Local Buddhists to unveil monument

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This article was published 28/05/2022 (1606 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A little bit of the Buddha has found a home in a south Winnipeg monastery with the completion of a large monument to his memory.

Under construction since last summer, the 7.5 metre high stupa, consisting of a white cement dome measuring about five metres in diameter and topped with a brass pinnacle, was scheduled to be unveiled at 9 a.m. today (Saturday) in a public ceremony at Mahamevanawa Buddhist Monastery, 2610 St. Mary’s Rd.

“We believe as a Buddhist people when we are worshipping Buddha’s relics and this monument, we are contemplating the Buddha’s qualities and we can make good karma and we can gain merit,” says Bhandthe Samadhi, a monk trained in Theravada Buddhism who has lived at the monastery since 2017.

The dome permanently houses a tiny bone relic of the Buddha, who died about 2,500 years ago (the actual dates are unknown), several replica relics, a tree of life, and other religious objects. The items were placed inside wood-lined chamber inside the structure during a ceremony held last September. The entrance is now permanently sealed.

Volunteers helped the two monks living at the centre to build the stupa from wood and metal, and then covered the exterior with 300 wheelbarrows full of cement mixed on site, says Samadhi.

“Many children came here and joined in the work with their parents,” he says of the volunteer effort to build the stupa.

This made-in-Manitoba stupa was reinforced to withstand our long, harsh winters, says the treasurer of the monastery’s board of directors, who spent many weekends last summer and fall working on the project.

Building a stupa and then witnessing the unveiling of the pinnacle, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the supporters of the monastery, many originally from Sri Lanka, says the treasurer of the board of directors, who didn’t want his name used.

In Sri Lanka, people with previous experience would lead a project like this, but the Winnipeg stupa was constructed entirely by volunteers, who did everything from laying the foundation to painting, says the treasurer.

“This is the first time for everyone,” he says of the construction project, estimated to cost $18,000.

“In Sri Lanka, you would help and there would be a lot of professionals who know how to do it, but here it is just us.”

Since construction began last summer, passing motorists have shown curiosity about the hemispherical object just south of the three-bedroom house on the sprawling 3.5 acre property, located just south of the Perimeter Highway.

“Some people drive by and they come by and ask what it is,” says the orange-robed Samadhi.

The stupa helps transform the former single-family property into a religious monastery and also provides a focus for prayer and meditation for the local Sri Lanka Buddhist community and the monks who live on site, says Samadhi.

“How we get used to a monk’s life in Sri Lanka is by fulfilling rituals,” he says.

“In these last years without a stupa, we could not fulfil those rituals.”

Currently the monastery is also constructing a large meditation hall at the entrance to the building, adding the square footage from a former two-car garage to an existing room to accommodate about 50 people for Sunday services and monthly meditation sessions.

Saturday’s unveiling marks the first large public event in two years at the monastery, also home to the Buddha Meditation Centre, which was established in 2015. During the last two years of shutdowns and gathering restrictions, the monks moved their free meditation classes online, but are now again offering them in person.

“We exist to spread the goodness for people,” says Samadhi of the work of the monks.

This stupa is the second in south Winnipeg, with another located at St. Norbert Arts Centre across the Red River. The Dharma Centre of Winnipeg and the Buddhist community of Manitoba constructed a peace pagoda at the former Trappist monastery in 2000 under the direction of a religious leader from Burma.

Brenda.suderman@freepress.mb.ca

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