“සබ්බ පාපස්ස අකරණං –

කුසලස්ස උපසම්පදා

සචිත්ත පරියොදපනං –

එතං බුද්ධානසාසනං”

This… is the teaching of all Buddhas. It states that one’s intention should be to avoid all sins, to earn merit, and to control one’s mind.

Our Buddhist monastic culture was built for that. However, over time, those spiritual values ​​seem to have faded from monastic culture. Let us fill that gap. That is why the “Canterbury International Buddhist Meditation Centre” was established.

This sacred site, which is being built on a beautiful piece of land on Soysa Mawatha, donated by the venerable D.S. Jayathunga, between the Ruwanpura Expressway and the Canterbury Golf Resort Apartments and Residences housing complex in the Gonapola, Koralaima village of the Horana Divisional Secretariat Division of the Kalutara District, will become a place of great enlightenment in the near future.

The blessed Canterbury, filled with the right thoughts of the Most Venerable Vidurupola Samitharatana Thero, will be a place of healing and bliss for the great Sangha, rich in Dhamma and meaning, and will be an unparalleled place of merit for the pious and ascetic people.

Canterbury is complete with all the elements, including the white-colored Great Dagoba, the Dhatu Mandir rising on the top of the mountain, the cool, majestic Boruka, the Vihara Mandir that pacifies the mind, a forest environment with twenty-eight Bo trees, meditation chambers and promenades that cultivate the mind, the Dharmashala Mandir that cultivates the mind, the Sangha residence complex that provides comfort to the great Sangha, the water ponds that pacify the sun, the Deva Samhinda given to the gods that help in merit, the great Dharma library that cultivates the sound of the word, all the learning facilities for those aspiring to Dharma, and the community hall for worldly pursuits.

It is a secluded, doorless sanctuary filled day and night with virtuous people who love manual labor. It is a center that soothes, builds, and develops the mind of anyone who is tired of the burning passions called the Vikhatha Parilaha.

While fulfilling all the religious needs of the people, the ultimate aspiration is to provide opportunities for the study of the Tripitaka Dhamma, to endow a generation of devotees with rich knowledge of the Dhamma, and to function as a retreat center for practicing Samatha-Vipassana meditation. Services such as implementing a continuous Buddhist counseling service and providing space for learning Theravada Pali-Sutra-Abhidharma are also among them. Similarly, creating a proper learning environment for all those who are interested in learning Buddhism from the beginning is another step in this program.

A necessary propagation service will also be established to spread Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhism internationally.

So, why don’t we hurry to Canterbury?

Let us unite with a heart of merit, without delay, in this noble and proper practice for the sake of world peace.