Prayer text for cầu tự at the Three Jewels (pagoda, temple, phủ)

Lễ cầu tự (rite to pray for a child). No fixed date; by custom people often go in early spring (chùa Hương: first lunar month, second lunar month) or on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the first day of the lunar month

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • At the pagoda, temple or temple of literature (paired with a prayer said at home)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer for a child at the Three Jewels, recited at the pagoda, temple, or phủ (Mother Goddess shrine), paired with the prayer at home; the disciple together with the spouse sincerely repents for sins of past and present lives, asking the deities and Buddhas to remove misfortune and grant a son or daughter.

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.

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Lễ cầu tự (rite to pray for a child)

Other texts for Lễ cầu tự (rite to pray for a child)

The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources

  • Bài văn khấn cầu tự cho gia đình hiếm muộn con cái (tuvisonlong.com)

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.