Chân ngôn cúng dường:
Short monthly offering to wandering spirits (the 2nd and 16th)
Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls). Full moon of the seventh lunar month; the offering to wandering spirits can be done from the first day to the fifteenth; in the South, traders also offer to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th of every month
- Southern Vietnam
- Traders and shopkeepers
- Folk practice
- Offering to wandering spirits
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
A short prayer for wandering spirits used monthly on the 2nd and 16th: read in the section for offerings to wandering spirits and sentient beings to pay respect to the Three Jewels, to invite the unseen, the ten kinds of wandering spirits, spirit soldiers, fallen soldiers and compatriots who died in disasters to receive the offerings, and to pray for family peace and good business.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
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This text is the version from the South.
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How it differs from the common version
Prose text; opening "Kính lễ mười phương Tam Bảo chứng minh"; inviting "các chư vị khuất mặt, khuất mày... các Đảng, âm binh ngoài đường, ngoài xá... chiến sĩ trận vong, đồng bào tử nạn"; praying for "thuận lợi bán buôn"; includes three mantras; Southern Vietnamese pronunciation (nhứt thiết, nhơn sanh, phước).
The common version: Prayer text for offering to wandering spirits and sentient beings (according to Văn khấn cổ truyền Việt Nam)
Offerings and how the rite is done
Other texts for Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls)
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text for offering to the deities at home on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsSacrificial oration to the ancestors on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
- Folk practice, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for offering to wandering spirits and sentient beings (according to Văn khấn cổ truyền Việt Nam)
- Folk practice, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for sentient beings ("Hỡi vong linh cô hồn phảng phất")
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsTrung nguyên cáo tế tiên tổ văn (Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, with translation)
- BuddhistPrayer text for the full moon of the seventh lunar month at home, at an office, or at a shop (without sutra chanting)
- Buddhist, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for the thí thực offering to wandering spirits (without sutra chanting)
- Southern Vietnam, Folk practiceFull prayer text for offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th ("Cô hồn xuất tại Côn Lôn")
- BuddhistVăn tế thập loại chúng sinh (Nguyễn Du)
More about Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls)
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
- Cúng cô hồn hàng tháng, bài văn khấn (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
- Văn khấn, văn cúng cô hồn ngày 16 âm lịch hàng tháng (phatgiao.org.vn)
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.Open