Vu Lan Day talks about filial piety in modern times
For a long time, Vu Lan festival has become a big and meaningful holiday of the year. Vu Lan festival helps us to repay the kindness of our parents for raising and giving birth to us. This day also clearly shows the tradition of "When drinking water, remember its source" of our nation. This is an opportunity for children to show their gratitude to their ancestors and express their respect to them.
Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Most Venerable Thich Tho Lac - Standing Member of the Executive Council, Head of the Central Cultural Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Executive Council of the Buddhist Sangha of Nghe An province.
Filial piety is the root of Buddhist etiquette.
PV:Filial pietyVirtue is the first root of etiquette in Buddhism. Venerable ThichíVenerable Tho Lac, can you briefly summarize the origin of Vu Lan festival according to Buddhist concept?
Peace upperThich Tho Lac:Why is the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, Vu Lan day, called the day of filial piety? Because the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is the day of Tu Tu (Renunciation) for monks. On this day, all Buddhas are happy, monks from all directions gather. We pray for our parents, relatives and friends to live in peace and to ascend to a good realm after death. In the Buddhist scriptures it is said: “Thousands of scriptures, filial piety comes first.” No matter what religion one practices, whether one studies or not, filial piety is the root, filial piety comes first, filial piety is everything.
Or Buddha once taught: A filial heart is a Buddha heart, doing filial piety is doing Buddha. The heart of a filial person is the heart of Buddha. As a human being, one must fulfill filial piety, remember kindness and repay those kindnesses. Of all kindnesses, it can be said that the greatest kindness is that of one's parents.
In Buddhist legend, Maudgalyayana saw his mother hungry and thirsty, and the food offered was not edible. He was very miserable. His only choice was to return to the Buddha, hoping that the Buddha would compassionately show him a way to save his mother. The Buddha compassionately told him that on the day of Tu Tu, when all the monks gathered together, they should prepare a meal and offer it to the monks. Thanks to the blessings of the monks from all directions, Maudgalyayana's mother was immediately freed from the realm of hungry ghosts and reborn in Heaven. Thanks to that, the Venerable saved his mother. From then on, on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, monks, nuns, and Buddhists often hold the Vu Lan ceremony, which is the ceremony to save their mother.
That legendary story is very suitable for the mentality and filial piety of all classes in Vietnamese society. And so, the Vu Lan ceremony of filial piety has existed for a long time, it exists in the civilization of Vietnamese people in general and Nghe people in particular.
Making parents feel at ease is also a way to show filial piety.
PV: Venerable, filial piety has contemporary values in every era, so how do those values spread in today's social life?
PeaceupperThich Tho Lac:Being an adult in a family with full parents, a family with relatively good means for us to study, travel here and there to broaden our horizons, to understand and build our lives, that is very happy. In society, there are many people who wish for a little love from their fathers and mothers, sometimes they cannot get it. Therefore, when our parents are still healthy, we make them feel at ease, that is also a way of being filial. Moreover, understanding more broadly, being filial to our parents means that we always cultivate, practice, always live with civilized morality; it means being famous and successful with our own abilities and intelligence.
Ancient books teach: “Parents in the family are like Buddha in the world.” That means if we are born into a world without Buddha, then our parents in this life are Buddha. This saying is to remind us not to forget the deep gratitude towards our parents. In my opinion, a person in the family who is a filial child to his parents like Buddha is a person who has practiced according to the spirit of Buddhism.
Considering the modern social conditions today, depending on the circumstances, the issue of taking care of parents will be fully implemented in each person's and each family's own way. We skillfully arrange to be able to help, take care of, and care for our parents to be stable, well-fed, and have the means to consume in life without feeling inferior about old age and weakness, and it is not necessary to be with our parents to be filial. However, when young people go to study and work far away, we must regularly ask about and visit our parents, to make them feel at ease, that is also the way we care for our parents. Because in today's era, children often fly away to many places, they use their knowledge and education to build for life, for themselves, for their families. And their success and kindness are also what parents always wish for and build throughout their lives. So that is also the way children repay their parents.
PV:Vu Lan Week of filial piety is increasingly welcomed by people. According to the Venerable, is this a cultural feature that has become ingrained in people's lives and is on the rise?
Peace tfragranceThich Tho Lac: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. Vu Lan festival of Buddhism has become a tradition of filial piety and gratitude, in line with the sacred ancestor worship spirit of the Vietnamese people, a festival imbued with humanity, shining the morality of gratitude of the nation.
Vu Lan ceremony of filial piety is not only held for one day but also for a whole week, attracting a large number of people to participate. From the elderly to the young people, everyone responded, from cleaning, decorating the ceremony voluntarily, devotedly and joyfully. Not only adults and the elderly but also the young people responded deeply. Not only people in the province but also tourists from inside and outside the province participated.
Filial piety is not always about lavish feasts.
PV: Also in today's eraThere is a phenomenon of many families setting up elaborate sacrificial altars, they wish for high trays, A full tray will help them send many gifts to their grandparents, ancestors, and parents. There are also families who are insecure in their daily lives.through the dowrywish yougrandmother, ancestorsbless them and reduce their disastersHow does the monk evaluate this phenomenon?
PeacetfragranceThich Tho Lac:It is true that many followers today are too fussy about the wedding ceremony, they are used to the concept of the afterlife, so they prepare lavish offerings to show their respect and expectations, but that is not necessary. Our grandparents and parents do not need that much, high trays and full dishes do not prove that you are filial; even more so, they cannot dispel bad luck for you. Therefore, the offerings are just a formality, completely lacking in the profound meaning of filial piety.
Furthermore, Buddhism belongs to every family. In Buddhist scriptures, there is no article or provision that talks about preparing this or that ceremony to correspond to the spiritual life of the host. Vu Lan ceremony of filial piety is something that everyone, every family can be happy to perform, no matter how big or small the ceremony is.
Because since ancient times we have known, our grandparents only had small gifts but always felt secure because their parents and grandparents in the afterlife understood their sincerity. Therefore, we only need to be sincere, even if the offerings are simple, they will be witnessed by our grandparents.
PV: Thank you, Venerable!
