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On the
Full Moon Day in the month of May Buddhists all over the
world celebrate the Buddha Jayanthi or Vesak. It
commemorates mainly the three events of the life of the
Buddha, namely, his Birth, Enlightenment and Passing
away into Parinibbana. Marking the 2552 Buddha Jayanthi,
Dhamma Nikethanaya Buddhist Centre organised a
day-programme with series of devotional offerings (amisa
pooja) and practice of teaching out of honour (patipatti
pooja).
The
programme started by observing the Eight Precepts by the
devotees and administered by Ven. Akurala Samitha, head
of the Centre. It was followed by meditation conducted
by Mr Lionel Bandara. Vesak Maha Dansala (Free
Food Sharing Stall) commenced remembering the victims of
two natural disasters in Burma and China. Venerable
Bhikku Assaji thero delivered a special Dhamma sermon
explaining the significances of The Buddha and his
teaching relating to the past life stories (jatakas) of
the Blessed One. The session ended with the film on
Buddhist Sites in India produced by Mr Tissa Madawala.
The
evening session of the programme illuminated the hearts
and minds of the members of the Dhamma Nikethanaya when
they decorated with colourful and creative Vesak
Lanterns, flags and a beautiful Vesak Pandol (thorana).
Everyone shared this joy of Vesak by singing devotional
hymns (bodu bethi gee) in the temple garden
beautifully decorated with Vesak decorations.
The
activities ended with a special blessings pooja and
chanting of pirith. The members of Dhamma Nikethanaya
while sharing the blessings of this noble event,
dedicated the blessings to the victims of cyclone Nargis
in Burma, earthquake victims in China and also to the
civilians in Sri Lanka to dispel the fears of terror and
sufferings of the unfortunate war.
The
Dhamma Nikethanaya extends their gratitude to everyone
who supported in many ways to make this another
successful event. We wish to remind our next programme
on Saturday 21 June 2008 to commemorate Poson full moon
day when Buddhism was established in Sri Lanka, by
Venerable Arahanth Maha Mahinda. |
