Prayers

10 March 2019

Tragic air crash in Ethiopia

A scheduled Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed shortly after it took off this morning, at around 8.44AM local time.  The Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft was carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members.  As of press time, there were no news of any survivors.

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8 March 2019

5th Anniversary of MH370

Today, we mark the poignant 5th anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on 8 March 2014.  Let us spend a moment to reflect on the characteristic of life – its fleeting nature, impermanence, and uncertainty. “Sabbe sankhara anicca’ti” – all conditioned things are impermanent, indeed.

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29 October 2018

Deadly air crash in Indonesia

This morning at 7.30am Malaysian time, we received the tragic news that Lion Air JT610 had crashed into the Java Sea minutes of taking off from Jakarta.  The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft with 189 people on board was on a scheduled flight to Pangkal Pinang on Bangka Island.

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30 September 2018

Pray for the people of Palu

An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale and a series of powerful aftershocks that followed devastated the city of Palu in Central Sulawesi on Friday 28 September, killing more than 400 people and causing widespread damages.  The severe quake also caused a tsunami which resulted in further casualties in the area.

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29 September 2018

5th Memorial Day for respected teachers

29 September 2018 marks the 5th anniversary of the passing of eminent Tipitaka and Pāli Scholar, Venerable Prof. Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thero, and renowned meditation teacher, Acharya Satya Narayan Goenka.  Nalandians pay tribute and express our gratitude to them for their significant contributions towards the propagation of Buddha-Sāsana.  We wish both our teachers the highest bliss of Peace, ‘Santi’.

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8 August 2018

Prayers for the people of Lombok

On Sunday 5 August, a very strong earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale wreaked havoc on the Indonesian island of Lombok, near Bali.  The death toll from the earthquake has risen past 347.  Another 1,447 people were injured and 165,003 displaced.

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27 July 2018

Obituary – Ven. Dr. Madewela Punnaji

It is with deep respect and a heavy heart that we announce the passing away of Venerable Dr. Madewela Punnaji Māha Thero (born 26 November 1929) in Sri Lanka earlier today, 27 July 2018.  Ven. Punnaji was a resident monk for more than a decade at the Buddhist Māha Vihāra in Kuala Lumpur.  After the passing of the late abbot Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda, Ven. Punnaji assumed many of the teaching duties there, where he established a following of students keen to learn Pāli suttantā.

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17 July 2018

Remembering the victims of MH17

4 years ago today, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 took off from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at 12.31pm local time on its return leg to Kuala Lumpur.  3 hours later, the Boeing 777 was shot down over Eastern Ukraine, causing the loss of all 298 innocent lives on board.  Sadly, no party was held accountable for the terrorist attack until today.  Justice is still not served.

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12 March 2018

Tragic air-crash in Kathmandu

Just days after the 4th anniversary of MH370’s disappearance, another tragic air-crash happened this afternoon in Nepal when a turboprop passenger aircraft was attempting to land at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.  Flight BS 211 belonging to US-Bangla Airlines was flying on a scheduled flight from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to Kathmandu with 71 people on board.

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11 March 2018

Tōhoku tragedy remembered

On 11 March 2011, at 2.46PM local time, a catastrophic 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan near Sendai, causing widespread damages and triggering a powerful tsunami that struck coastal villages and towns with great ferocity.

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