(vái 3 vái)
Prayer text for sentient beings ("Hỡi vong linh cô hồn phảng phất")
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
- Used across Vietnam
- Folk practice
- Offering to wandering spirits
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Prayer text for sentient beings in the form "Hỡi vong linh cô hồn phảng phất", paying homage to Táo phủ Thần quân, on the occasion of Vu Lan and the pardoning of sins inviting wandering spirits and sentient beings with no graves, hungry and cold and roaming, to gather and receive rice, soup, gruel, betel leaves and areca nuts, votive money and clothes, then asking blessings of peace and smooth business for the tín chủ (the person making the offering). Recited at the offering to wandering spirits and sentient beings, with 3 bows at the end.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
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Showing the version used across Vietnam.
How it differs from the common version
Same topic and same lục bát (six-eight verse) form but different wording: only reverently addressing the Táo phủ Thần quân, opening with "Hỡi vong linh cô hồn phảng phất", not mentioning A Nan Đà Tôn giả, and without the section listing the head of the household at the end.
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, 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, Traders and shopkeepersShort monthly offering to wandering spirits (the 2nd and 16th)
- 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
- Văn khấn Tết Trung nguyên, ngày 15 tháng 7 (vankhan.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