Society

Preserving the filial spirit of Vu Lan festival

Minh Quan (Performed) • DNUM_BIZAIZCACE 06:46

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(Perform) • 08/18/2024 7:30
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PV:Nowadays, Vu Lan festival not only has a sacred religious meaning but also has a special and profound meaning, guiding each person to return to the national origin, to the morality of "When drinking water, remember the source" with ancestors. Could you please tell us where Vu Lan festival originated from?

Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:“Vu Lan” or “Vu Lan Bon” is an ancient cultural belief of India, even before the birth of Buddhism. The three words “Vu Lan Bon” are a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Ullambana, which is translated into Sino-Vietnamese and read as “Vu Lan Bon” (meaning “hanging upside down”) to refer to the suffering of those who are condemned to the realm of Hungry Ghosts in the Jambudvipa realm, suffering the pain of being hung upside down.

In the ancient epic Mahabharata, people read many times mentioning the practice of Vu Lan Bon. Thus, Buddhism has absorbed that foundation of belief and codified it into a dharma assembly and recorded it as a legend in its own sutras. Once in the Buddhist sutras, it is often told as the legend of “Maudgalyayana saves his mother”.

Maudgalyayana was the foremost disciple of the Buddha, who accompanied the Buddha to preach and practice and attained the level of Great Arhat. Maudgalyayana used his divine eye to see that his mother, because of her sins while she was alive, was banished to the world of Jambudvipa to become a hungry ghost, suffering and starving. Out of pity for her, he gave her food, but when it reached her mouth, it turned into fire. He asked the Buddha to show him a way to save his mother. The Buddha taught that on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, the season when monks perform their self-ordination (end of summer), they should prepare five hundred trays of food, mainly trays of five fruits, to offer to the 10 directions. He did so and his mother forgave all the 10 sins she committed while she was alive and was able to go to Heaven. From there, there was the Vu Lan Bon festival.

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Vu Lan Festival is an important ceremony that all Buddhist sects practice because it is associated with filial piety (the most sacred religion of Buddhism), associated with practice (the summer retreat of monks), and associated with classic scriptures (Vu Lan Bon Sutra).

PV:So, how did the Vu Lan Bon custom come to our country, sir?

Researcher Nguyen Hung Vi:In China, according to legend, during the Liang Dynasty, the Vu Lan Bon festival was held to show gratitude to parents and ancestors, and later during the Tang Dynasty, it was strongly developed among the people. In Vietnam, during the Northern domination period, along with the spread of Buddhism to ancient Giao Chi (2nd century AD), this ritual was certainly practiced on Vietnamese land. However, the records left at that time are not clear.

The clearest document available about Vu Lan festival in Vietnam is currently on a rare stele at Doi pagoda (Ha Nam) named "Dai Viet Quoc Ly Gia De Tu De Sung Thien Dien Linh Thap Bi" composed by Nguyen Cong Bat in 1121 during the reign of Ly Nhan Tong. In the stele, there is a 396-word passage about a dharma assembly organized by King Ly Nhan Tong himself and for the reason of "filial piety" to his parents, the assembly was established.

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.

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, medical treatment, medical facilities, etc. "Extra-worldly filial piety" is bringing one's parents into rituals and education, going to temples and pagodas, 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 the "Three unfilial acts" as follows:

- Following one's parents' wishes and engaging in unrighteous acts is the first form of unfilial piety.

- Poor family, old parents but not becoming an official to take the salary - is the second unfilial act.

- Having no wife or children, thus breaking the lineage of ancestral worship - 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. 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 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 everyone and pray for all to exist in peace.

PV:As a folklore 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-criticism and repentance after the 3-month summer retreat). Then, Buddhists were welcomed to pay homage and listen to the sutras; monks chanted and lectured on the 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 their parents, grandparents and ancestors by burning and sending votive paper.

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 offerings.

However, since the country's reunification, the Vu Lan festival has become increasingly rich and meaningful. Notably, the "rose pinned on the lapel" movement on Vu Lan day of filial piety 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 of filial piety.

Recently, before Vu Lan festival, many pagodas open meditation courses and filial piety classes during the summer vacation for students of all levels to enlighten the monks about the merits of fathers and mothers, 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.

PV: It is known that currently, in the process of people practicing their beliefs on Vu Lan and July Full Moon festivals, 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" funeral oration states that in July, "hungry ghosts roam everywhere" and can harm the living, so the more taboos, the more peace of mind one feels. However, taboos are becoming more and more excessive and becoming inappropriate, becoming superstitious. Buddhism affirms that there is no such thing as a bad or unlucky day or month, which 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 still 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 still 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 unchanging 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 spirit of 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, the 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 Vu Lan belief, it is noteworthy that many families in Nghe An choose the 15th of July 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.

PV: Thank you for the conversation!