Speech
as delivered by
Mr. Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand
At the Ottawa Vesak Day and Asian Heritage Month Celebrations
Sunday 4 May 2014, City Hall
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Venerable Members of the Sanga,
Your Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa,
Honorable Royal Galipeau, MP,
Honorable Jack MacLaren, MPP,
Councillor Shad Qudri,
Mr. Visita Leelaratna, Founder of Sirin Foundation,
Fellow Buddhists and Asian community,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the weekend and the month which the Asian
community should rightly feel proud to be Canadians.
Yesterday, my wife and I were in Toronto Police
Headquarters, joining Police Chief William Blair and the Asian
community in Toronto to celebrate the embracing of diversity and
strengthening of community partnerships with the City Police.
This afternoon, the Royal Thai Embassy joins the Asian
community in expressing our gratitude and appreciation to His
Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa, for his leadership
in proclaiming May 14th Vesak Day in Ottawa and for calling
upon all citizens to honour and celebrate strength in diversity here
in the capital city of Canada.
When Mr, Visita Leelaratna of Sirin Foundation approached
me to participate and support the Vesak Day and the Asian
Heritage Month Celebrations, I accepted his thoughtful gesture
with great enthusiasm.
Buddhism is a main pillar of the Thai nation.
It was Thailand which was instrumental in working with other
nations to get Vesak Day recognized by the United Nations
General Assembly. 90 % of its 65 million people call themselves
Buddhists. Like Buddhists all over the world, Thais regard
Vesak Puja the most important day among all Buddhist holidays.
On the full moon night of May, Thais
celebrate nationwide, making merits, chanting and mediation in
solemn dedication to the recollection of the Buddha who was born
on Vesak day.
Two hundred years or so after the Buddha's passing away,
again, also on Vesak Day, the great Buddhist Emperor, King
Asoka of India, dispatched small groups of monastics to travel
throughout the world, one was sent to Southeast Asia.
The Theravada tradition of Buddhism re-established itself with the
mergence of Thai kingdom in the 13th century.
The first King of Sukhothai built a monastery for a community of
forest trained monks from Sri Lanka. This began the close
relationship between the Thai nation and Theravada Buddhism
which has continued until the present day,
Thailand is now home to over 40,000 monasteries and
temples. In the past and up till now to a certain extent, temples
act as centre of village life, a bit like this City Hall, providing
social services, teaching, schooling, counseling, healing, sheltering
and food for the needy, Temples are different from monasteries in
location, Monasteries tend to be located in forested areas where
the monks tend to spend more time on meditation practice.
Since my arrival in Canada last October, I am very happy to
personally witness the spread of Buddhism from Thailand
in Canada of both temple and monastery traditions.
One leading venerable master, Phra Dhammongkolyarn of a
very popular temple in Bangkok has set up 6 temples across
Canada. In each of these temples, there is a "Will Power Institute "
which offers simple and powerful meditation technique for
everyone. The nearest to Ottawa is in Kanata, I am grateful that
two of its resident monks are joining this celebration with us this
afternoon.
Another influential meditation master, the late Luangpoh
Chah of forest tradition has a monastery branch in Perth, Ontario,
an hour and a half drive from here. Tisarana Buddhist Monastery
has been supervised by a senior resident monk, a Canadian son of
Latvian origin. He gives dhamma talk ( Buddhist teaching )
and offers meditation practice as well as conducts regular
retreats for all interested individuals, majority of whom are
Canadians from all ages and walks of life.
I am certain that temples and monasteries from other Asian
countries are making no less contribution across Canada.
Most Canadians should not find the dhamma or Buddhist
teaching strange because they hold dear to their hearts the pursuit
of freedom and happiness while extending generosity and
compassion even to strangers and migrants from much poorer
backgrounds.
These essentially are the same basic values of those who follow
and practice dhamma. The next step and eventually the ultimate
result of dhamma practice is freedom from all suffering and from
the causes of suffering, It is the perfection of wisdom, compassion
and inner freedom.
The Buddha invited those who are interested in his discovery of
truth to investigate through the training of the mind, which is
meditation, in order to enable wisdom to arise, feeling the
sensation of non self and letting go of ego and desires for a
complete liberation of mind and supreme happiness or Nivarna
which the Buddha attained on Vesak Day 25000 years ago,
I thank each one of you for being part of this celebration.