Vietnamese Buddhists celebrate Amitabha Buddha’s Birthday

According to Mahayana Buddhism, Amitabha Buddha is a Buddha who lives in Pure Land in the west. His realm is also called Extreme Happy Land. Amitabha is the principal Buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia. “Amitabha” is translatable as “Infinite Light” hence Amitabha Buddha is often called "The Buddha of Infinite Light”. As described in Buddhist scriptures, Amitabha Buddha used to practice Boddhisattva’s conduct over countless past lives and there was a life in which he is a monk named Dharmakara, he took forty eight vows in order to save human beings in this worldly realm with full of sufferings.

Recent years, Pure Land School is strongly developing in Vietnam. There are more and more devotes follow practices of Pure Land School. Therefore, on the Amitabha Buddha’s birthday, 11^th December (17^th November in Vietnamese calendar), from south to north of Vietnam, there were many Buddhist temples celebrated the anniversary. Especially, some big temples organized the ceremony imposingly with thousands of Buddhists participated and a greatly solemn platform. The scene of thousands of candles illuminating on devotes’ hands in dark night combined with sounds of chanting Buddha’s name created a holy atmosphere as if Pure Land is presented in front of our eyes. This is an auspicious occasion for Buddhists to express their respect and appreciation to the Buddha, and to strengthen their belief to pure land practices. 

Amitabha Buddha's birthday at Tu Xuyen Pagoda - Thai Binh Province, Vietnam

Amitabha Buddha's birthday at Ba Na pagoda, Da Nang City

Amitabha Buddha's birthday at Hoang Phap pagoda, Hoc Mon District, HCM city

Minh Nguyen