Prayer text for the Thanh minh offering at the grave (without chanting sutras)

Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending). During Thanh minh, beginning around 4 or 5 April of the solar calendar

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Buddhist
  • At the grave

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

A prayer at the grave during the Thanh minh ceremony, without sutra chanting; the person praying addresses the Buddha, invites the heavenly beings and the deities governing the cemetery along with the spirits to witness the ceremony, offers pure food, and dedicates the merit.

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

(Cắm hương, quỳ, chắp tay, chủ sám bạch)

(Tụng. Mõ, chuông)

(Chủ sám)

[Nếu thỉnh hương linh về nhà thì bạch: Gia đình cũng xin thỉnh mời hương linh gia tiên họ {ho_toc} hợp duyên cùng các hương linh có tên (đọc tên hương linh mời về nhà){khac} vào ngày {ngay_am} tháng {thang_am} năm {nam_can_chi} về gia đình ở tại{khac} để thọ hưởng phần hiến cúng của gia đình]

(Hạ lễ)

How it differs from the common version

Opens with "Nam mô Phật Bổn Sư Thích Ca Mâu Ni", addresses as "đệ tử", invokes the heavenly beings, the deities and the spirits; there is offering of food, mantras, dedication of merit, and the closing declaration of the rite.

The common version: Prayer text for the offering to spirits at the grave

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)

Other texts for Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)

More about Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)

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

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.

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