What comes to
mind when you think of Vesak? I am sure you’re reminded of observing sil, going
to the temple and worshipping, the jathaka stories, the stories from life
of Lord Buddha, the importance of the Dhamma etc. I am sure that thoughts of
making Vesak koodu (lanterns) at home, of the lavishly lit thoran
(pandols) and dansal will run on the fringe of your mind as well.
Whilst the
religious activities continued throughout the weekend, where many visited the
temples to observe sil or to engage in the Dhamma, at night, the country
was up in lights and music. Throngs of people walked on the roads or got in to
trucks to go see Vesak. To enjoy the massive thoran which depict stories
from Lord Buddha’s life or to enjoy food from a dansala.
Speaking of
Dansal, the only thing that comes to a Sri Lankan’s mind is food! Various kinds
of food, be it a hot meal of rice and curry or ice cream. However, this year
Beyond Borders gave the word dansala and its concept, a whole new
meaning! Working on the lines of inspiring, Beyond Borders decided to have an
‘Inspiration Dansala’ whereby distributing quotes from the Dhammapada,
to the general public making the people more aware of the meaning behind this
religious celebrations.
Joining the
people on the streets of Colombo, the guys and girls from Beyond Borders gathered
near the Gangarama Temple to spread the inspiration to the people. With a few
hiccups at the start, the distribution of these quotes had a lovely response
with some people coming behind the energetic team asking for more sticker quotes,
or asking for translations!
Even though
our team was a little hesitant in getting this going, we felt welcomed by the
response from the people. The overall experience was overwhelming!
The original post can be found on the Beyond Borders blog.