Hotel structures in form of Vesak lanterns: Bhikkhu Front calls for action

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: The National Bhikkhu Front has called for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s intervention to stop potential damage that may be caused to the spirit of Vesak festival by some hotels getting ready to exhibit their hotel structures in the form of Vesak lanterns.

A handful of hotels and business establishments are trying to manipulate the importance of the Vesak festival for their commercial advantage by making it an opportunity to sell hotel rooms and have Vesak lanterns in the shape of their hotel buildings, to the dismay of Buddhist monks and the public, the Bhikkhu Front said in a letter to the President.

The Front’s letter pointed out that this kind of activity by business establishments could only bring adverse effects on the Vesak festival in terms of its moral value and the spirit in which it has been celebrated for centuries.

There were occasions when attempts of this nature had been made to tarnish the good image of the Vesak festival by resorting to various menial commercial action in the past but they had been prevented with the support of Buddhist organisations and the public, the letter said.

The Front plans to seek legal action against the culprits attempting to belittle the image and the good spirit of Vesak.

The Bhikkhu Front in the letter to the President also thanked him for changing the Worker’s Day celebrations on May 1 to April 30.

“We were also thankful to the trade unions which agreed to refrain from holding May Day demonstrations in respect of the Vesak festival,” the Front said in the letter.