The Buddhist Council of New York’s 23rd Annual Vesak Day Celebration
I ended my recent visit(s) to New York City this past week by attending the Buddhist Council of New York‘s 23rd Annual Wesak Day Celebration at the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York. The theme of the celebration this year was “How to Balance Personal Growth and Public Responsibility: When, Why and How to Engage in the Pressing Issues of Our Times, and When, Why and How to Disengage.”
The Buddhist Council of New York explains their purpose in this way:
- The Buddhist Council of New York is an association of Buddhist Temples and organizations whose mission is to foster dialogue, cooperation and unity within the Buddhist Community in New York area, as well as to observe Vesak (commemorating the Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha) each year.
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In addition to Vesak, the Council has co-sponsored the Living Buddhist Masters Lecture Series at Columbia University with the Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministry.
This year’s Wesak Celebration activities began with a procession through Madison Square Park that ended at the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York. Afterwards, invocations, readings, and vows were offered by various members and member groups of the Buddhist Council. Following that and a short period of silent meditation, the children and young adults of the Buddhist Council of New York presented a play entitled Yasodharā. Written and produced by Rochelle Weithorn and directed by Miriam Faugno, and drawing heavily on Thich Nhat Hanh’s hagiography Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha, the short musical tells the story of the Buddha’s life through the eyes of his wife.
Once the play concluded, the keynote speeches began. This year’s keynote speakers were Ven. Bhante Kurunegoda Piyatissa of the New York Buddhist Vihara, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara of the Village Zendo and Zen Peacemakers, and the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche of Nalandabodhi Intenational–an outstanding and eclectic group to be sure. Each spoke briefly on the conference theme, which, incidentally, was suggested by the Shambhala Center’s Acharya Judith Lief. (Buddhist chaplains and caregives will know Acharya Lief from her wonderful book Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality.) Once the speakers concluded with their talks, they graciously took questions from the audience.
I was delighted to be able to attend the celebration on my way out of the city. It was especially nice to see my old Naropa University professor Ponlop Rinpoche. And it was also lovely to be able to meet in person two folks I’m interviewing for an upcoming post: Robert Chodo Campbell and Koshin Paley Ellison of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program. Stay tuned for our conversation at this blog.
I leave you with photographs I took of the three keynote speakers. Enjoy.
Ven. Bhante Kurunegoda Piyatissa.
Roshi Enkyo O’Hara.
The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
