Mothers' Day Blessing for Mother (母親節為母親祈福)

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Mothers' Day Blessing, a lot of people might be wondering, what does Taoism has to do with Mothers' Day or does Mothers' Day has any connection with Taoism.

If I say No, then I'm bluffing All of you who are doing your reading on this Article and if I will to say Yes, a lot of the people here might say that I'm trying to corrupt the Upright Culture of Taoism, etc.

In-order for you to understand more on the Miracle Connection between Mothers' Day and Taoism, I will do a quick introduction here.

Mothers' Day, a Day to show one's gratitude & respect to one's Mother (may it be living now or Mother who has pass-on).

According to Western History, the First Mothers' Day was being celebrated on 10 May 1908. After this year, most of Countries started to celebrate Mothers' Day on the 2nd Week of May, whereas in some other Countries, besides celebrating on the 2nd Week of May, such Countries will also dedicated another
Date for the Mothers.

And so, why as a Taoist, we also need to celebrate Mothers' Day?

1st, to reward one's Mother for her hard work of looking after the Family for the past one year (besides her Birthday)

2nd, to show our Filial Piety & Gratitude to the Living Mothers and also, the Departed Mothers.

In Taoism, Filial Piety (孝) & Loyalty (忠) come first in other ranking, without Filial Piety, a person wont consider as Full or Balance, this is why, in the Major School of Taoism, such as Zheng Yi Sect (正一道), we do not need to leave home as we performed our Cultivation, only those Schools that being affected by the Teaching of other Non-Taoist Religions, then the followers will need to take vow of leaving home to stay-clear from the Bonding of Family-ties, etc.

What do I meant of Departed Mothers?

Departed Mothers are not only mend for those Mothers of A Family who have passed-on, but also the Grandmothers, Great-grandmothers, etc.

It also refers to those Ladies who had contributed their effort to the Society, such as Heroines during Wars, Samsui Women who developed our Country, Lady Teachers who educated the children, etc.

So, how do we performed the Blessing for Mothers?

Very simple, on the Day, prepare some simple Offerings such as Incenses, Flowers, a set of Fruits (with 5), 3 stacks of Tian Gong Jin (the Big Josspaper), 3 stacks of Shou Jin (the Normal Josspaper), etc, visit a Temple that is dedicated to Taoist Deities such as Dou Mu (斗母), Ma Zu (媽祖), Xi Wang Mu (西王母) aka Wang Mu Niang Niang (王母娘娘) or Zhu Sheng Niang Niang (註生娘娘) to do the requesting of Blessings for the Mothers.

Upon reaching the Temple, layout the Offerings on the Altar and then go around the Temple to pay respect to the other Deities first and last, return to the Altar that dedicated to the above-mentioned Deities.

Sincerely make a bow and then kneel down to start the requesting of Blessing.

Here's a suggested Phrase while making the request:

今逢。
Jin Feng.

良辰吉時祈福日。
Liang Chen Ji Shi Qi Fu Ri.

弟子虔心敬神恩。
Di Zi Qian Xin Jing Shen En.

誠顯孝心為家慈。
Cheng Xian Xiao Xin Wei Jia Ci.

啟願賜福慈母身。
Qi Yuan Ci Fu Ci Mu Shen.

南洋新加坡共和國。 (你的住址) 。
Nan Yang Xin Jia Po Gong He Guo. (Your Address)

信士 (你的名字) 。
Xin Shi (Your Name).

為家慈(母親名字/生辰八字)祈福祝愿。
Wei Jia Ci (Your Mum's Name & Birthday) Qi Fu Zhu Yuan.

於此。
Yu Ci

虔備薄禮酒儀。
Qian Bei Bo Li Jiu Yi.

敬向堂上神明。(Bow)
Jing Xiang Tang Shang Shen Ming.

虔誠請安並為家慈祈福。
Qian Cheng Qing An Bing Wei Jia Ci Qi Fu.

於此虔祈。
Yu Ci Qian Qi.

堂上神明。(拜)
Tang Shang Shen Ming (Bow)

庇佑。
Bi You.

家慈(母親名字/生辰八字)。
Jia Ci (Your Mum's Name & Birthday).

一年平安無災。月月身體健康。
Yi Nian Ping An Wu Zai. Yue Yue Shen Ti Jian Kang.

四季神光庇照。萬事順心樂安。
Si Ji Shen Guang Bi Zhao. Wan Shi Shun Xin Le An.

於此。
Yu Ci.

信士 (你的名字) 。
Xin Shi (Your Name).

敬向。
Jing Xiang.

堂上神明。(拜)
Tang Shang Shen Ming (Bow)

獻三拜三叩禮。
Xian San Bai Li.

一拜。再拜。三拜。禮成。(起立)
Yi Bai. Zai Bai. San Bai. Li Cheng (Raise)

After rising, make another sincere Bow and then left the spot.

After about 15 minutes, retrieve the Paper-offerings and then burn them off.

Once the Paper-offerings are being burnt, go back to the Altar, make another sincere Bow and then retrieve back the Offerings, bring them back home and share with the other members in the Family.

And so, the whole Requesting of Blessing is considered end.

Personal Encounter:

Recently, I was being invited by my Cousin to assist him in his Lan Shop business and so, during the period of mending the shop, I got quite a lot of chances to meet up with various type of people, such as businessmen, students and also, curious parents.

Once, quite late at night (the Lan Shop operates for 24 Hours), a mother came into the shop, looked very worried.

After she walked towards the counter-bar, I approached her and asked for permission to provide my assistance. Just as immediately, this Mother requested me to check whether her son (which is about 14 years old) was in the shop, after dong the retrieving of records, I replied to her that, No, her son was not in our Shop's record.

And for sure, she was disappointed but, besides disappointment, she looked more regretted.

Upon knowing that some other hidden reasons, I continued to find out more from her.

After asking, I found out that, she was a working lady whom didnt really have much time staying at home to look after her son, whenever there were chances for her to talk to her son would be the time that her son approached her for money.

Soon, her son grew up and entered into the Youth-age Period, whenever the Mother said things to the son, the son would felt rejected, etc. Slowly, her son even engaged into stealing of money from the Family.

One day, after finding out that her son stole a big sum from the wardrobe, this Mother scolded the son for in-consideration, etc. Just as immediately, the son turned away and dashed out from the house, from then, she lost the contact with her son.

On that night when she was in the Shop talking to me, her son was already out for at least 3 days, from her conversation, even though she was angry and disappointed with her son, but the only thing that she hope at that moment was, her son to appear in front of her safe & sound, anything that being stolen or lost were of small cases.

During the whole conversation, the Mother may seems to remain very calm, but from the way she look at you, one self can really see the regrets, worries and the Motherly-love from the eyes.

This is the Love that nothing can compared and this is the Love that one self can get from the Only Woman in the whole Universe - one self's Mother.

Okay, back to the topic.

In here, you may say that this story is just a normal encounter that anyone at any place will encountered. if you think this way, I do agree with you, but one thing that I wanted to tell everyone here is that, no matter how bad a Mother is, a Mother will always dote on her children, nothing can change this type of doting.

In this encounter, you can see how the little son treated her mother, but when the mother lost contact with her son, the 1st thing that she thought of is hoping that her son can returned safe & sound, whatever pass is already pass, as long as the son returned, anything will be fine with her - this is how Noble a Mother can be.

So, for those whose Mothers are still living in this Mortal World, try to be nicer to her, care more for her and always, put her before anything.

Once a Mother departed, forever she wont be there by your side.

Treasure this type of Love.

Last of all, wish All Mothers that living in this Universe - A Happy Mothers' Day and always stay Healthy & Happy.