FEELINGS OF VU LAN – PARENTS’ DAY IN BUDDHISM
Dear the Venerable Buddhist Monks and Nuns
Dear Dharma Sisters, Brothers, and everyone,
Today, in harmony together happily with the great ceremony of Vu Lan – Parents’ Day, I would like to read the post of feelings about the Parents’ Day as follows:
As we know western culture refers to two Mother’s and Father’s separate days. Every year, the second Sunday of May is Mother’s Day and the third Sunday of June is Father’s Day.
According to Buddhist culture, the great ceremony of Vu Lan includes Mother’s and Father’s ceremony Day. When our parents are still alive in the world, we pray for them more blessing and longevity. When our parents pass away, we pray for them to be born up to a peaceful realm. We ourselves make great effort to cultivate, protect the Three Jewels, practice, and apply the Buddha Dharma in everyday life to benefit ourselves and other people right here and right now in the present life.
Moreover, as practitioners studying and understanding the Buddha Dharma clearly, we know that every day is also Mother’s Day and every day is also Father’s Day. Relying on the eastern and western cultures, when we talk about Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, we immediately remember the gratitude of parents’ birth, nurture, and education deeply.
As we know the Parents are those giving birth to us raise us, take care of us, and want us to become talented, virtuous, useful, and helpful people for families, schools, and for societies by practicing right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Thanks to the gratitude of the nurture and teachings of our parents, we grow up firmly in life. The Parents’ merit is exemplified as the very high sky, firm like a green mountain, immense and deep like the open sea. It is very happy for those who still have the Parents live in the world. It is very unhappy for those who no longer have the Parents live in the world. It is also unfortunate for those who still have the Parents do not know and do not understand the gratitude of the Parents’ birth, education, and nurture.
Today, on the occasion of the great ceremony of Vu Lan – Parents’ Day, as filial children, we are aware that when our parents are still alive in the world, let us cherish the rest of our parents’ lives, then right today, we must be fragrant flowers and sweet fruits to offer our parents.
If we live far away from our parents, by modern means today, we can take a proper time to make a phone call to ask about our parents’ health right away. When the Parents hear our healthy wishes, they immediately become happy and well. If the Parents no longer live in the world, by practicing and applying the Buddha Dharma in our daily lives to benefit the many right in the present life, we wholeheartedly pray for our parents to be born in a peaceful realm. When we understand and practice so, our parents and we are all peaceful and happy.
Namo The Honored One – Maha Moggallana
Thank you so much for your listening.
May you and your loved ones be well and happy in the Buddha Dharma.
By Thích Trừng Sỹ
