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Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi offers flowers and lights during Amitabha Buddhist Centre’s annual Vesak Celebration, Singapore, May 2016. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
“Here at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore, we just concluded our annual celebration of Vesak Day with a weekend festival held from May 20-22,” shared Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim. “This year, we enjoyed a double celebration as Vesak Day fell on the same day as the full moon day of Saka Dawa. May 21 also happened to be a blue moon.
“Our annual Vesak Celebration is a large-scale event that we offer to the public. Everyone, including ABC’s circle of students and friends, is invited to participate in celebrating the Buddha’s day of enlightenment and parinirvana with us. We have a large marquee about the size of a soccer field set up at a public space outside the busy Aljunied train station, just across the street from ABC’s building.
A large marquee near Aljunied MRT Station is transformed for Amitabha Buddhist Centre’s Vesak Celebration, Singapore, May 2016. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
“Over the years, we have established a program with plenty of activities where people can make offerings and accumulate heaps of merit. Every year, we invite a group of monks over from Kopan Monastery. Together with our resident teacher Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, the monks perform a variety of pujas and people are welcome to sponsor and dedicate accordingly.
Dozens of volunteers offer many hours of service to help host the Vesak Celebration, Singapore, May 2016. Photo by Noelle Teoh.
“There are also offering options galore, from lotus candles to oil lamps, to flowers and incense. We have stations where people can make bath offerings to the infant Buddha, offer water to White Dzambhala, gild a statue of Buddha, pray to the 21 Taras, etc. All day until night, there is a retail bazaar with an array of Dharma-related crafts and holy objects and a station that showcases our free distribution books and CDs. Light snacks are available for purchase, and every Vesak Day, we offer a free vegetarian lunch to everyone who would like a meal.
Amitabha Buddhist Centre’s large thangka of Amitabha Buddha Pure Land, Singapore, May 2016. Photo by Louise Lu.
“We have a tradition of displaying a large central holy object where people can make offerings, circumambulate and turn a series of small prayer wheels. This year is the third year in a row that we have displayed our 50-foot (15-meter) tall thangka of Amitabha Buddha Pure Land. This enormous thangka was custom-made following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice that we should make one and display it on special festival days. It is mounted on a specially constructed steel scaffold and is clearly visible from the commuter trains that whiz by just beside it.
“Thousands of people have visited and supported our Vesak Celebration over the years and we were happy to welcome so many people again this year. It has become a familiar community event for many in our neighborhood that attracts people from all walks of life. The other wonderful thing about this festival is that it brings together so many of ABC’s old and new students and their families. For days and up to weeks ahead of Vesak, our volunteers devote amazing hours of their time to preparing for this.
“Vesak Celebration 2016 marks the 19th year that we have staged the event at the Aljunied MRT open field. We are looking forward to our 20th year of bringing the Vesak Celebration to the community in 2017.”
Hundreds of students and community members come to offer the large Amitabha Buddha thangka light during the evening, Singapore, May 2016. Photo by Yew Kim Guan.
This year the UN recognized Vesek with an International Day of Vesak celebration on Friday, May 20 in New York City. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a message that said in part, “the sacred commemoration of the Day of Vesak offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on how the teachings of Buddhism can help the international community tackle pressing challenges.” Read more on Lion’s Roar.
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