Apr 20, Colombo: Sri Lanka is preparing for a public exposition of the Buddha’s hair relic to commemorate the 2600th anniversary of the Buddha’s Enlightenment that falls in May 2011.
Responding to a request made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his official visit to Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has agreed to release the Buddha’s hair relic deposited at Chittagong to be taken to Sri Lanka for a public exposition to mark the 2600th Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi commemoration.
Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Secretariat of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Moral Upliftment began the implementation of a special programme in January 2009 and it is to culminate in the Vesak festival that falls on May 17 this year.
The Secretariat said the commemoration programme of the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi provides an exemplary precedence for this effort.
Citing statistics, the Secretariat says that following the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi commemoration in 1955, the number of crimes did not rise with the increase of population but in fact went down, indicating that a religious reawakening could diminish crime and enhance moral behavior in the society.
“Unlike the commemorations of 2500 years and 2550 years of the Parinirvana, this being the commemoration of the 2600th anniversary of the Buddha’s Enlightenment , it is possible to launch a more dynamic process to prevent any further decline of social and moral values and to bring about an enduring improvement in social and moral behavior,” the Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Secretariat noted.