2025-08-24 — Fo Guang Shan Miami holds a Ullambana Dharma Service for Filial Piety and Repaying Gratitude with Chanting.

The seventh lunar month in Buddhism is known as the “Month of the Buddha’s Joy” and the “Month of Filial Piety.” Its purpose is to promote the spirit of filial devotion, gratitude to one’s parents, and remembrance of one’s ancestors.

On August 24, Fo Guang Shan Miami solemnly held the “Ullambana Dharma Service for Filial Piety and Repaying Gratitude” in the Main Shrine Hall (Da Xiong Bao Dian). The ceremony was led by Venerable Ru Yuan (Abbot), Venerable Jue Chan, and Venerable Jue Yan, with nearly a hundred devotees gathered in sincere unity to chant the “Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance” in its complete three volumes. With hearts of deep repentance, participants dedicated the merit of their practice to their departed loved ones, wishing them rebirth in the Pure Land. Through repentance, devotees also purified their own minds, attaining peace, clarity, and joy in the Dharma.

In his Dharma talk, Venerable Ru Yuan explained the meaning of the Water Repentance and shared the story of National Master Wu Da and the origins of the text. He reminded everyone that all obstacles arise from ignorance, afflictions, and karmic forces, and that only through sincere repentance can one reform past mistakes, eliminate habitual tendencies, and transform one’s mind. By cultivating awareness and subduing one’s own mind, one can reduce suffering and afflictions. He encouraged everyone to carry the purity and Dharma joy generated from this ceremony into their daily lives.

Venerable Jue Chan then expounded on the meaning of the Month of Filial Piety, emphasizing that only by diligently practicing the Dharma can Buddhist disciples truly dedicate merits to their ancestors and face the impermanence of life and death with peace and right understanding. Quoting the sutra passage “Regardless of wealth or status, the marks of sin are boundless,” he pointed out that all beings—noble or humble—create countless karmic offenses due to ignorance, and that only through earnest repentance can these karmic barriers be dissolved and one’s life be transformed. He concluded by urging everyone to give rise to the Bodhi mind, to feel gratitude toward the compassion of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Dharma teachers, and to pass on the wisdom of the Dharma for the benefit of all beings.

This Ullambana Dharma Service not only embodied Buddhism’s spirit of “filial piety as the foundation, repentance as practice, and compassion as the core,” but also deepened participants’ vows to honor and repay their parents’ kindness. Through repentance and purification of karmic obstacles, they cultivated great compassion and the Bodhi resolve, dedicating these virtues to benefit all sentient beings.