Saigontourist offers pilgrimage tours

Tourists at Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue City - Photo: Kinh Luan

In Vietnam, the first month of the Lunar New Year is time to make pilgrimages to pagodas to pray for a happy life, good luck and good health in the year ahead. Pilgrimage tourism is becoming a part of modern Vietnamese culture and an attractive tourist product for foreigners.

Pilgrimage tours to the north visit famous pagodas and temples, providing inner peace and interesting architecture such as Tran Temple in Nam Dinh Province, But Thap Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province, Temple of Literature, Tran Quoc, Ngoc Son and Quan Thanh Pagda in Hanoi.

Yen Tu Mountain in Quang Ninh Province is known as the mother land of Vietnamese Buddhism. The mountain is 1,068 meters high and is where the Truc Lam Buddhism sect was first based. 

The highlight of the pilgrimage to the North is Huong Pagoda. The pagoda is in natural surroundings so pagoda visitors can explore the mountain, caves, streams and forest. Discover the mystique of the incense filled Huong Tich Cave, boat tours from Duc Wharf and the picturesqueYen Stream.

The Hung King Festival will be held at Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province April 6-12 with traditional artistic shows, ethnic rituals and indigenous foods.

In the South, most provinces have pagodas and temples such as Vinh Nghiem, Ong  and Giac Lam Pagoda in HCMC, Dai Giac, Long Thien and Buu Phong pagodas in Dong Nai Province.

Binh Duong is famous for Ong and Ba pagodas. Dalat, the city in mist and pine trees, has Truc Lam Monastery Zen, Thien Vuong Co Sat and Linh Phuoc pagodas.

The interlacing canals of the Mekong Delta will transport you to floating markets, fertile orchards and fascinating pagodas like Ba Chua Xu and Thoai Ngoc Hau , Tay An and Nguyen Trung Truc in in Chau Doc Town, An Giang Province. Ha Tien, a province known for beautiful beaches, like Mui Nai, Bai No, Bai Ot, has Tam Bao, Thach Dong and Mac Cuu temples. If My Tho is famous for Vinh Trang Pagoda, Tra Vinh is well-known for Hang Pagoda.

Temples and pagodas in the Central are very imperial and elegant. Thien Mu Pagoda and Truc Lam Bach Ma Monastery Zen in Hue City, Long Son Pagoda and Cham’s Posah Inu Temple in Nha Trang City or Linh Son Truong Tho in Phan Thiet name a few. If visitors climb Ba Na Mountain in Danang City, there’s Linh Ung Pagoda.

Pilgrimage tours offered by Saigontourist Travel Service Company include a four-day tour to Huong Pagoda-Hanoi and Halong Bay priced at VND3.7 million to VND4.8 million, a four-day tour to Hanoi, Hung Temple and Halong Bay departing on April 12 and priced at VND3.7 million, a two-day tour to Do Temple and Yen Tu Mountain priced from VND1.6 to VND1.7 million, departing from Hanoi on Feb. 17, 19, 24 and 26 and March 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19, a three-day tour to Linh Ung Pagoda priced at VND2.5 million to 2.9 million, departing from Danang on February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11 and 18, a four-day tour to Hoi An City to enjoy Nguyen Tieu Festival priced at VND2.7 million to VND3.2 million, exclusive of flight ticket and departing from Danang, a four-day tour to explore Hue City priced at VND2.7 million to 4.1 million, departing from Danang on February 19 and 26 and March 5, 12 and 19 and a four-day tour to Cai Be-Vinh Long-Can Tho-Chau Doc and Ha Tien in Mekong Delta priced at VND2 million to VND2.8 million, departing on February 17, 19, 24 and 26 and March 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19.

Saigontourist Travel  Service Company is at 45 Le Thanh Ton Street, HCMC’s District 1, tel: 3827 9279, email: info@saigontourist.net.

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Eat and make merit

Filial piety, strongly advocated in both Confucian and Buddhist traditions that have strong roots in Vietnam, extends beyond the grave.

Among numerous rituals and events that mark the performance of filial duties in the country, including daily prayers at the family altar, the month-long Vu Lan-Bao Hieu festival is perhaps the most prominent.

The festival peaks on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, which falls this year on August 24. A feature of this month is that a large number of people shift to vegetarian food, and what better place to get a good meal than at the pagodas themselves!

For some time now, on the fifteenth day of the first, fourth and tenth lunar months, most pagodas have been treating all visitors to a free vegetarian meal.

Monk Thich Tri Thong of the Vien Giac Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District said the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month provides the opportunity for society as a whole, not just Buddhists, to visit pagodas and pray for their parents, and enjoy vegetarian food.

The pagodas are very crowded on this day, he noted.

Thong stressed that the meals at pagodas are very popular not because people are poor or hungry, but because they believe eating the food on offer brings them good luck and good health.

The festival and attendant ceremonies are rooted in the Ullambana Sutra, which tells the story of how Maudgalyayana (Muc Kien Lien in Vietnam) saved the soul of his departed mother.

Maudgalyayana, one of Buddha’s 10 disciples, saw with his divine eye that his mother had been reborn as a hungry spirit due to karmic effect of actions in her previous life.

The Buddha told him that only the combined effort of all Buddhist monks could release his mother’s spirit from suffering. He directed Maudgalyayana to organize an assembly of monks to make offerings and pray for his dead mother on the full moon day of the seventh month – three months after they usually gather to focus on self-improvement.

During the festival, monks read from the Ullambana Sutra and the Bao hieu phu mau an (Fulfilling filial duty for parents) Sutra every evening.

The Bao hieu phu mau an Sutra, contains the Buddha’s thoughts on a child’s obligations to his parents and the fate suffered in the afterlife by those who treat their parents badly.

The prayer for Maudgalyayana’s mother’s soul and the food offered to appease her hunger has become a tradition followed to this day by Buddhist pagodas in Vietnam and other countries.

While the Vien Giac Pagoda will offer food for visitors from 9.a.m. to 4.p.m., others offer meals depending on their financial capacity and other considerations like space to serve the food, Thong said.

The meal’s menu and arrangements also differ from pagoda to pagoda depending on the number of visitors expected and logistical arrangements possible, with some serving it as a buffet, and others serve it a la carte to tables.

At the Phung Son Pagoda in District 11, the devotees are seated 10 to a table and served by volunteers, fostering friendship and goodwill between friends, relatives and strangers. The pagoda, built in 1802 and recognized as a national architectural heritage, has a large area with many trees that make the diners more comfortable and relaxed.

Pagodas in the countryside offer a fresher, friendlier atmosphere and larger spaces, and the locals invariably impress visitors with their friendly, hospitable nature.

With the growing popularity of vegetarian food, it is not surprising that some pagodas have actually earned some fame for their culinary expertise.

The Phat Nhut Pagoda, located near the Tien Thuy Market in Chau Thanh District in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, restored and rebuilt in 2009, is famous for serving very delicious vegetarian food.

Dieu Bao, a frequent volunteer chef, said this year the pagoda plans to serve more than 300 people on the auspicious day.

The two dishes people like the most are sour soup (cooked with mint, tomato, tofu and other vegetables) and kiểm soup (made with sweet potato, peanut, breadfruit, coconut milk and other ingredients), Bao said.

After enjoying food at the Phat Nhut Pagoda, a visit to fruit gardens in neighboring communes can cap off a delightful day, he said.

Roses are red... or white

A woman is pinned with a white rose at the rose-pinning ceremony at Giac Uyen Pagoda in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District

In addition to the free meal, pagodas also organize a rose-pinning ceremony initiated by world renowned Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1960s.

Usually held on the evening of the 14th day of the seventh month, devotees whose parents are alive will have red roses pinned on their dresses, while those whose parents have passed away get white roses.

Monk Thich Le Duc, head of the Phat Nhut Pagoda, said they plan to prepare 700 red and white roses for the ceremony that will be held on evening of the fourteenth day (August 23) and the morning of the following day.

He said the ceremony encourages children to remember with gratitude the sacrifices made by parents in bringing them up, be happy if they are alive, and pray for the departed souls if they have passed away.

Some pagodas to visit in Ho Chi Minh City Vinh Nghiem, 339 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St., Ward 7, Dist. 3 Lam Te, 212A Nguyen Trai St, , Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, Dist. 1 Phung Son, 1408 Ba Thang Hai St., Ward 2, Dist. 11 Viet Nam Quoc Tu, 244 Ba Thang Hai St., Ward 12, Dist. 10 Vien Giac, 193 Bui Thi Xuan St., Ward 1, Tan Binh Dist. Giac Uyen, 525/37 Huynh Van Banh St., Phu Nhuan Dist. Thien Ton, 117/3/2 An Binh St., Ward 6, Dist. 5 Hue Nghiem 2, 299B Luong Dinh Cua St., Binh Khanh Ward, Dist. 2 Hoang Phap, Tan Hiep Commune, Hoc Mon Dist. Gia Lam, 496/11 Le Quang Dinh St., Binh Thanh Dist.

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