Dhaka, Oct 5 – The Buddhist community today celebrated their second largest festival, Prabarana Purnima, in the city as elsewhere in the country in a befitting manner and with due solemnity.
The festival is also known as Ashvini Purnima that marks the conclusion of the three-month-long seclusion of the monks inside their monasteries for self-edification and atonement of their defilement.
The Purnima follows a month-long preaching of sermons by the Buddhist monks for the welfare of all beings and the whole humankind through a month-long yellow robe offering ceremony that begins the day after the Purnima.
According to the legend, Buddha once clipped some strands of hair from his head and said that if he were qualified to attain supreme wisdom and enlightenment, the hairs would not fall down but go up instead, in the long run, which they did.
Meanwhile, the Sammilita Buddha Samity this year cancelled the release of candlelit air balloons made of coloured paper and set free to flow towards the sky in the evening which is the chief attraction of the festival.
The Buddhists decided to cancel the festivity in protest against the grisly persecution of the Rohingya by the Myanmar government and express solidarity with the present governments’ stance on the crisis.
The Buddhists in Bangladesh will donate to the relief fund for the Rohingya refugees.
The Purnima was celebrated in all monasteries, respective offices of the religious organizations and educational institutions through day-long programmes.
The programmes began with hoisting of the national and religious flags atop all monasteries at dawn and chanting of the sacred verses from the Tripitaka.
The breaking of fasting of the monks, mass prayers, blood donations, Sangadanas, discussions, panchashila and Pradip puja were the highlights of the programmes.
In the city, the main religious congregations were held at Dharmarajik Bouddha Bihar, International Buddha Temple, Kalachandpur Bouddha Bihar, Uttara Bouddha Bihar and Ashulia Maithree Bhabona Kendra.
In Chittagong, the religious congregations were held at different temples including Nandankanan Buddhist temple, Katalganj Nabapandit Vihar, Shakyamuni Mohasashan Bouddha Vihar at Agrabad, Purnachar International Buddhists Monastery at Devpahar and Sarbajanin Bouddha Vihar at Momin road.
Special prayers were held in all monasteries seeking peace and prosperity of the nation as well as global peace. – BSS
