đến đẳng Đại A la hán. Mục Kiền Liên dùng thiên nhãn của mình thấy được mẹ của mình vì vấp tội khi còn sống bị đày xuống cõi Diêm phù làm kiếp Ngạ quỷ, đau khổ, đói khát. Thương mẹ, ông đưa thức ăn nhưng đến miệng lại hóa ra lửa. Ông cầu đức Phật bày cho cách cứu mẹ. Đức Phật dạy rằng, đến Rằm tháng Bảy, mùa chư tăng tự tứ (hết hạ) thì làm năm trăm mâm cỗ, chủ yếu là mâm ngũ quả, cúng dường 10 phương. Ông làm vậy và mẹ ông xả hết 10 tội bà mắc khi tại thế để lên được cõi Trời. Từ đó mà có pháp hội Vu Lan bồn.
Đông đảo người dân thành tâm hành lễ Vu Lan tại chùa Diệc (TP. Vinh). Ảnh: Hải Vương
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Lễ Vu Lan là một lễ trọng mà bất cứ tông phái nào của Phật giáo cũng đều thực hành vì nó gắn với đạo hiếu (đạo chí tôn của Phật giáo), gắn với thực hành tu tập (mùa đi Hạ của chư tăng), gắn với kinh sách kinh điển (kinh Vu Lan bồn).
PV:Vậy, tục lệ Vu Lan bồn truyền vào nước ta như thế nào, thưa ông?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:Ở Trung Hoa, theo truyền thuyết, thời nhà Lương đã mở hội Vu Lan bồn để báo ân đức cha mẹ tổ tiên, sau đó nhà Đường thì phát triển mạnh mẽ ra chốn dân gian. Ở Việt Nam, thời Bắc thuộc, cùng với việc Phật giáo lan tỏa vào Giao Chỉ xưa (thế kỷ thứ II sau Công nguyên), chắc chắn nghi thức này đã được thực hành trên đất Việt. Tuy nhiên, ghi chép thời đó để lại không rõ ràng.
Tài liệu ghi chép rõ ràng nhất có được về lễ Vu Lan ở Việt Nam hiện nằm trên tấm bia quý hiếm ở chùa Đọi (Hà Nam) mang tên là "Đại Việt quốc Lý gia đệ tứ đế Sùng Thiện Diên Linh tháp bi" do Nguyễn Công Bật soạn vào năm 1121 thời Lý Nhân Tông. Trong tấm bia có đoạn dài 396 chữ viết về một pháp hội do chính Vua Lý Nhân Tông chủ trì tổ chức và vì lý do "hiếu thành" với cha mẹ mà lập hội.
According to the records of "Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu", on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month in 1118, King Ly Nhan Tong held the Vu Lan festival to commemorate his mother, Queen Mother Y Lan, who passed away a year before, in 1117. Perhaps from then on, the Vu Lan festival stepped out of the temple grounds and spread to the people, to multiply the moral value of filial piety in each citizen, to honor the virtue of loving life of Buddhism.
Photo: Ho Dinh Chien
PV:The core of Vu Lan Festival is filial piety, when practiced it is called filial piety. So what is the spirit of filial piety in Buddhism, sir?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:In Buddhism, filial piety is at the top of all other rituals. To show filial piety to one's parents, one practices two types of filial piety according to Buddha's teachings: "Worldly filial piety" and "Extra-worldly filial piety". "Worldly filial piety" is offering one's parents food, drink, shelter, bed, medical treatment, medicine, and conveniences... "Extra-worldly filial piety" is taking one's parents through rituals and education, going to temples and shrines, abandoning evil and doing good so that when one dies, one can be reborn in the Pure Land. When one's parents have passed away for seven generations, one performs a ceremony to absolve the deceased from their sins so that one can be reborn in the Pure Land.
Buddhist filial piety is not only profound but also extremely generous. To understand it, we compare it with Confucian filial piety. It is also a philosophy of life, but Confucianism conceives of "Three unfilial acts" as follows:
- Following one's parents' wishes and committing unrighteous acts is the first form of unfilial piety.
- Poor family, old parents but not becoming an official to take advantage of the salary - is the second unfilial act.
- Having no wife or children breaks the lineage of worshipping ancestors - is the third unfilial act.
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Filial piety in Buddhism is not only limited to the family but it extends to all living beings... We need to be grateful to everyone, and pray for everyone to exist in peace.
Thus, Confucianism, which teaches men to be mandarins, is quite restrictive in its filial piety. But Buddhist filial piety extends from filial piety to filial piety for all things in the universe. Filial piety in Buddhism is not only limited to the family, but it extends to all living beings, to plants, the environment, and the living environment because according to the law of reincarnation, in this life we are the children of many reincarnations in different lives, so everyone and every species are our parents and ancestors. We need to be grateful to all, and pray for all to exist in peace.
PV:As a folk culture researcher, how do you perceive the changes in Vu Lan festival in recent years?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:In the past, the religious activities during Vu Lan festival were practiced both in temples and private homes. Temples held solemn ceremonies, with solemn flags and banners, and monks gathered to practice "tu tu" (self-examination and repentance after the 3-month rainy season). Then, Buddhists were welcomed to pay homage and listen to the sutras; monks chanted and preached sutras. In private homes, people prepared vegetarian offerings to worship their ancestors for 7 generations, chanted sutras, prayed and repented; accompanied by the custom of making offerings to parents, grandparents and ancestors by burning and sending votive paper.
Rose pinning ceremony in Vu Lan ceremony. Photo: Hai Vuong
But during the war, due to the shortage of resources and chaotic circumstances, each family often made their own offerings on a small scale with a rather simple form. At the temples, people could not gather in large numbers to listen to the Mu Lien Sutra. On the other hand, the five-fruit tray, which originated from this custom, became popular during Tet or other fruit offering occasions.
However, since the country's reunification, Vu Lan has become increasingly richer and more meaningful. Notably, the "rose pinned on the lapel" movement on Vu Lan day has also recently been introduced to Vietnam. This movement was initiated by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh after a pilgrimage to Japan, spreading the beauty of filial piety throughout society and has been widely responded to, becoming a prominent activity every Vu Lan season.
Recently, before Vu Lan festival, many pagodas opened meditation courses and filial piety classes during the summer break for students of all levels to enlighten the students about the merits of parents, about love for humanity, responsibility to tradition and country. During Vu Lan festival, in pagodas, in addition to the ceremony, art programs are also organized. These changes take place depending on the circumstances and needs of people in different periods, but in general, they do not lose the core value of the festival, sometimes even enriching the forms of practice.
Vu Lan ceremony is held by pagodas in the main hall or in front of the pagoda yard with elaborate, thoughtful and solemn preparations by the organizing committee. In the photo: Vu Lan ceremony at Nguu Tu pagoda (Thanh Chuong) took place on the night of August 14. Photo: Huy Thu
PV:It is known that currently, in the process of people practicing their beliefs on the occasion of Vu Lan and the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, there are still limitations. Could you tell readers more about this issue?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:Coming out of the temple and blending into the human world, Vu Lan festival will inevitably change with the flow of time and different local customs to survive and develop. That process of change cannot avoid negative factors and distortions.
For example, taboos in July. The Ten Kinds of Living Beings Memorial Service states that in July, “lonely ghosts wander everywhere” and can harm the living, so the more taboos, the more peace of mind one has. However, taboos are becoming more and more excessive and become inappropriate, becoming superstitious. Buddhism affirms that there is no such thing as a bad or unlucky day or month, that requires taboos or avoidance. As long as each person lives honestly, does many good deeds, and does not commit bad deeds, good luck will naturally come.
Or the story of the custom of burning votive paper. This is not a Buddhist custom, but a Taoist concept of dividing property among the dead in the afterlife. However, today, burning votive paper has transformed into a form of superstition.
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No matter how much the Full Moon Festival or Vu Lan Festival changes, what needs to be preserved is the spirit of filial piety, gratitude to parents, grandparents, ancestors and, more broadly, respect for nature and the living environment.
However, no matter how much the Full Moon Festival or Vu Lan Festival changes, what needs to be preserved is the spirit of filial piety, gratitude to parents, grandparents, ancestors and more broadly, respect for nature and the living environment, because all, according to Buddhist concepts, are a lifetime in our endless cycle of reincarnation. Our duty is to preserve those immutable values.
PV:Do the filial piety and religious practices on the occasion of the Full Moon Festival in Nghe An have any unique or outstanding features, sir?
Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:Filial piety is considered the fundamental moral value of the Vietnamese people, most deeply reflecting the relationship between family members, especially the relationship between children and grandparents and parents. Although influenced by Confucianism or Buddhism, through the lens of the Vietnamese people, through the reality of Vietnamese society, Vietnamese filial piety also has its own unique features. The filial piety of the people of Nghe An is no exception.
But what I appreciate about the filial piety of Nghe An is in the folk culture, specifically the folk songs of Nghe Tinh with many songs such as "The teacher's merit and mother's virtue", "The ten graces of parents", "The deep affection of father and son", "The father's advice", "The radiant race", "The grace of birth"... imbued with the filial piety of Buddhism, expressing the filial piety of poor people who work hard to raise their children to become good people.
Regarding the Vu Lan belief, it is noteworthy that many families in Nghe An choose the 15th of the 7th lunar month as their death anniversary, to show gratitude to their ancestors and practice filial piety. The spirit of filial piety blends seamlessly with the custom of ancestor worship.
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