Wesak Eve Observance
Wesak Full-moon marks the anniversary of Buddha’s Enlightenment twenty-six centuries ago. In the 1950s and 1960s, several international Buddhist conferences had recommended naming the occasion ‘Buddha Day’ to honour the Blessed One’s Awakening. Hence, Nalanda Buddhist Society had been using the terms ‘Buddha Day’ and ‘Wesak Day’ interchangeably since 2003.
Read moreIn late May, Nalanda Centre was honoured by the visit by most Venerable Sayadaw U Nandasiddhi – a well-known meditation teacher and abbot of Nirodhārama Meditation Centre in Ayer Tawar, Perak. Sayadawgyi was a disciple of the late Sayadaw U Panditābhivamsa, who passed away just a few months ago.
Read moreOn Monday 20 June, a chained female jaguar named Juma was trotted out for the Olympic torch relay through the Brazilian city of Manaus, which begs the question, ‘why?’ What has a chained jaguar got to do with the Olympic Games?
Read moreFathers are often the unsung heroes in the family. Patriarch, leader, provider, protector, counselor – modern dads play as varied a role to their children as mothers do. Children who are supported by mothers and fathers are indeed blessed. But the Buddha also taught that those who support their parents are equally blessed.
Read moreOn Thursday 9 June, Nalanda Centre was honoured to host Venerable Geshe Dorji Damdul for a special Dhamma Lecture on “The essence of Tibetan Buddhism and its general misconceptions”. It was His Eminence’s first visit to Malaysia, which was coordinated by the Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia (VBCM). Besides Nalanda Centre, Geshe-la also gave lectures at the Buddhist Gem Fellowship and Universiti Malaya (hosted by the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia) during his brief tour.
Read moreFour officers of the Sri Dalada Maligawa (Buddha Holy Tooth Relic Temple) in Kandy, Sri Lanka recently visited Nalanda Centre for a meeting with founder Bro Tan. Led by one of its Directors, Mr. Gamini Bandara, the officials had a two-hour discussion on recent educational programmes run by the Sri Dalada Maligawa.
Read moreOn Sunday, 12 June, Bro. Tan gave a Dhamma talk which re-energised our spiritual learning and practice, after the busy Wesak Buddha Day period. He reminded us that we needed to grow with wisdom after years of learning the Dhamma. Wisdom helps us to be more humane, kind and considerate.
Read moreThe purpose of Buddhist education is the attainment of Wisdom and Purity. The Buddha taught that attaining Wisdom is key to liberation from ignorance.
Read moreOn 1 June, we were blessed to have Venerable U Vijaya from Indonesia to lead the weekly meditation at Nalanda Centre, Sri Serdang. Ven. Vijaya explained that if we had faith in the Buddha, then we must be ready to walk the path He taught, and practise the Dhamma well. We must strengthen our Viriya (Right Effort) and keep our Sīla (virtue) strong.
Read moreOn Buddha Day 21 May, Nalanda founder Bro. H. S. Tan conducted a 2-hour Sutta Study session based on the theme of the Wesak celebrations – ‘A Life of Wisdom‘. Despite it being a very long day with many other on-going Wesak activities, the mid-afternoon session attracted a large attendance of more than 160 people, with some devotees even traveling from other states to Nalanda Centre.
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