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Vesak celebrated at New York Buddhist Vihara

Bernard Goonewardena from New York City

The Sri Lankan Buddhist community in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey celebrated the Vesak Day at the New York Buddhist Vihara in Parkside Hills, Queens, New York on Sunday, May 18.

The day's events included day-long Ata-Sil observances by nearly 100 devotees. Sermons were delivered by the resident monks, culminating in English and Sinhala devotional chanting and songs by parents and children of the Sunday Buddhist school of the temple.

The composition of the English devotional songs was the work of American Buddhists Rick Lionarons and Christina Calamari.

The composition of Sinhala devotional songs was led by Sirimevan Perera, including many others who contributed to it. The main shrine room and auditorium of the temple had an overflowing crowd of over 500 people. Additionally, others listened on the amplifiers of the public address system in the stairways and the lobby.

The finale of the celebration was the lighting of the giant, rotating, 20-foot high, Vesak lantern which contained 24 satellite lanterns connected to it, depicting events and themes from Buddha's life.

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