To Mahayana Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks. The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in various scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer. Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Maudgalyāyana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the Sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.

In Than Hsiang Temple, the Ullambana Festival is celebrated with six continuous evenings of chanting of The Amitabha Sutra from 16th to 21st August 2010 (Monday to Saturday) at 8pm and on the seventh day i.e. Sunday, 22nd August 2010, a Filial Piety Dharma Assembly is held. Among the activities in the Assembly are Lamp Lighting Ceremony, morning chanting, Grand Offering to The Buddha, Dharma lectures and The Three-Sessions Pure Land Chanting in the afternoon.

The purpose for having a Filial Piety Dharma Assembly is to develop gratitude for our parents, ancestors and all sentient beings, who could have been our parents in our past uncountable lifetimes, and to transfer merits to the departed ancestors, relatives and all sentient beings in all the Buddhist realms.

For further information on the lamp lighting and assembly, please contact Ms Tan at Tel: 046414822 ext. 2020 or Fax: 04-6421896.