The month of May is important for
Buddhists all over the world because it was in this month that the birth, the enlightenment, and the
passing away of the Lord Buddha occurred. Therefore, in order to commemorate
those three events of the Lord Buddha, Buddhists hold a number of festivals
during the month of May. The name ascribed to the month of May is Vesak and the
name of Vesak is associated with all kinds of religious activities performed
during this month.
During the Vesak month, I was in Sri
Lanka, so I was lucky to witness the Vesak festival which was held in the city
of Colombo for a week. For the last few years, the Sri Lankan government has
taken a keen interest in celebrating the Vesak festival in a grand manner within
the city of Colombo where a part of it is officially allocated and named as the
Vesak zone. A number of religious
activities are performed in this Vesak zone with the participation of devotees,
religious organizations, government bodies, and others.
A colorful scene in the Vesak zone
Watch this video at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bJq1yg021k)
Watch this video at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bJq1yg021k)
On the last day of this colorful
festival, we went to see it in the afternoon. Since it was the last date, a a large number of people had come to the Vesak zone. When the Vesak festival is
celebrated in the Sri Lankan context, one can see that Sri Lankan Buddhists
organize a number of religious activities. Among them, erecting Pandals (Thorana- The scenes of a Jathaka story
are drawn in a sequential manner on separate pieces of canvas and fixed them
onto a tall wooden frame erected upright on the ground. The scenes of the
Jathaka story is illuminated with electric bulbs fixed around them) Dansala
(a temporary erected place where people are offered food and drink free of
charge during the Vesak festival), adorning public and private buildings,
junctions with Vesak lanterns, singing Buddhist devotional songs (Bakthi Gee),
observing ‘sil’, and delivering sermons are considered to be important highlights
of Vesak.
A group of devotional song singers being carried in a boat around Baire Lake
A colorful Pandal erected in the Vesak Zone, Colombo
In order to see the colorful Vesak Pandal with your
own eyes, please watch a video at(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQRdZbIEWqM)
Even though the people who live in cities go to see Vesak in their private vehicles as separate families, the situation in villages is different. In villages, people go to see Vesak a group rather than separate families and villagers mostly use a lorry, hired bus, van, or a tractor for transportation. Villagers begin their Vesak journey at dusk and visit as many places as they can, eat at Dansala, worship at sacred places, and return to their village at dawn.
I still remember going to see Vesak when I was in a village near
Galenbindunuwewa in Anuradhapura district in 1980s. I stayed with a family who
was closely related to me then. On a Vesak full-moon day, two families
including me started our Vesak journey around 6p.m on a bullock cart with no
roof. The bull which was tied to the cart drew it along a gravel road that ran
through villages and juggles. As I remember, the distance from the village
where we started our journey to the bus route was about 6 or 7 kilometers.
Since it was a full-moon day, the moonlight was shining brightly. Therefore,
we did not need any light to see the road on which the bullock drew our cart. Traveling in a bullock cart sitting on the wooden planks is not easy because
the cart sways while it is drawn by the bullock. I experienced the difficulty
of traveling on a bullock cart from the so-called journey.
Galenbindunuwewa Map
However, after a 3 or 4 hours journey, we could reach the nearest
town; Galenbindunuwewa which then had only two streets. The bullock cart stopped
and the bullock was released from the yore and then we began to walk from one
end of the street to the other end looking around. There were a few Dansalas
where we had some refreshments and the main Dansala offered rice for which
there was a long queue. We had to stay in the queue for about 15 minutes before
we got our turn. We entered the hall where there were two long improvised
tables. Once we sat, we were offered plates of rice with two or three curries.
Since we were tired and hungry, we tasted the food delicious. After the
Dansala, we went to see a Pandal erected by the side of the main road using
bamboo trees. When we reached there, we found the place full of people who were
eagerly watching the Pandal which depicted a Jathaka story. I really cannot
recollect which Jathaka story was depicted in the Pandal that day. The scenes
of the Jataka story depicted in the Pandal were described one by one in verse by a man
with a small drum in his hand. The entire town was illuminated with bulbs of
various colors while the streets were decorated with colored papers.
Our Vesak journey ended in a temple where we offered flowers and
worshiped. Around 2p.m. we started our journey back to the village and when we
got down from the bullock cart, it was around 5 or 5.30a.m. It was such a
thrilling experience which still stark in my memory even after many years have
passed.
The Vesak journey I described above was made nearly 30 years ago
and my recent journey to see Vesak in Colombo occurred on 8th May,
2012. My recent visit to see Vesak in Colombo is entirely different from my
previous journey in that the present journey took about 2 hours to see the
entire Vesak zone in Colombo. Instead of a bullock cart, I traveled in a vehicle
through colorfully decorated streets that were illuminated with thousands and
thousands of electric bulbs. As I described earlier the town of
Galenbindunuwewa also had been illuminated not with electric bulbs but with
torches made of coconut fruits. From the beginning to the end of my Vesak
journey in and around Galenbindunuwewa, I noticed that the Vesak lanterns had
been made in the shape of an octagon or a star. However, in the Colombo Vesak
zone, I beheld a hundred lanterns made in different shapes and colors using
various raw materials at a glance. It can be stated that the collection of
Vesak lanterns displayed in the Vesak zone, Colombo is a matter of creativity
and the application of modern technology. In a city such as Colombo, one may
find adequate resources and technocrats to make marvelous creations out of any
materials.
Lord Buddha spends one of the seventh week
Another Vesak lantern made form different materials
A Vesak lantern displayed in the Vesak Zone, Colombo
It is no wonder that Sri Lanka may be the only country that
celebrates Vesak in such a grand manner in Asia. There is evidence to prove my
claim. If someone visited the Vesak zone located in and around Gangaramaya
temple in Colombo, he would unarguably accept the claim I made.
May Buddhism survive as long as the Sun and Moon exist in the
world!
A Buddha statue is housed in the shrine room built in the Bere Lake
You're wecome
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