Prayer text when not celebrating Tết at home (going to the pagoda, returning to the hometown for Tết) (without chanting sutras)

Offering to report absence from home during Tết. One or two days before leaving home, or on the morning of departure, in the twelfth lunar month

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Buddhist

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

The prayer text for when the family does not celebrate Tết at home because they are returning to the hometown, travelling or going to the pagoda for volunteer work, addressing the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and the Holy Sangha, inviting the heavenly beings, deities and ancestral spirits to witness the ceremony, offering pure food and dedicating merit for peace and safety. It is recited during the whole ceremony one or two days before leaving the house or on the morning of departure, in the twelfth lunar month.

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.

4 more blanks

(Tụng. Mõ, chuông)

(Chủ sám)

(Hạ lễ)

How it differs from the common version

Refers to oneself as "đệ tử", "gia đình xin cáo bạch"; mentions also the cases of traveling and going to the pagoda for volunteer work and practice; invites the heavenly beings, the spirits, and the ancestral spirits "hợp duyên"; includes the raising of merit, the mantra, and the dedication of merit.

The common version: Prayer text asking to return to the hometown for Tết (full traditional version)

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Offering to report absence from home during Tết

Other texts for Offering to report absence from home during Tết

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.