DDM Nung Chan Monastery Holds 2014 Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual
The original name of “Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual” is “Compassionate Monastery Repentance Ritual.” To do repentance prostrations is method to practice compassion. What we do repentance prostrations is to pray that all the sentient beings can stay away from the sufferings, which brings unlimited merits. To cultivate Bodhisattva practices is also to cultivate compassionate practices for benefitting others and ourselves. Of Chinese Buddhist sutras, this one is the hugest and there have been a lot of stories of spiritual response related to it. Repentance contains that someone repents for himself, repents of offending people, or repents of making mistakes for groups. However, we need to repent in front of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, only by whom, our repentance can be witnessed.
DDM Nung Chan Monastery holds “Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual” from August 2nd, 2014 to August 8th, 2014. It is hoped that the ritual can bring the power of warmth and prayer to the society by reciting sutras, worshipping the Three Jewels to make repentance, giving, transferring merits, and joint repentance to mutually activate virtuous mindfulness. Meanwhile, ritual also prays to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ compassionate power of vows for peace of the country and stability of everyone’s mind.
Many of the participants in the ritual offered to the spirit of the deceased family members and those who died or are injured from recent domestic and overseas unfortunate accidents, and simultaneously spurred themselves and purified their body and mind to find a peaceful path of life by the method of doing repentance prostrations.
The “Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual” of this year perfectly ended with feast offered to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the ritual of feasting for the hungry ghosts. Believers attending Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual of this year totaled 50,000 and there were over 500,000 sign-ups of digital tablets for offering to the spirits of the dead and warding off disasters, both of which have created a new record of the 17-year-old Liang Emperor’s Repentance Ritual hosted by DDM.
At the end of the ritual, the Abbot President of DDM, Ven. Guo Dong, encouraged the attendants to transform the bitterness of the life into the wonderful and pure taste compatible with the Dharma when feasting for the sentient beings in the realm of ghosts. On top of that, he also encouraged the participants to develop Buddha nature, uplift the awakening nature, and adjust our personalities anytime and anywhere. By doing so, we can really realize our original and true mind and nature. The last day of the ritual is also the Father’s Day, and the Abbot President also encouraged the public can be a “Great Compassionate Father” of the world to reduce the disturbance of the world, learn how to forgive others and express gratitude to everyone and everything we meet, all of which are to help us cultivate blessings and wisdom. He hoped that everyone jointly purifies the human mind and the society, and prayed that the next generation can be of blessings, virtue, wisdom, and joy.
(By Tom Hsieh)