2006-05-13

Vesak celebrations at United Nations

UNITED NATIONS: Sri Lanka together with several member States at the United Nations celebrated Vesak which this year fell on the 2550th year of Mahaparinibbana of the Buddha.

Monks from Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand led religious observances at the Dag Hammarskjalld Auditorium of the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

Permanent Representatives from participating countries were present. Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, quoted from President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Vesak day Message.

He recalled Sri Lanka's contribution to the Buddhist world and said it is recorded that Buddhist canon and commentaries handed down orally through generations were first committed to writing at a temple in Sri Lanka in the First Century before Christ.

This is the canon of the schools of elders known as Theravada as recorded in Pali by Sri Lankan monks in ancient Sri Lanka and regarded sacred by the Buddhists of Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

In recent times a significant contribution to the Buddhist world was spearheaded by the former Foreign Minister late Lakshman Kadirgamar who took the initiative to table a resolution at the United Nations in 1999 providing international recognition for the day of Vesak.

Kariyawasam said in Sri Lanka, about 70 per cent of the people are Buddhists and followers of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity have lived side by side with majority Buddhists for many centuries in peace and harmony.

This harmonious existence with other religions manifests a basic tenet of Buddhist tolerance, he said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also issued a message.

A large number of Buddhists and well wishers from the UN and communities in New York participated there were cultural performances from several countries including Sri Lanka.