Novel Buddhist Centre at Keleththewa

Chitraratne Kaluarachchi Hidogama group corr.

Keleththewa Samadhi International Buddhist Centre along the Anuradhapura-Kandy main road will be opened on May 31 at 2.00 p.m.

The centre is the brainchild of Venerable Rambukwella Gnanaseeha Thera who was on his way to Anuradhapura when he came up with an idea about the need of a suitable place for Bhikkhus, to rest along this stretch of road.

The Thera made a firm determination to find the means to construct a Buddhist centre of this nature which would meet the basic needs of Bhikkhus who travel along this road. This Buddhist Centre constructed on a land bought by the Thera consists of three stories with a Vihara Mandiraya and a fully furnished Viharasthanaya which could easily accommodate around 1,000 Bhikkhus at a time.

This centre is decorated with mural paintings and statues similar to temples in China, Cambodia and Singapore.

The Viharageya has an area of 18,000 square feet and has a marble Buddha statue weighing four and a half tons brought from Burma.

Ven. Gnanaseeha Thera also plans to use this Buddhist centre as a place to teach Buddhist Culture, English and computer to students in Anuradhapura.