Ba Vang Pagoda announces postponement of summer retreat

Specifically, the announcement on the website of Ba Vang Pagoda is as follows:

Dear parents and students!

The first summer retreat of Ba Vang Pagoda in 2024 ended successfully, contributing to spreading Buddhist cultural and ethical values ​​and training life skills for more than 6,000 students with all the best spiritual and material care that the pagoda gives to them.

Due to some important Buddhist activities during the rainy season retreat, the temple would like to announce the temporary postponement of the summer retreats that parents and students have registered for, until further notice.

While there is no official announcement, parents and students can participate in regular retreats at Ba Vang Pagoda and summer retreats at other pagodas and monasteries of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

Photos of students attending the first summer retreat in 2024 at Ba Vang Pagoda.

Previously, on June 19, the People's Committee of Uong Bi City informed that in recent days, some social networking sites have posted videos of what is said to be a summer retreat at Ba Vang Pagoda with many images and details that have been shared and commented on by many people, disagreeing, and assessing this as a superstitious activity.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Toan - Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Uong Bi City - said that as a result of working with the city's functional departments on June 18, the abbot of Ba Vang Pagoda, Thich Truc Thai Minh, confirmed that this was an old video filmed in 2018-2019, not from the summer retreat (course 1) in 2024 and Ba Vang Pagoda did not post the video as posted on social media.

On May 23, Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh - abbot of Ba Vang Pagoda - submitted a document to submit a plan to organize a summer retreat at the pagoda in 2024, asking for opinions from the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha of Quang Ninh province, the People's Committee of Uong Bi city and relevant agencies.

The content and schedule of the retreat are built in accordance with the regulations of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

After two inspections and comments, on June 12, the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Quang Ninh province issued a document approving Ba Vang Pagoda to organize three retreats as planned.

According to Mr. Toan, in response to the above controversial video, Uong Bi city has requested the abbot of Ba Vang pagoda to respond in writing to information from recent websites.

At the same time, after the end of the first retreat, a report on related contents will be sent to the City People's Committee and the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha of Uong Bi City, along with videos recording the content of the sermons at the summer retreat (course 1) in 2024.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/chua-ba-vang-thong-bao-tam-hoan-khoa-tu-mua-he-post300308.html