Prayers for peace, love and understanding on Buddha Purnima

After a lull of two years, Bangladesh is celebrating Buddha Purnima, the biggest religious festival of the Buddhist community, with all its usual fervour.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 May 2022, 08:18 AM
Updated : 15 May 2022, 08:31 AM

The Buddhist community have held different programmes at pilgrimage sites across the country for the occasion. They bathed, wore fresh clothes and sang the praise of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, at different temples.

Scripture was recited and communal prayers were offered to celebrate the occasion.

People should nurture the spirit of love preached by Buddha to prevent the conflict and devastation of war, urged the community during a prayer session at Dharmarajik Bouddha Mahavihar, a monastery in Basabo. 

Gautam Buddha, the founder of the religion, is said to have appeared on Earth on this day about 2,553 years ago.

Buddhists believe his birth, his enlightenment and death, occurred on the full moon of Baishakh, the first month in the Bangla calendar.

Followers gathered at Basabo's Dharmarajik Bouddha Mahavihar early on Sunday to mark the occasion and attended several prayer ceremonies.

"No one will survive if the third world war breaks out. Therefore, we need the teachings of Goutam Buddha to save us," said Bhadanta Buddhapriyo Mahathero, president of Bangladesh Bauddha Kristi Prachar Sangha.

"We need to nurture his teachings and bring back global peace through the preaching of love."

The Basabo Buddhist temple brought out a rally representing the hope to restore global peace. It also organised different programmes throughout the day.

Around 2,000 Buddhist monasteries across the country are celebrating Buddha Purnima. The Bangladesh Bauddha Kristi Prachar Sangha, Buddhist Federation, Buddhist Youth Forum and Buddhist Cultural Association have organised different events and programmes.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have sent their greetings to the Buddhist community on the occasion. They also called for strengthening the communal harmony in the country.

“Noble Buddha spent his entire life spreading ideas of equality and friendship to establish a peaceful world. His motto: ‘ahimsa porom dhormo’ or 'kindness and benevolence' is equally true for today’s society,” President Hamid said in his message. He said Buddha’s teachings can play a significant role in restoring peace.

Bangladesh is a land of communal harmony and people from different religious groups celebrate their festivals with much fanfare, he said.

The president asked everyone to follow the health protocols while celebrating Buddha Purnima.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina prayed for happiness and peace for the people of Bangladesh and around the world on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.

“Buddha enlightened humanity with his lessons of truth and ideology. We must follow his ideology and teachings to prevent the destruction of our values and establish peace in society,” the prime minister said in her message.

She urged everyone to come together in the spirit of communal harmony and propel the country forward.

“In Bangladesh, religions are for specific communities, but their festivals are for all. We have people from all religious groups gather and celebrate festivals with joy and friendship. We want to strengthen this bond and prosper while upholding communal harmony.”