The “2025 Ullambana Festival Blessing Ceremony” was held with solemn dignity at Bodhi Meditation New York. Over 260 attendees and volunteers gathered as one, offering heartfelt prayers and devoutly dedicating merit for the deliverance of all beings. The entire event was magnificent and profoundly moving. This sacred gathering coincided with the “Buddha’s Joyful Day,” a day of delight not only for the Buddha but also for all sentient beings. The Center was filled with a serene and grateful atmosphere, radiating blessings and harmony.
Joyfully Receiving the “Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land Permanent Resident Pass”
With heartfelt gratitude to Grandmaster JinBodhi for his boundless compassion, we rejoice in the gift of yet another radiant hope—an opportunity for practitioners to form a sacred connection and receive the “Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land Permanent Resident Pass.” Many longtime disciples and practitioners joyfully returned to the Center to receive this blessing. Before the ceremony began, they reverently inscribed the names of their departed loved ones, sincerely praying for the great compassion of Medicine Buddha to guide them to rebirth in the Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land, where they may dwell forever in eternal light.
Offering Lights and Blessing Tablets for Deliverance
The scene in the Light-Offering Hall and the Guanyin Hall was equally moving. Rows of radiant lights and countless blessing tablets carried our deepest wishes and heartfelt prayers. Each light was a luminous blessing lit for our ancestors, departed loved ones, parents of the past seven lifetimes, and unborn babies. Each tablet held our sincere remembrance and devotion. Within the halls gathered the genuine hearts and abundant blessings of all practitioners, filling the space with light and compassion. For an entire month, practitioners continuously offered lights and prayers for the departed, culminating in the auspicious main day of the “Ullambana Festival Blessing Ceremony,” the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
Grandmaster JinBodhi’s Compassionate Teaching · Filled with Dharma Joy
At the start of the ceremony, Guanshan, the director of Bodhi Meditation New York, led everyone in offering incense and paying homage to the Buddhas, sincerely making prayers and aspirations. He then guided the assembly to respectfully listen to the compassionate teaching of Grandmaster JinBodhi.
Grandmaster JinBodhi, with great compassion, taught how to dispel daily calamities and misfortune, guiding all toward auspiciousness and peace. He emphasized that true reliance lies in the practice of the Dharma and the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not merely in personal effort. Drawing upon the story of Maudgalyayana saving his mother from the “Sutra of Ullambana,” the Grandmaster reminded everyone that even great spiritual powers have their limits; only through sincere Dharma practice and by supporting and making offerings to practitioners—thereby sharing in their accumulated merits—can true deliverance be attained.
Grandmaster explained that the Ullambana Festival is an extraordinarily auspicious time. When sentient beings sincerely make offerings to the Buddha and the Sangha, engage in virtuous deeds, and cultivate blessings, they can eliminate karmic obstacles and avert misfortune. Such practices bring liberation to departed relatives and bestow blessings, protection, and peace upon family members in this life.
He further reminded all that the essence of blessing and deliverance lies in true sincerity and filial piety. Only by nurturing a compassionate heart in daily life and dedicating the merit of good deeds to others can one genuinely benefit all beings and attain auspiciousness, peace, and spiritual freedom.
Understanding Karmic Cause and Effect · Sincere Prayers for Blessings
Afterward, Teacher Guanshan once again guided everyone to reflect on the importance of karmic cause and effect, nurturing hearts of compassion and kindness. With reverence and sincerity, all joined together in chanting the Buddha’s name and offering prayers, invoking the compassionate protection of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Grandmaster JinBodhi.
Attendees prayed for their ancestors, departed loved ones, and even the beings they may have harmed, sincerely wishing that all of them be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and that those still in this world may enjoy auspiciousness, peace, and well-being.
Gratitude Dissolves Resentment · Miracles Follow
Next, everyone listened to a true story shared in Grandmaster JinBodhi’s teaching.
A female practitioner recounted her journey of the heart. As a child, she became deaf in one ear after being struck by her father, and later injured her back while caring for him during his illness. After her father passed away, she performed ancestral rites only for the first two years and then stopped, holding deep resentment toward him.
Upon joining Bodhi Meditation and following Grandmaster JinBodhi’s compassionate guidance, she continuously dedicated merit for her father. Three years later, during a chanting retreat, she finally let go of her resentment and gave rise to profound gratitude for her father. At that very moment, her forty-year hearing loss miraculously healed, and her decade-long back pain disappeared.
Grandmaster JinBodhi taught, “Gratitude is the greatest Dharma treasure.” With a heart of gratitude, offering ancestral rites and honoring one’s parents not only dissolves resentment but also accumulates boundless blessings and wisdom.
Sharing Miraculous Blessings · Dharma Joy Fills the Center
At the ceremony, Sister Xiao Yi sincerely shared the blessings she has received through her practice. Since beginning Bodhi Meditation, her health has improved dramatically: more than ten years of insomnia have been completely cured; the chronic coldness and weakness in her hands and feet have gradually disappeared; and her long-standing dry-eye condition has fully healed, freeing her from the need for daily eye drops.
In the past, she often needed her husband’s care, but now she lives independently in good health and returns to the Center each week as a volunteer. At the same time, she has continually dedicated merit for her son, who eventually found his ideal job. Her entire family is now filled with deep gratitude and joy.
“Phurba Vajrakila” Great Energy Healing
Next, Teacher Chiwen solemnly presented the great Dharma treasure bestowed upon Bodhi Meditation New York by Grandmaster JinBodhi—the “Phurba Vajrakila.” With this precious sacred implement, a special blessing was conferred upon all present, invoking prayers for the dispelling of calamities, the averting of misfortune, and freedom from all obstacles.
Forming Auspicious Connections · Dedicating Merits
After the ceremony concluded, the Center offered “Five-Colored Rice” and “Auspicious Oil” for everyone to take home and share with their families, inviting all to form an auspicious connection. These sacred gifts are believed to bring protection from calamities, good health and longevity, and ever-increasing merit.
That afternoon, many practitioners gathered in the Medicine Buddha Hall, devoutly copying mantras as offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, further cultivating blessings and wisdom.
Praying for Blessings and Burning of Blessing Tablets · Deliverance for Ancestors and Loved Ones
In the evening, a group of devoted volunteers chanted the Buddha’s name and offered prayers, reverently removing each blessing-filled tablet and committing it to the fire. Amid the sacred sound of the Buddha’s name, they prayed that ancestors of past generations, departed loved ones, and all spirits with karmic affinity be guided by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to leave suffering behind, find joy, be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and abide forever in radiant light.
Please note: Individual results of practice may vary.