Sri Lankan Buddhist monk holds meditation session in Turkiye

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - A meditation session was held in Sri Lanka’s Embassy in Turkiye.

In a statement, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Ankara Mohamed Rizvi Hassen said this is the first time that the embassy organized a meditation session to commemorate Vesak, the most sacred religious event in the Buddhist calendar as it marks the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Gautam Buddha on the full moon of the month of May.

Hassen said that Venerable Bhante Pannawansa Thero, a Sri Lankan monk and meditation master who is currently residing in Athens Buddhist Temple, accepted his invitation to visit Turkiye to conduct "this very important and meritorious activity to commemorate Vesak 2022.”

"As you all are aware meditation is a method of relaxing your mind and soul and also wishing all beings to be safe, protected, healthy, peaceful, and well," he added.

Ahead of the session, in his speech to introduce the underlying philosophy of meditation, the master stressed the importance of being in the present moment, instead of overthinking of past and future.

"We suffer in our life unnecessarily by overthinking. Our life is overwhelmed by unnecessary thoughts. We are usually in the past or in the future," he said.

Highlighting the significance of the present moment, he said: "We do not enjoy the present moment. This is the problem of the man. If we think of the past, usually all the past suffering comes to us. If we go to the future, we are lost in projects and our future programs.”

Living in this moment is the unique path to finding nirvana, the meditator master said, adding: "All other religious leaders have instructed us to be in the present moment. Past is gone. Future has not yet come."

Touching upon the etymological root of meditation and medicine, he said: "In many western languages, meditation and medicine come from the same language root. It means our ancestors have understood that meditation is therapy too. Both come from the root of "medi-" the same language root."

Following his speech, a half-hour session was held, and later on, the "Almsgiving ceremony", a Buddhist ritual was practiced to offer basic gifts of rice, fresh fruits, and traditional sweet snacks to the monk.