On February 12, 2025 (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), at 7 pm local time in Madagascar, we held the "Traditional Dharma Assembly for Praying and Lamps" at the Main Hall of Xizu Temple.
The Lantern Festival (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month) is one of the important traditional festivals in China. Its origins combine religion, folk customs and historical events. It is the result of the joint action of sacrifices, Taoist beliefs, Buddhist rituals and folk legends in the Han Dynasty, and it also reflects the inclusiveness of a civilized country. With the development of history, lantern viewing on the Lantern Festival has become a grand event for the whole nation. Activities such as guessing riddles, eating Lantern Festival, and dancing dragons and lions gradually formed customs and eventually evolved into today's cultural symbols. The Lantern Festival held a grand sacrificial activity, and people burned lights all night to pray for a bumper harvest in the New Year and a prosperous country and peace. It carries the religious, political and folk memories of ancient China. It is not only a ceremony to pray for auspiciousness, but also a grand event for the people to celebrate, embodying the harmonious concept of "harmony between man and nature" in Chinese culture.
The rituals of the Dharma Assembly are as follows:
l Incense Praise
l Great Compassion Mantra, Heart Sutra
l Mahaprajna Paramita
l Guanyin Verse
Around Buddha
l The Three Treasures of Mahayana Eternal Residence
l Songwens
l Dedication
The merits and virtues of offering lamps are extraordinary, and all the boundless blessings are dedicated
All wishes to indulge in all sentient beings and quickly go to the Buddha's land of infinite light
All Buddhas in the ten directions and three times, all Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas
Mahaprajna Paramita
We also invited local friends who had participated in the construction of Xizu Temple to visit the lanterns we made by ourselves, hoping to bring us our best wishes.
This Lantern Festival Lantern Festival is held to light the heart lamp in the sound of bells and drums of Xizu Temple, and pray for the happiness of all living beings with light. On the Lantern Festival, all families are reunited, and this reunion belongs not only to the relatives on earth, but also to sentient beings in the Dharma Realm. The offering lamp symbolizes the inheritance of compassion and wisdom, and is also a bridge beyond life and death. For people in the sun, lights can illuminate their hearts, eliminate troubles, guide wisdom, and wish that blessings and wisdom will increase, and body and mind will be at peace; for those who have died, lights are like bright lamps in the Dharma Realm, leading them out of the darkness, being guided by Buddha, and being reborn in the Pure Land. In the pure temple of Xizu Temple, the lights reflect the hall and the heart towards the light. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, I offer this lamp to the Three Jewels, wishing the light to shine in all directions, wishing the living to be healthy and reunited, and the deceased to be saved and the kindness of my relatives will not be separated. I wish that the Dharma sound of the Xizu Temple will be permanent, and sentient beings will reach the road of enlightenment together, and bathe in the Buddha's light and be perfect and auspicious.
