The philosophy of “filial piety” in Vu Lan Day

Abstract

In the life of every Buddhist believer, parents are compared to the “Maitreya Buddha”. The Buddha’s disciples understood that “filial piety is the Buddha’s mind”. On each occasion of the Vu Lan Festival, their filial hearts have the opportunity to light up the spirit of good gratitude in the Buddha’s children, especially with the “Rose in a brooch” ceremony. Participating in the event were not only Buddhist followers but also many good men and women from all over the world and people who were sympathetic to this religion. The tradition of attaching importance to filial piety and the idea of “when drinking water, remember its source” has brought the Vietnamese people closer to Buddhism since its introduction. That harmony has made the rituals that belong to one religion become part of the traditional culture of the Vietnamese people. This paper focuses on analyzing two main contents: The origin of Vu Lan Day and the “Rose in a brooch” ritual - as a crystallization of the philosophy of filial piety in Buddhism.