The President has already declared a Sambuddha Jayanthi year in Sri Lanka where a huge programme is being drawn up to commemorate the Jayanthi. A Buddha statue is to be installed close to the Bandaranaike International Airport, facing the highway and a chaithya is to be installed at Hambantota port visible quite a distance in the Indian Ocean.
The Buddha Sasana Ministry is to commence a Buddhist Attitude Training Centre at Piliyandala in a land owned by the state. All Full Moon Poya days of the Sambuddha Jayanthi year will be celebrated by conducting special religious programs.
Local monks who are engaged in Buddhist and social work in foreign Buddhist centres will be honoured and felicitated. 2600 selected Buddhist temples will be developed while another selected 2600 Daham schools will be developed by the Buddha Sasana Ministry.
The Central Bank will mint two coins of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 10 denominations as souvenirs while the Postal Department will issue a series of new stamps to mark the occasion.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan embassies in foreign countries too have planned special commemoration events to celebrate the Sambuddha Jayanthi. A special session of the United Nations General Assembly will be held along with other celebrations planned by the Sri Lankan Embassy in New York.
London (United Kingdom), Ottawa (Canada), Beijing (China), Islamabad (Pakistan) and even Amman (Jordan) and Tel Aviv (Israel) are among some cities all braced to commemorate this special event.
Poland, Switzerland, Russia, the Netherlands, India, Qatar, Norway, Italy and Bangladesh are some other countries which will conduct dharma desana, seela programs and Bodhi poojas to mark the event along with other celebrations.
Myanmar will publish a text on the Buddhist relationship between the countries and a children’s art exhibition and a screening of Buddhist movies. Paris will hold the UNESCO international programme with the participation of the Asia Pacific countries on a par with the Jayanthi celebrations. In Los Angeles a chaithya will be declared open and named Sambuddhaloka Vihara. |
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