The Buddhist Vu Lan festival originates from the story of the great filial piety of Bodhisattva Maudgalyayana following the Buddha's teachings. China, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam all celebrate Vu Lan, but the customs in each country have their own unique characteristics.

China

In China, every time Vu Lan season comes, people visit the graves of their deceased relatives and clean and tidy up the tombs. They offer food and paper money to the deceased.

They burn paper money and votive offerings to worship the deceased and believe that when burning votive offerings, the souls of the deceased will receive them, thereby helping those souls to suffer less, have less hardship, and at the same time not disturb the work and life of the living, on the contrary, it will bless the living to be successful.

During Vu Lan festival, monks often hold prayer ceremonies for the deceased. Special ceremonies are held in pagodas throughout the day and night during Vu Lan season to pray for the deceased souls, for the souls who are being tormented by hunger and thirst in hell and the hungry ghost realm to be warm, well-fed and peaceful.

Usually, Buddhists in China celebrate Vu Lan from the 15th day of the 7th lunar month to the 30th day of the 7th lunar month.

In Malaysia: NVu Lan festival is also known as Ancestors' Day, or July Festival. According to custom, on Vu Lan festival, people stop doing all farm work and perform rituals to save the souls of the deceased.

Japan

If in Vietnam there is Vu Lan festival taking place on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month every year, then in Japan there is also Obon festival of filial piety taking place in August of the solar calendar every year.

Obon, also known as Bon (Day of the Dead), is a traditional custom of Japanese Buddhists.

This festival is held to commemorate deceased relatives. Over time, this custom has developed into a family reunion, a time when people return to their homeland to visit and clean the graves of their ancestors.

This is also the time when they believe that the souls of the deceased are allowed to return to visit their descendants.

Vietnam

In the mind of every Vietnamese person, Vu Lan festival (on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month) has long become an important day, indispensable in the system of spiritual and cultural activities.

Vu Lan Festival is an occasion to “remind” our descendants to remember the upbringing and birthing merits of our parents, grandparents, and ancestors as well as the great contributions of national heroes and those who have contributed to the country. At the same time, it helps us approach the humane educational meanings of Buddhist culture such as “Kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity”, “selflessness, altruism”, “remember the source when drinking water”, “remember the person who planted the tree when eating the fruit”...

Vu Lan Festival opens a whole season of gratitude and filial piety. According to Buddhist teachings, filial piety here means filial piety towards parents, not only in this life but also in many other lives, because Buddhism always sees people in the relationship of cause and effect, in the cycle of karma and reincarnation. And it is because of this perspective that all living beings in society have relationships with each other. This leads to the need for us to expand the scope of filial piety to all living beings. "Universal salvation", "saving people, helping the world", "pardoning the sins of the deceased".

In Vietnam and many other countries, on Vu Lan Day, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people gather at pagodas to chant sutras, pray for the deceased, and make offerings to Buddha. According to custom, on Vu Lan Day, people stop all farm work and perform rituals to help the deceased.

In the past, whenever Vu Lan came, people burned a lot of paper money, votive paper, effigies and paper objects. According to Buddhist teachings, this burning of votive paper originated from folk beliefs, originating from Chinese beliefs, and is completely unrelated to Buddhist teachings - Buddhism does not initiate or promote this issue.

According to Dan Tri