Meaning of praying at the beginning of the year. Finding Spring in Bui Giang's poetry Looking at the early rays of the New Year's sunshine An old year passed with many hardships, hardships, and worries. The new year comes, people are filled with dreams, hopes and beliefs in a new and brighter life. That is the general state of mind when we all face life. Heaven and earth moved, everything revived, new life covered all things. In the face of the transformation of the universal universe, each of us is in a state of mind with so many aspirations for happiness for ourselves, our family, our relatives, our neighbors and our society. Indeed, there is no time that people are as deep and gentle as the first days of the year. At that moment, the self of each person around us, from their thoughts to their actions, persevered not to create bad things, evil in those sacred days so that people can have a new year with all things. We Vietnamese people have a tradition of keeping like that, invisiblely they have understood and implemented very naturally about the ethics of cause and effect, karma. Avoid thinking and doing bad and evil deeds so that a new year will see sweet fruits, which are good for a peaceful and happy life. The issue of praying for security and karma in Buddhism meets the thoughts and actions of true Buddhists since Buddhism existed with the people. So the question of praying for peace in the first days of the year is a legitimate activity and in accordance with the spiritual needs of the Buddhist daily life. And in special circumstances such as the family having someone in distress, sickness or having to deal with difficulties, the conduct of the peace ceremony, needs a ritual, to do some Buddhas, Some good deeds in order to aim to achieve goals such as being blessed, avoiding disaster, etc. are essential for everyone. Buddhism explains the ethic of cause and effect as the law that governs people's lives. But Buddhism says that the law of cause and effect does not proceed mechanically. The good action of each individual, and the good action of the collective; Plus the blessings of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gods can bring the results of eliminating accidents and crimes for those who wish to achieve the real purpose of prayers. The awareness of the effectiveness of such a ritual of peace, does not contradict the Buddhist ethics of cause and effect. Of course, the prerequisite for a successful praying rite is that the person, the person who asks for peace and his relatives must have the correct understanding of the doctrine of cause and effect. Talking about the ethics of cause and effect, the Buddhist scriptures teach: "Suppose the natural karma, the work of death will die, the predestined relationship meets the times, the result will be fully self-satisfied". Thus, an accident that comes to our family and relatives is not an accidental event, but it is the inevitable result of some bad or evil behavior previously created in the present life. , or in many previous lives the time has come to maturity, not by any god. Therefore, the person and his family sincerely repent, give up evil to do good in that moment of prayer, earnestly pray for the blessings of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and gods; at the same time doing many good deeds for life, for the religion such as liberating birth, giving alms, making offerings to the Three Jewels ... and making a vow to dedicate the merits of those good deeds and Buddhas to allow the person and his family to survive the accident the ability to spend the ear and reduce the crime will definitely be effective. Each of us is born due to our karma. If it is good karma, the karmic retribution in this life has a full body, relatively abundant material life, comfortable spirit of happiness. If you create many negative karma, this life has an imperfect appearance, a lack of material life, an unsettled spirit, and less happiness. Karma has a very strong empirical power, dragging, leading to a world of peace or suffering. The karma of the past times shapes each person's present life. It is the power of the evil karma of the past that has brought the accident for himself or his family in the present. However, the current jobs such as the Buddha, the peace ceremony are all good and good karma that have the power to eliminate sin and reduce disasters. Here is an old story that was recorded to illustrate this sense: there was an elementary school teacher with a Zen master in the mountains, Ten years of hard work, diligent practice. One day, the master, after a minute of entering into samādhi, saw that the young uncle's life-long karma was not much longer. The Zen master called his uncle and told him that this morning he would allow you to go home to visit your parents. The little uncle was somewhat surprised, but could not disobey his teacher, so he wrapped his towel down to the village, and the teacher said goodbye. Left alone on the high mountain, the Zen master pity and silently prayed for his short-lived disciple, but his life is still exposed. End of the time allowed, after returning home to visit her parents and family, returned to the am, came in to bow to the respectful teacher. The Zen master was surprised. After a few minutes of intimate inquiry, he entered samadhi as usual. After meditating, calling the disciple back happily, the Zen master said: "From now on, please be more diligent, the sub-network has transformed, the life expectancy is very great ”. It turned out that in meditation, the Zen master saw that on the way down the mountain, the little uncle saved the life of a group of tens of thousands of children who were being swept away by the water. Thanks to that, the life of the uncle has surpassed his destiny and growth life expectancy. Above, there is a mention of the blessings of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and good spirits. Does saying so contradict the doctrine of Buddhism or not? It should be understood that Buddhism says there is no supreme divine being, creating this cosmic world, locating his will through everything in this world ... Buddhism rejects the concept of a divine being. Such supreme, but Buddhism acknowledges that there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have enlightened and liberated, constantly bless sentient beings, guide sentient beings to abandon evil to do good, and proceed to the path of enlightenment. rescue. At the same time, Buddhism also admits that there are many good gods who protect and bless those who take refuge in the three treasures, diligently in keeping the precepts that they have received, those who regularly do good deeds, good deeds. Looking at the everyday life in society, we can relate that. In life, those who live a serious and ethical standard, those who often help others and do useful things for society are always respected, respected and protected by society. Buddhist scriptures also say specifically that for those who have taken refuge in the three treasures, doing good, good deeds regularly have 25 godly gods to protect and protect. In short, the retribution of the evil karma that we suffer is caused by the mercy of the past by ourselves. Therefore, praying for peace or telling enough is to pray for karmic peace, or to pray for karma, mainly of this rite is that the person and the whole family must sincerely repent, vow to abandon evil to do good, vow to follow many Buddhas and good deeds such as liberation, almsgiving, offerings ... dedicate that merit to get the accident through. In the Buddhist scriptures often teaches: "The sin arises from the mind that arises and repents The mind has repented and then the other Sin immediately dissipates Crime, the pure mind is not That is the real repentance" And the Buddha often taught: "If For fun, give alms, after the decision to be happy ", this concept has entered the tradition of activities during the festival, especially Tet, the spring day of Buddhists in particular and Vietnamese people in general, Often prepare new money, small denominations to give alms to those less fortunate than us in normal life. Often times do not understand the ethics of cause and effect, karma of Buddhism, people believe that their lives are set by the gods, determined according to the will of God, So each person has a star in the network due to the wrong history, so at the beginning of the year, they are often afraid, please offer the star limit. As mentioned above, Buddhism has rejected the theory of destiny and the theory of destiny. Buddhism uses the theory of karma to explain the concept of human life and the universe. The awareness of the leading power of karma is created by the mind, so once karma is removed, karma is eliminated by the repentant mind, the calamity will be abolished or dissipated. Praying for karmic reconciliation at the beginning of the year has a very lively and really beneficial meaning, because in addition to each individual's self, they pray for peace of mind to repent of their negative karma, they are also blessed with the blessings of the Buddhas The Bodhisattva, the monks, of the divine beings and the entire dharma assembly which in the Buddhist scriptures call these energies ineffable, that is, its power and power cannot be thought of or interpreted. . The ceremonial ceremony was held at the beginning of the year at the pagodas, where there is a quiet scene, increasing the effectiveness for the content of the ceremony. The Medicine Buddha Quang Vuong Tathagata with the wish to save the suffering of birth, eliminate yoke, diseases for sentient beings, so the altar of peace at the beginning of the year is also called the Medicine Master. At the beginning of the new year, with the recitation of praying for happiness for all Buddhists, I would like to remind all Buddhists we always keep this mind in mind: Buddhism is the most precious in the mind, as long as we keep the kindness and sincerity. then the praying of karma will bring the desired effect. As for the mind has not been good, the heart has failed, the result can never be as expected. Exactly in this way, we will create a humanistic environment in accordance with the Buddhist spirit, so that the spiritual life is progressively improved, quickly attaining enlightenment and liberation. That is the right motto to contribute to building a healthy and good living environment as taught by the Buddha. I would like to repeat lessons 121 and 122 of the Dhammapada to conclude in a very meaningful way and hope Buddhists remember: “Do not underestimate evil Thinking that it has not come to you Like water dripping, then the vase is also full of you. The body is full of evil Because the substance is slow. ”.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.11/2/2021.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.