The Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs will hold the 2023 State Vesak Festival in the Puttalam district. The main festival will be held on May 4 and 5 at the Kebellewala Sri Rathanasiri Bhikkhu Training Centre and Maha Pirivena in Chilaw under the theme “Discerning the right as wrong and the wrong as right leads to states of woe”.
 Ven. Halpanwila
Palitha Nayaka Thera
|
Vesak is the most important and sacred festival of Buddhists all over the world. It falls on the Full Moon Day of May and is celebrated as the thrice-blessed day as the most important events of the life of Buddha’s birth in Lumbini, attainment of enlightenment (The Enlightenment) in Buddhagaya and entering into Mahaparinirvana (the Demise) in Kushinagar.
The General Assembly of the United Nations by its Resolution 54/115 of 1999 recognised internationally the Day of Vesak to acknowledge the contribution that Buddhism, one of oldest religions in the world, has been making for over two and a half millennia.
The State Vesak Festival was never held in the Puttalam where people who belong to diverse ethnicities and religions live in communal concord.
Since this is the State Vesak Festival, this is common to the whole country and the Buddhists living the world over. The State Vesak Festival will be held in a meaningful way with the participation of Buddhist and non-Buddhists in the Puttalam district. One of the main purposes of this festival is to bring about a Buddhist cultural renaissance across the country.
Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake said that several special programs will be implemented in the district prior to the Vesak Festival and throughout the year.
The state festival will be held under the patronage of the Mahanayake Theras of the three Chapters and President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. Minister Vidura Wickramanayake will also participate.
Kebellewala, where Sri Rathanasiri Bhikkhu Training Centre and Maha Pirivena in Chilaw are is about nine kilometres away from Chilaw. This beautiful village has now become extremely popular among many people of the North Western Province thanks to the Sri Rathanasiri Piriven Temple which was earlier known as Kebellewala Sri Munindaramaya under the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya.
Chief Incumbent of the Kebellewala Sri Rathanasiri Bhikkhu Training Centre and Maha Pirivena in Chilaw, the Most Ven. Halpanwila Palitha Nayaka Thera is the Deputy Judicial Registrar of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya. He is a, virtuous, industrious, well-versed and exemplary bhikkhu who was instrumental in setting up the Pirivena.