Xiangyun Temple Qingming Dharma Assembly: Filial Piety, Gratitude, and the Cultivation of Merit and Wisdom

Reported by Renjian Society Correspondent Xi Xiu, Austin

On April 5th, during the Qingming Festival, a time for honoring ancestors and remembering the departed, Xiangyun Temple held a full day “Qingming Dharma Assembly for Filial Piety and Gratitude.” The assembly included the ritual chanting and prostrations of the Compassion Samadhi Water Repentance. Through sutra recitation, repentance, and vows to cultivate merit, participants dedicated the pure merits to the liberation of past ancestors, wishing them rebirth in the Pure Land and freedom from suffering, while also praying for increased blessings and longevity for living relatives, as well as social harmony and world peace.

The Dharma assembly was jointly led by Venerable Jueji, Ruyuan, and Yisong, with a total of 223 participants. The altar was solemn and dignified; attendees followed the ritual procedures with focused mindfulness, offering reverence and repentance, making vows, and dedicating merits. Under the guidance of the monastics, participants cleansed mental defilements, attained clarity in body and mind, and were filled with Dharma joy.

During the assembly, Venerable Jueji cited the Samyukta Āgama in explaining the “Five Endowments for Lay Practitioners”: faith, moral discipline, learning, generosity, and wisdom. She encouraged devotees to take faith as the foundation and discipline as support, diligently listen to the true Dharma, joyfully practice generosity, and thereby develop wisdom and realize the Four Noble Truths. She further explained that cultivation is like ascending steps, encouraging everyone, while commemorating their ancestors to transform filial piety into motivation for practice, apply the Dharma in daily life, cultivate both merit and wisdom, and move toward a life of freedom and liberation.

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