Prayer text for the rite of installing the incense bowl (without sutra chanting)

Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar). When moving to a new house, replacing the altar, replacing the incense bowl, or moving the altar to another place in the house; choosing the date and time by custom

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Buddhist
  • Installing the incense bowl or altar in its new place

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer for installing the incense bowl and altar in the new place, recited when placing the incense bowl and altar in their new position; the head of the household addresses the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the assembly of noble ones, invites the ancestral spirits and related spirits to witness, offers pure food, and dedicates the merit.

The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.

Fill in before the rite

Your name and address appear in the prayer below and are kept on this device only.

Your regional custom

Showing the version used across Vietnam.

6 more blanks

(Cắm hương, quỳ, chắp tay, chủ sám bạch)

(Nếu phát tâm công đức thì đọc, không phát tâm thì bỏ phần này: Chúng con xin phát tâm công đức về Tam Bảo là{khac}, để hồi hướng phước đến cho tất cả chư vị trong cõi tâm linh)

(Tụng. Mõ, chuông)

(Chủ sám)

(Hạ lễ)

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar)

Other texts for Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar)

More about Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar)

Nhật Nguyệt articles on the rite, the custom and how to prepare.

Collected text. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Part of the open dataset Vietnamese offering prayers (văn cúng), licensed CC BY 4.0.

More prayer textsDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, life-cycle rites and regional rites.