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Lễ sám hối (repentance ceremony)

Also called: Sám hối hồng danh, Hồng danh bửu sám, Sám hối sáu căn, Kệ sám hối

  • Cầu an, giải hạn (prayers for peace, rites to ward off misfortune)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ sám hối (repentance ceremony)7 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

The pagoda teaches that sám hối is admitting one's own faults committed by body, mouth, and mind before Tam Bảo and vowing not to repeat them. Laypeople recite a prayer of vow or a verse of repentance; the pagoda has the hồng danh sám hối service and the sám hối sáu căn (repentance of the six senses).

At a glance

When it is held
Daily, early morning or at night before sleeping; the pagoda's hồng danh sám hối (repentance of the Buddha's names) service
For whom
Buddhas of the ten directions, Bodhisattvas, Tam Bảo (the Three Jewels)
Where
Before the Buddha altar at home or at the pagoda
Who makes the offering
Buddhists recite on their own; the service has a presiding master

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

When
Daily (early morning or at night before sleeping); the pagoda has its own hồng danh sám hối service
OfferingQuantityNotes
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense, lamps3 incense sticksThe presiding master holds the incense level with the forehead when reading the incense offering text

Steps of the rite

  1. Light the lamps and incense, kneel and read the incense offering text, make vows
  2. Pay homage, chant the incense burner praise, recite the Great Compassion Mantra, the verse opening the sutra
  3. Recite the Buddha's names, one prostration for each name
  4. Recite the Heart Sutra, the rebirth mantra
  5. The whole assembly kneels together and reads the repentance verse, the mantra for erasing offenses, the four lines of the sincere repentance
  6. Dedication of merit, renewal of vows, taking refuge on one's own

Where the sources differ

  • How full the ritual is: the hồng danh sám hối text is a long service with many parts; the daily prayer of vow consists only of prostrations, a repentance statement in which one writes down one's own faults, and dedication of merit; the sám hối sáu căn ritual also has a shortened form (prayer text, sutra recitation, renewal of vows) for those without enough time

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Sám hối sáu căn (chuabavang.com)

Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

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