A chanted repentance
«Lương Hoàng Sám» is the everyday Vietnamese name of the Compassion Bodhimaṇḍa Repentance, a repentance liturgy in 10 scrolls widely chanted in Vietnam. The Inti Dharma library holds all ten scrolls in a Vietnamese translation from the Linh Sơn Pháp Bảo Đại Tạng Kinh; the index below lists the chapters in each scroll, so you can read the text or turn on the chanting mode with scrolling text and a wooden-fish beat.
Quoted verbatim from scroll 1 in the Inti Dharma library, in the translation's own spelling (Vietnamese text).
Từ bi Đạo Tràng, bốn chữ ấy là danh hiệu của pháp sám hối nầy. Nhơn vì cảm thấy Đức Phật Di Lặc, dủ lòng từ bi, thương đời hiện tại và đời vị lai, ứng mộng dạy bảo, đặt tên như thế, đúng như sự thật, không dám đổi thay.
Read the whole sūtra →Scroll 1 opens by explaining the name: the four words «Compassion Bodhimaṇḍa» are the title of this repentance, given, it says, after the Buddha Maitreya appeared in a dream. The name «Lương Hoàng Sám» that Vietnamese people use links it by tradition to Emperor Wu of Liang; the library's text does not tell that story, so this page does not either.
The liturgy follows a clear order. The first three chapters are refuge in the Three Jewels, cutting off doubt and repentance; then come arousing the mind of awakening, vows and dedication. Scrolls 3 to 6 make clear the results of actions, how to leave the hells and how to release the enmity that binds beings to one another. From scroll 7 the assembly rejoices, remembers the kindness of the Three Jewels, makes the great vow and then bows to the Buddhas on behalf of gods, sages, good spirits, parents, teachers, monks and nuns, and beings in the realms of suffering.
The last two scrolls hold a reminder of impermanence, vows made through body, speech and mind, the chapter on the bodhisattvas' dedication and the entrustment. Each section usually opens with «Today the assembly who share this practice in the Bodhimaṇḍa…», a reminder that the liturgy was written to be chanted together.
Each scroll is long — chanting one in full usually takes more than an hour — so many people chant one scroll a day over ten days, or split a scroll into two sessions. Open the scroll, press «Chant» and choose a comfortable speed; tap the screen when you stop to bow. At the end you may dedicate the merit in your own words. The library holds the Vietnamese translation only, with no Sino-Vietnamese transliteration or recording.
Ten. The Inti Dharma library holds all ten, each on its own reading page.
No. «Lương Hoàng Sám» is the everyday name of the Compassion Bodhimaṇḍa Repentance; the library lists it under its formal title.
Both are repentance liturgies. This one runs to 10 scrolls, from refuge, repentance and vows to bowing on behalf of all beings; the Water Repentance has 3 scrolls and confesses the three obstacles of afflictions, karma and their results.
Yes. Open the text and press «Chant»: the screen stays on, the text scrolls at one of three speeds and a wooden fish keeps a 2-, 3- or 4-second beat. Tap the screen to pause scrolling.
