Despite the hot weather, a large number of Buddhists and people from many provinces and cities still pilgrimage to the Great Mandala Tower in Tay Thien to participate in the Medicine Master's retreat in the Buddha's Birthday season, praying for peace, healing the body and mind and spreading good energy to the community.
Attending the retreat, Buddhist Tran Huy Cong (Hanoi) said that after more than a year and a half of practicing at the Mandala Tay Thien Pagoda, he clearly felt peace and positive health improvement.
At the end of 2025, he had back pain and relapsed herniated discs but did not have the conditions to go for examination. After about a week of persistently chanting sutras, practicing the Truth and chanting the Red Name of the Medicine Buddha, the pain gradually subsided, and his spirit also became more relaxed. According to him, practicing not only helps the body and mind feel lighter but also brings peace in daily life.
According to the Organizing Committee, the special point of the Medicine Dharma Assembly at the Great Pyramid lies in the "seven-layer benefit" approach, guiding participants from personal peace to nurturing compassion and planting seeds of enlightenment. Not only stopping at praying for health or peace, the Dharma Assembly also emphasizes the process of inner transformation and spreading good energy to the community.
On the first floor, practitioners aim to heal their bodies through chanting the Dharma, meditation and practicing mindfulness in the pure space of the Great Stupa. Many attendees said they felt relieved, slept deeply and relaxed after the retreat.
The second level focuses on inner transformation. Many people come to Taoism in a state of pressure, fatigue or carrying unresolved problems. Through the process of practice, they learn to let go of anxiety, open their hearts to forgive and nurture compassion for themselves as well as those around them.
The Dharma Assembly also emphasized the connection between spiritual life and reality. Attendees are encouraged to bring a spirit of awakening, calmness and sincerity into work, family and social relationships. According to the Organizing Committee, when a person changes positively from within, that energy will spread to the family and community, helping relationships become more harmonious.
At a broader level, the ceremony is organized on a large scale of joint practice, where hundreds of people jointly pray for national peace and prosperity, and towards peace for society and sentient beings. During the sessions, participants not only pray for themselves but also towards those who are in pain, sick or in difficult circumstances.
According to Buddhist beliefs, each time praying and expressing good intentions contributes to planting "Bodhi seeds" - the foundation of wisdom and compassion on the journey towards enlightenment. This is also considered a profound value that creates the unique features of the Medicine Master Dharma Assembly at the Great Mandala Pagoda in Tay Thien.
Vesak 2026 - PL. 2570 will take place in two days, May 30 - 31, at the Great Mandala Tower in Tay Thien with a series of meaningful spiritual activities, expected to attract a large number of Buddhists and pilgrims from all directions to attend.
May 30th (Full moon of the fourth lunar month): Art program to celebrate Buddha's Birthday, light offering ceremony; *Hoa tu Quan Am*, requiem ceremony. May 31st - Buddha's Birthday Great Celebration with ceremonies of procession of flower cars, release of animals, chanting sutras, bathing Buddha and praying for national peace and prosperity, and for all living beings to be at peace.
