Top 6 Best Books on the Vu Lan Festival

This is a collection of Buddhist stories related to the meaning of the Vu Lan season, more specifically the significance of honoring and respecting parents. The stories compiled here have been recorded in various scriptures or books, but have now been gathered in one place under a common theme to encourage filial piety and gratitude toward parents.

This collection serves as a precious educational gift with high moral value, which parents can present to their children. The lessons within will help young readers deeply understand the sacrifices and nurturing of their parents, as well as how to live in a way that makes them deserving of being a dutiful child.

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Vu Lan is an ancient festival, a deeply humanistic tradition of East Asian culture, celebrated in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. This festival coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival in the lunar calendar, leading many historians of Buddhism to believe that it originated from Chinese Buddhism. However, the true origins of Vu Lan trace back to the Vu Lan Bồn sutra, which is thought to be a translation from Sanskrit, focusing on filial piety toward both living and deceased parents. Due to the similarities and differences in interpretations, since the Tang Dynasty, scholars have continuously sought the true origin of this festival and the Sanskrit version of the sutra, though no conclusive answers have been found yet.

In this study, the author Viên Như offers a fresh perspective that challenges centuries of discussion, not only regarding the origins of the Vu Lan Festival but also the roots of Vietnamese Buddhism. The author even hints at certain aspects of Vietnam's cultural and traditional heritage through this lens.

This research presents new information and materials for readers interested in this topic, with the hope that the author’s work will gain support from scholars of Vietnamese Buddhist history and Vietnamese history in general.

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The seventh month of the lunar calendar is known as the month of wandering spirits, when many ghosts and spirits from the underworld make their presence known on Earth. During this time, Buddhist rituals for salvation become especially busy.

Many questions arise: "Does the ritual of salvation actually work? Is it necessary for monks or nuns to perform this ritual?"

Buddhism has its own methods and reasoning for performing these rites, which are deeply thoughtful, logical, and spiritually sound. However, large-scale rituals for salvation, as practiced today, are not often seen in early Buddhism.

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The story of Vu Lan and filial piety is recorded in the Vu Lan Sutra. It tells of Mục Kiền Liên, the great disciple of the Buddha, who, after years of spiritual practice, achieved Nirvana.

In remembrance of his mother, he used his supernatural powers to search the six realms to find her. There, he discovered that his mother, due to a life of bad deeds, was suffering in the realm of hungry ghosts, enduring endless hunger and pain.

Filled with compassion, Mục Kiền Liên brought food to his mother, but as soon as the food touched her mouth, it turned into burning fire and could not be consumed.

He then returned to seek guidance from the Buddha, who explained that only with the combined efforts of the ten directions' monks could his mother, along with others in the same realm, be freed and liberated from the suffering of the hungry ghosts.

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The Carnation Pin refers to both a touching essay written by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh about his mother and a timeless song composed by Pham The My in the 1960s, inspired by the essay.

Originally, The Carnation Pin was the title of a heartfelt article written by Thich Nhat Hanh in 1962 in Saigon. In the essay, the Zen master recalls a beautiful tradition he encountered in Japan: "The West does not have Vu Lan, but they celebrate Mother's Day on May 10th. Being from the countryside, I was unfamiliar with this custom. One day, I accompanied Master Thien An to a bookstore in Ginza, Tokyo, and we met some Japanese students, friends of Master Thien An. One of the students asked him something, then took a white carnation from her bag and pinned it on my robe. I was confused, unsure of what was happening, but I didn’t ask and just went along with it, thinking it was part of a custom. After their conversation, we entered the bookstore, and Master Thien An explained that it was Mother's Day, according to Western customs. If you still have your mother, you wear a pink carnation as a sign of pride in having her. If your mother has passed, you wear a white carnation..."

In the essay, rather than comparing a mother's love to the vastness of the ocean or the sweetness of an endless river, Thich Nhat Hanh portrays a mother's love through simple, familiar, and deeply affectionate imagery: "A mother grows old like a banana tree bearing three fragrances, like sticky rice or sugarcane." The Zen master also writes, "Loving your mother is a natural thing... It’s not about moral ethics. If you think this is a lesson on ethics, you’re mistaken. Loving your mother is about appreciation... If you can’t cherish a gift like your mother, even the Jade Emperor wouldn’t be pleased, because the Jade Emperor is a self-born being and never had the privilege of having a mother."

At the end of the essay, Thich Nhat Hanh writes: "That’s the refrain I want to sing for you today. And you should sing it too, so that life doesn’t sink into oblivion. The pink flower I’ve pinned on your shirt is for you. Be happy!"

Originally, the flower didn’t necessarily have to be a rose. However, when this tradition spread to Vietnam, the rose became the most common flower used.

In 1965-1966, during his imprisonment by the South Vietnamese government for his involvement in the Buddhist movement, Pham The My composed this song based on Thich Nhat Hanh's essay. Since then, the song "The Carnation Pin" has not only been sung during every Vu Lan season but has also become one of the most emotional and heartfelt songs about mothers.

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The Vu Lan Sutra on Filial Piety is a condensed version of the Vu Lan Sutra and the Sutra on Gratitude to Parents, teaching the Buddhist tradition of filial piety according to the Northern School of Mahayana. The two main recitations in this ritual are the seven-line verse translation by Venerable Thich Hue Dang, which is widely memorized by most monks and lay practitioners.

The ritual is structured into three sections: the introduction, the main sutra, and the dedication of merit. This is a purely Vietnamese tradition, featuring many prayers and chants, typically recited throughout the Vu Lan month of July, which is considered the month of filial devotion for Buddhists. In reality, this sutra can be chanted daily to dedicate merit to both living parents and ancestors, while reinforcing the tradition of filial piety for future generations.

Additionally, this ritual is often used for various occasions such as celebrating parents’ birthdays, honoring grandparents, or even during memorial services for deceased parents and ancestors. Due to the versatility of the ritual, practitioners must choose the appropriate prayers and chants for each occasion. By chanting this sutra, practitioners nurture the seeds of gratitude and repay the kindness of their parents and ancestors.

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