Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi and its message of peace and unity

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Opening a new era in Buddhism this year’s Vesak Full Moon Poya commemorates the 2600th Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi. It means that 2600 years have passed since the Buddha attained Enlightenment in Bodhgaya. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared the period between Vesak Full Moon 2011 and Vesak Full Moon 2012 as Sambuddhatva Jayanthi year

Sri Lanka, being one of the leading Buddhist countries will be launching some programmes on a large scale to create an awareness about the Buddha’s teachings. Many national as well as international projects, proposals and discussions are taking place on how to celebrate the event in a meaningful manner.

“We have introduced many programmes to coincide with the event. All the temples, Maha Sangha and Buddhists in the island are looking forward to celebrate the event traditionally and spiritually. We have declared a Vesak Week during which all the temples will be decorated and will hold sermon chantings at Divisional Secretariat level centred on village temples. Divisional Secretaries have already been apprised about this and asked to submit progress reports. Some temples have already planned their programme schedules and made them known to us,” Prime Minister and Buddha Sasana Minister D.M. Jayaratne told the Daily News in an interview.

He noted that a special feature in this year’s Vesak celebrations is that the younger generation is eager to take part in the events.

“Both young and old are enthusiastically getting set for the celebrations. This is shown clearly by the number of programmes being organized in the country. We will be ordaining 2600 Buddhist monks. Around 500 have already been ordained. They will be given five years of education free,” he said.

A 1,000-house building project has already been launched. The government has also decided to provide monthly funds for the livelihood of Buddhist monks in remote areas. They will also renovate a large number of temples and provide them with essential facilities.

A special sovereign coin and a series of commemorative stamps will be brought out in respect of the Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi. The stamps will feature images in connection with the Buddha’s life. Exhibitions have also been organized by the Cultural Affairs Ministry, Department of Archaeology and the Buddhist Affairs Ministry in several parts of the island.

“President Mahinda Rajapaksa brought the sacred Hair Relics (Kesha Dhathu) from his visit to Bangladesh. We hope to take the relics to many areas in the island so that pilgrims will get a chance to worship the sacred hair relics,” the Prime Minister noted.

Amarapura Nikaya sect will hold an Upasampada ceremony. Some temples have included a 100-day Dhamma Sangayana programme in their schedule.

Around 20 non-Buddhist countries have agreed to establish Buddhist temples in their lands. Countries like Indonesia, Russia, Norway, Iceland and three countries in Africa have joined hands to celebrate the Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi with Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Jayaratne had been invited to visit these countries to lay the foundation stones.

“We hope to reawaken Buddhism nationally and internationally through these projects. There are Buddhists living in countries which do not have temples. Once more people become aware of Buddhism they will want to visit sacred places to worship. Buddhist pilgrims in foreign countries would want to visit places like the Sri Maha Bodhi and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Sri Lanka. We hope to promote this concept and encourage them to visit the island,” he explained.

May 14 has been declared as an International Holiday and Day for Peace by the United Nations. They have recognized Buddhism as the most appropriate religion to promote peace in the world. The main Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi festival will be held in Thailand.

The theme of the Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi is Pilivethin pelagasemu (Let us be principled). This encourages the society to follow the guidelines of at least the five precepts taught by the Buddha. A society sans hatred, malice and jealousy is what is encouraged by this year’s motto.

Asked about animal slaughtering which is still being carried out in various parts of the island Prime Minister Jayaratne said that there is a problem in trying to ban these actions.

“We have four main religions in the country. Though Buddhism bans animal slaughter of any nature the other religions do not make such references to animal killing for meat consumption. So there is a problem in trying to ban this. We are unable to take immediate action at the moment. However we hope to make necessary amendments in the future,” he said.

How is Buddhism linked with politics?

“Though some try to project that those two go hand in hand, it is, in truth, two entities. The politics we get today is one which divides people into groups and their ideas do not tally often. Buddhism unites people rather than divide. Therefore, it is suitable to take Buddhism as a separate factor and see that politics does not cause harmful effects in your religious viewpoint,” the Prime Minister said.

Speaking about the government’s future plans to uplift Buddhism in the country he said that special interest has been taken to launch a project which teaches Buddhist monks Pali and Sanskrit, so that they will be able to read the ancient documents on Buddhist teachings with ease. For now, only a few Buddhist monks are versed in reading these texts and passing on the wisdom of our ancestors. This should be practised on a wider scale for the benefit of the society.

Schools and Dhamma Schools have been instructed to teach students about the values of Buddhism on a wider scale. Around 1.9 million of the Sri Lankan population is over 60 years. They are unable to engage in tasks other than religious activities. The government hopes to encourage these activities and provide more facilities for them in future so that they will be able to engage in meritorious deeds towards the latter part of their lives.

“There are five main nationalities in Sri Lanka: Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and Malay. We have four main religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Everyone should follow the guidelines of their religion and live in harmony without fear and mistrust towards each other. We need everyone to contribute towards living as a disciplined and virtuous society,” Prime Minister Jayaratne concluded.