Wesak 2010 Opening Ceremony

Pictures By Malitha Yatiwella

This year’s Wesak theme was “Bodhi” . Even though it was a holiday weekend, there were over 300 people visiting throughout the day. The day started with Buddhist chanting and the offering of flowers to the Bodhi Tree . The opening ceremony was held at the Tramway Stable 3, which was beautifully decorated with Buddhist flags and Wesak lanterns prepared by the Sunday School children of Scotland’s Buddhist Vihara.

There were three meditation sessions led by Venerable K Rewatha Thero and Silaketu. Every one enjoyed the metta meditation and in particular, the walking meditation by the beautiful water feature of the Hidden Garden. Meanwhile, the children were enjoying their drumming and story telling inside the yurt. Our thanks to the story teller and the drummer Eric, who comes every year with his drums.

The Dansela ( free food stall)was well attended and every one enjoyed the free food traditionally offered by the devotees of the Vihara as generosity in practice on the day of Wesak. This year’s delicious food was prepared by Mrs Sandya Ranasinghe and her family, with support from Janaka, Alex and the Gandhi family. All the devotees of the Vihara supported them by offering 52 items of dry food and Ice Cream.

This year, instead of having a symposium we invited Smutirathne, who is an Anigarika living in the forest, to be our key speaker. His topic was ‘Bodhi’ which was a well constructed sermon about the Enlightenment of Buddha.

The closing ceremony was held at the Bodhi tree by chanting the Metta Sutta in English, offering incense and wishing and radiating metta to all living being.

This year as in previous years, Wesak was celebrated with the Glasgow Buddhist Centre, Rokpa Glasgow and Scotland’s Buddhist Vihara. We are very grateful to the Hidden Garden and the Tramway for their support in making space available for the celebration of the festival. Wesak has become one of the main events in the Hidden Garden’s annual calendar of events.

Pictures By Malitha Yativella