The construction of the first Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda in Sri Lanka, called “Vietnam International Meditation Center”, was kicked off at the ground-breaking ceremony held in Ampakotte, Digana on July 4.
Present at the ceremony included Ven. Dedasgama Dhammananda from Asgiri Temple and other monks from the host country, and large numbers of monks and nuns from Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Germany, Russia, etc, who are taking Buddhist courses in Sri Lanka.
Ven. Thích Thiện Đạt and other Vietnamese monks and nuns perform prayers at the ceremony
The ground-breaking ceremony featured Buddhist rituals of Sri Lanka and Vietnam and was coordinated by Ven. Thích Thiện Đạt and other Vietnamese monks and nuns studying in the host country.
As reported at the event, the first Vietnamese Buddhist center will be built on an area of over 8,000m2 of land 15km from Kandy city which lies within the Ampakotte Meditation Center and was donated by the Sri Lankan Buddhist center and accepted by Ven. Thích Thiện Đạt.
As designed, the Vietnamese Buddhist center will include a main worshipping temple, a meditation hall, a lotus pond, accommodations for monks, car park, etc, with the total investment of nine billion VND (over 0.4 million USD).
Studying monks and nuns from overseas at the ceremony
PTT
