first all Sri Lankan Buddhist Nuns' Maha Danaya

Twenty years ago, the very word 'bhikkhuni' was a taboo in Sri Lanka. But on 5 Oct 2010, the first all Sri Lankan Bhikkhuni Dana (alms-giving ceremony) took place in Manelwatta Temple, Bollegala.

The event was initiated by a Taiwan bhikkhuni sangha, Jiuhuashan. After cooperating on numerous charity  projects in Myanmar with T.S.E.A., the head nuns of Jiuhuashan expressed the wish to offer alms to all nuns, including bhikkhuni, in Sri Lanka. Ven. B. Chandima Thero gladly agreed to help and hence the first all Sri Lankan bhikkhuni dana at Manelwatta Temple.

The event took about three months and over 1000 volunteers to organize. All bhikkhuni in Sri Lanka, numbered about 1000, were invited to attended. Buddhist nuns of other status (e.g. dasi sila mata) were also invited. 3000 invitations were sent out and it is estimated that approximately 2,900 nuns turned out for the historical event. It was very successful.

Ven. B. Chandima Thero would like to express his gratitude to all the volunteers and donors who made the first all Sri Lankan bhikkhuni dana possible.
 

Please click here for photos  

Aid for Tanzania

Once in Thailand, Ven. Chandima met a Sri Lankan monk, Ven. Ilukpitiye Pannasekara by sheer chance. He learnt that Ven. Ilukpitiye Pannasekara had lived in Tanzania of Eastern Africa for many years and devoted himself to help the needy in Tanzania. Tanzania is a relatively poor country where GNI per capita was only $440 USD (World Bank, 2008). In light of the widespread poverty, Ven. I. Pannasekara founded Metta Foundation of Africa in April and plans to establish a children’s home in order to help the street children.

      Ven. Chandima was moved and realized the people of Tanzania are in greater need of aid. Hence, after returning to Taiwan, Ven. Chandima re-allocated aids that had been intended for the refugee camp in North Sri Lanka to be sent to Tanzania. Brother Xu Jinde of Wanhua and other volunteers spent a year collecting aid materials from numerous donors. And Mr. Guo Senxiang of Xinzhuang offered his factory warehouse for Theravada Samadhi Education Association to store and sort out the donated goods. In September, a 40 foot of container with aid materials was shipped to Tanzania. A Mr. Chen of Australia used his own money and bought the container for the future use of Metta Foundation of Africa.  TSEA would like to express  its gratitude to those who donated their time and money in this project. Without their kindness, this aid distribution would not be successful. For photos, please click here.

 

Buddhism and Environmental Protection-by Ven. B. Chandima Thero

2554th Buddha Jayanti Celebration

By invitation of Maha Bodhi Society of India, Ven. B. Chandima Thero of Theravada Samadhi Education Association, joined the 2554th Buddha Jayanti Celebration in India. Ven. B. Chandima Thero also brought a whole shipping container of Buddhist books to be distributed for free among those who might be interested.


The honorable guests who took part in the Celebration included, Ven. Dr. D. Rewatha Thera (General Secretary, Maha Bodhi Society of India), Dr. Brahmanda Pratap Barua, Hon'ble Justice Mr. Arunava Barua, Shri Hrishikesh Sharan, Sri Hemendu Bikash Chowdhury (Vice-President, Maha Bodhi Society of India) and Dr. Brahmanda Pratap Barua.

see here for more photos 

2010 Lunar New Year Prayer

Pictures from 2010 Lunar New Year Prayer and a sermon by Ven. B. Chandima.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

aid distribution in Kilinochchi

For decades, Kilinochchi in north Sri Lanka was ravaged by civil war. On 20 Jan 2010, Ven. B. Chandima went there to distribute much needed aids to the local population.

Medical Serivce

A group of medical team from Malaysia, under the arrangement of Ven. B. Chandima, provided free medical service to the needy in the north area.

A prayer in Anuradhapura

Ven. B. Chandima joined a prayer in the sacred city Anuradhapura on 19 Dec 2009. The event was attended by President.

We are in media again!

The Myanmar Time has run a report about our mission in August 2009. Maybe it's a little bit too 'outdated' to post it now but we still would like to share the report with you.

Buddhist group donates to Metta village

By Cherry Thein

August 17 - 23, 2009

Residents of Metta model village tend vegetable gardens.

THE Taiwan branch of the Theravada Samadhi Education Association on August 9 donated relief goods valued at US$1.8 million to 720 households in Metta model village in Kungyangon township, Yangon Division.



Twenty-six members of the association travelled to Metta to take part in the ceremony to donate the goods, which included clothing, kitchen utensils, canned foods and toys for each of the households.



The village consists of 736 houses built by the association after Cyclone Nargis devastated the Ayeyarwady delta in May 2008.



The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement has granted permission for 720 of the houses to be occupied, with priority given to families who lost their homes during Nargis and lack the resources to rebuild, and those who are caring for disabled family members.



Ms Chang Ho Chin, the deputy secretary general of the Theravada Samadhi Education Association, said the group planned to build a total of 1024 houses in the village, as well as a one-storey, eight-classroom school building valued at $100,000 for the village’s 453 school children.



“At the moment some children from Metta village must travel [about 3.5 kilometres] to schools in Kungyangon, which takes time. We want them to have a school in their own village,” she said.



Metta resident Ko Saw Min Htut said 16 houses in the village are being used as temporary schools for children in the current academic year, with the new school building expected to open for the next academic year.



He added that the people living in the new village have come from different townships throughout the delta.



Indeed, Ms Chang said the association plans to collaborate with the Ministry of Energy, which since the cyclone has taken responsibility for post-Nargis development in the township, in supporting villagers with seeds, tools, fertilisers and agricultural knowledge so they can start planting more crops.



“We plan to use $2500 for the agriculture project and we plan to start as soon as we get permission from the government,” she said. “There are many resettlement programs planned for the village. We want to raise their living and education standards. We want to offer training courses for agriculture also.”



The Theravada Samadhi Education Association was established in 1998 by the Venerable Bodagama Chandima Thero, who is also an adviser to the president of Sri Lanka on international religious and cultural works.

http://www.mmtimes.com/no484/n012.htm