TAY NINH – In the early days of December, the highest mountain in the South welcomes thousands of people and tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenery and go to ceremonies.
According to worship beliefs, at the beginning of the year, when you go to ask for good fortune, at the end of the year you need to pay back the offerings at temples and pagodas… At Ba Den Mountain (Tay Ninh), these days, people and tourists go to give thanks, which lasts the whole month of December. lunar calendar.
The Ba pagoda system has 6 pagodas associated with the legendary Linh Son Holy Mother Bodhisattva’s epiphany. The ancient Linh Son Tien Thach Tu pagoda is 300 years old and Dien Ba in a stone cave is often filled with people and tourists on this occasion.
As a spiritual symbol in the religious life of the Southern people, Linh Son Thanh Mau is worshiped at many pagodas in Tay Ninh, with the main place of worship located at the Ba Pagoda system on Ba Den Mountain. According to people’s beliefs, Linh Son Thanh Mau is not only the goddess of the mountain, but also a Bodhisattva with compassion and mercy for sentient beings.
Not only offering thanks at the Ba Pagoda area, thousands of people and tourists went to the top of the mountain to attend the lantern offering – a large-scale ceremony held at the square at the foot of the Tay Bo Da Son Buddha statue.
Taking place on Saturday nights in December, the lantern offering ceremony is a moment for people and tourists to say goodbye to the new year peacefully and send their wishes for the new year into the lanterns.
In Buddhist culture, lanterns represent wisdom, illuminating and guiding Buddhists. Each lantern represents a good thought and a wish. At Ba Den Mountain, each wish is handwritten by local people and tourists on lanterns, creating a unique sacred experience.
“I have offered lanterns in many places, but the feeling of offering lanterns in the middle of a large square with floating clouds at the foot of the great Buddha statue of Tay Bo Da Son made me overwhelmed and moved. The night sky sparkled in the middle of the row. Thousands of flower lanterns create a magical and sacred space,” Ms. Khanh Ngoc (HCMC) shared.
The lanterns at Ba Den Mountain are not only assembled by the people themselves and written with wishes, but are also transformed after offering, with the hope that the wishes will come true.
If you cannot reach the top of the mountain, visitors can gather at the square at the foot of the Tay Bo Da Son Buddha statue to write their wishes on the lanterns. These lanterns are then offered and prayed for by Sun World Ba Den Mountain tourist area in the thanksgiving ceremony every Saturday night.
On this occasion, many tourists write their wishes on lanterns that will be offered during the Opening Ceremony of the world’s largest sandstone Maitreya Buddha statue on the top of Ba Den Mountain on January 28. More than 20,000 lanterns from Buddhists and tourists from all over will be offered in the opening ceremony, towards Maitreya Bodhisattva representing joy and happiness.
Ba Den Mountain is also the seat of the tallest Buddha statue of Ba Tay Bo Da Son in Asia on the top of the mountain, making it a famous pilgrimage destination in the South.
($1~24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)