The Buddhas’ Joyful Day

On 30 August 2023(the fifteenth day of the seventh month) at 10.30 am, Than Hsiang Temple held the Noon Offering in Main shrine Hall on the 6th floor. The founder of the temple, the most venerable Wei Wu, headed the chanting of the Ullambana Sutra and sharing the dhamma to the devotees.

The most venerable Wei Wu told the devotees that the fifteenth day of the seventh month is the Buddhas’ Joyful Day as the sanghas have practised diligently and achieved success after the three- month-Vassa (JieXia Anju). The buddhas felt happy for them, hence it is called the Buddhas’ Joyful Day! All Buddhist temples will also carry out dana offering to the sanghas.

The most venerable Wei Wu continued to say that in Buddhism there were three filial sons, namely: Sakyamuni Buddha ( the Buddha visited the Trayastrimsa Heaven to pay respect and teach the Sutra of the Terra Treasure to his late mother),Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Mahamaudgalyayana of the Ullambana Sutra.

Mahamaudgalyayana followed the Buddha’s teaching and renounced as a monk. After he attained Abhisambudhana and acquired the six penetrations, he wished to cross over to find his parents in his past generations. When he saw his mother didn’t accumulate merits and had been born into the hungry ghost realm, he was in deep sorrow.

Mahamaudgalyayana used his psychic power to go to the hungry ghost realm, he filled a bowl with food for his mother to eat.

Before the food was put into her mouth, fire spouted from her mouth and turned the food into charcoal.
Mahamaudgalyayana was sorrowful and helpless. He hastened to return to the Buddha and set forth all those in order to find a way out!

The Buddha told Mahamaudgalyayana that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, upon the completion of the Vassa of the sanghas, he should make a grand offering of the Ullambana basins to the virtuous assembled sangha of the ten directions whose awesome spiritual power will help his mother to obtain liberation from the suffering.

With the transference of merits from the assembled sangha, Mahamaudgalyayana’s mother was liberated from the realm of the Hungry Ghost.

Mahamaudgalyayana then asked the Buddha whether future disciples could practise filiality by offering the Ullambana basins to liberate their present parents as well as those of the previous seven generations from suffering and to be reborn to the higher realms? The Buddha answered “Yes”!

Venerable Wei Wu’s dhamma sharing of Ullambana Sutra is a classic sutra that promotes filial piety. It exhorts all devotees to practise filial compassion in the seventh month to recall their parents who bore them and those of the past seven lives to repay their loving kindness. He also emphasized that the seventh month in Buddhism is an auspicious month and not the “month of the hungry ghost “as based on folklore!

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