Going to the pagoda, making offerings to the Buddha at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Lễ Phật, Văn khấn ban Tam Bảo, Văn khấn đi chùa, Đi lễ chùa đầu năm

By custom, people going to the pagoda prepare vegetarian offerings, make offerings at the Đức Ông (the Venerable) altar first, then go up to the main hall to make offerings to the Buddha, and afterward to the other altars. The prayer text at the Tam Bảo altar includes a repentance text (Văn khấn lễ Phật) and a prayer for peace and good fortune, with a sớ (petition) offered.

When
On the fifteenth day and the first day of the lunar month, on Tết holidays, at the beginning of the year, and when there is an important matter
For whom
Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) at the main hall: Đức Phật Thích Ca (Shakyamuni Buddha), Đức Phật A Di Đà (Amitabha Buddha), Đức Phật Dược Sư (Medicine Buddha), Buddhas of the ten directions, Quán Thế Âm Bồ Tát (Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva), chư Hiền Thánh Tăng (the noble and holy sangha), Hộ pháp (Dharma protectors)

Văn khấn lễ Phật (prayer text for offering to the Buddha)

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

Prayer text for worshipping the Buddha at the Tam Bảo hall, recited before the Buddha altar to repent of karmic obstacles and ask for protection so that the family may have minds free of affliction and bodies free of illness, and for the salvation of parents, siblings, relatives, and all sentient beings.

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

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Other texts for Going to the pagoda, making offerings to the Buddha at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar

Versions by region, by tradition and for each part of the rite.

Offerings and how the rite is done

As commonly practised and recorded by the sources. Each family and each region may do it differently.

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When
On the fifteenth day and the first day of the lunar month, on Tết holidays, and when there is an important matter
Where the offerings are set
The main altar of the main hall (Tam Bảo) and the altars in the pagoda

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Incense, fresh flowers, ripe fruit, oản phẩm (rice-flour offerings), xôi chè (steamed sticky rice and sweet soup)Required. vegetarian offerings; only vegetarian and pure offerings are placed at the main hall
Lotus flowers, huệ flowers (tuberose), mẫu đơn flowers (peony), ngâu flowers (Aglaia)do not use mixed flowers or wild flowers
Savory offerings (chicken, giò, chả)Optional. only placed at the altar of the Thánh, the Mẫu, or the Đức Ông altar if the pagoda has one; not placed at the Buddha hall
Vàng mã (votive paper), tiền âm phủ (hell money)Optional. not offered at the Buddha and Bodhisattva altars; if there is any, it is placed at the altar of the Thần linh, the Thánh Mẫu, or the Đức Ông altar
Donation moneyput into the merit box, not placed on the main altar of the main hall

Steps

  1. Place the offerings, light incense, and make offerings at the Đức Ông altar first
  2. Place the offerings on the main altar of the main hall, light the lamps and incense, strike three rounds of the bell, then make offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
  3. Light incense at the other altars of the Bái Đường (worship hall), three or five offerings at each altar; if the pagoda has a Mẫu điện or Tứ Phủ, go there to place offerings
  4. Make offerings at the Tổ (patriarch) shrine (nhà Hậu)
  5. Make a farewell offering, lower the offerings, greet the monks, and donate according to one's heart
  6. When lowering the offerings: wait about one incense stick's time, bow three times before each altar, burn the sớ, then lower the offerings from the outer altars to the main altar

Things to avoid

  • Do not prepare savory offerings (tam sinh feast, meat, chicken, giò, chả) to offer to the Buddha
  • Do not place real money, hell money, or votive paper on the Buddha and Bodhisattva altars
  • On the full moon of the seventh lunar month, do not prepare hình nhân thế mạng (substitute effigies)
  • Before the day of offering to the Buddha, one should keep pure: eat vegetarian food, keep the precepts, do good deeds

Where the sources differ

  • On savory offerings at the outer altars of the main hall: vankhan.vn writes that savory offerings are accepted if offered only at the altars of the Thánh, the Mẫu, and the Đức Ông; hoatieu.vn advises not to use savory food when going to the pagoda, and if one wants to use it, to buy vegetarian food shaped like chicken, giò, and the offerings to the Thành Hoàng and Thư điền also use vegetarian food.

More about Going to the pagoda, making offerings to the Buddha at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar

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

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

Sources

  • Văn khấn lễ Phật (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn tại chùa ngày đầu năm Bính Ngọ 2026 (Báo Hà Tĩnh)
  • Văn khấn tại chùa (vankhan.vn)
  • Bài khấn đi lễ chùa (hoatieu.vn)

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

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