Ven. Uda Eriyagama Dhammajiva Thera, Chief Preceptor and Deputy Chief Monk, Mititrigala Forest Hermitage, a monastery in the strict forest tradition in Sri Lanka, visited the Berlin Vihara (Das Buddhistische Haus) in Berlin - Frohnau, Germany early this month. He was at the Berlin Vihara from June 3 - 11, where he conducted a programme on Buddhist meditation and led a meditation retreat.
Ven. Dhammajiva has practised as a meditation master for over a decade and trained under the late Ven. Matara Sri Gnanarama Mahathera (Sri Lanka) and Sayadaw U. Panditabhivamsa (Burma).
He is on the last leg of an exhaustive trip to North America - USA and Canada, and Germany, to teach and promote Buddhist meditation. The German Dharmaduta Society along with approximately ten other Buddhist Associations based in USA, Canada and Australia co-sponsored his visit.
On Sunday June 6, Ven. Dhammajiva delivered a Dhamma talk on ' Buddhism and Meditation' in the library of the Berlin Vihara.
Manager of the Berlin Vihara Tissa Weeraratna, gave a brief introductory speech and drew the attention of the visitors to the history of 'Das Buddhistische Haus' (Berlin Vihara) which is the oldest and largest Theravada Buddhist temple in Europe. Mr. Weeraratna paid tribute to Dr. Paul Dahlke, Asoka Weeraratna and others including renowned monks and laity, for their indefatigable efforts to ensure its continuity in serving the cause of Buddhism in the West.
Ven. Rambukwelle Devananda Thera was also present at the Dhamma talk and ensuing discussion.
Charity fair by St. Joseph’s PPA
A charity fair organised by the Past Pupils' Association of St. Joseph's Convent, Kegalle (Colombo Branch) will be held on June 19 at St. Paul's Church premises, Milagiriya from 9.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. The funds collected will be channelled to the school and the Cancer Ward of the Kegalle General Hospital.
For more details please contact: 0714-728968 / 0776-517622.
Namel to launch his book ‘Damsel of Death’
Veteran thespian Namel Weeramuni will launch his collection of poems 'Damsel of Death' on Thursday, June 17 at 4 p.m. at the Punchi Theatre, Borella. The keynote address will be delivered by Prof. Wimal Dissanayake and Edwin Ariyadasa will also address the gathering. All are welcome.
Virtusa launches programme to assist Pompemadu rehabilitation centre
There were entertainment rides and target shooting, but Environment Day was "celebrated" by Virtusa on June 5 with a purpose. It was to attract the attention of the youth working at the company to the need to provide a greener environment to the ex-combatants rehabilitated at Pompemadu and to conserve the diversity of life on the planet.
The company provides assistance to the task of rehabilitating and reintegrating ex-combatants to the civil society at the centre in Pompemadu.
"The area encompassing the rehabilitation centre is a barren land. We are raising funds from the engineers arriving for the event to plant trees around the centre," Virtusa's Head of Public Relations Ashan Kumar said.
The theme of the event was - 'Save species, save planet and the future' and to help this endeavour become real, Virtusa also had a gift for the world, a carbon footprint calculator that would help each person to find their own carbon footprint that is an individual's contribution to the green house gas emission.
"The calculator was launched in all of Virtusa's advanced technology centres which are situated in India, UK and the US," Ashan said.
The calculator which was built by the internal technical team at the company was launched by the chief guest to the function Otara Gunawardene, CEO of Odel and founder of Embark.
Later in the day, a debate between Sri Lankan Virtusans and Indian Virtusans was made possible with online technology on the topic "Comfort that kills".
The entertainment quotient on the day was Zorbing which had staff members rolling down an artificial slope in a humongous ball - "We just provided a version of how 2012 will look like in the future," Ashan said. |
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