WEB DESK
Buddha Purnima, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha, is being celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm by the Buddhist community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery, the oldest Buddhist monastery in the United Arab Emirates, which since 2009 has become a focal point for the country’s burgeoning Buddhist population, currently estimated to number as many as half a million people. On the occasion of Buddha Purnima the monastery is organising special prayer meetings, sessions on observing the 8 precepts, puja near the Great Bodhi Tree etc. Food is also being served to the devotees on the occasion. A significant number of the devotees visiting the monastery are from India.
Buddhists in the UAE are largely expatriate workers from countries in Asia with large Buddhist populations, including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery is part of a Sri Lanka-based organisation, founded in 1999 by Venerable Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero with the aim of benefiting all human beings by sharing the teachings of Lord Buddha.