Dæhæna - Monthly e-Newsletter October 2020 Volume 15 Issue 10 Volume 1, Issue 1 Radio 4EB Sri Lankan Group Web Address: https://4ebsrilankan.wordpress.com/ Contact: [email protected] The Significance of Katina Robe Offering Celebrating Older Persons and Grandparents The month of October is important to Buddhists all over the world The month of October marks two days to celebrate the senior citizens. as it is the time for annual Katina Robe Offering Ceremony in tem- The United Nations International Day for Older Persons (UNIDOP) ples. It is a practice since Buddha’s days for the Buddhist Monks to falls on 1 October while the last Sunday of each year is the Australian observe a three-month seclusion period starting from the month of Grandparents Day (AGD). July, and conduct special Dhamma programs including meditation Globally, there were 703 million persons aged 65 or over in 2019. Over retreats in Buddhist temples. The culmination of this special period the next three decades, the number of older persons worldwide is pro- is all lay devotees getting together and offering monastics gifts such jected to more than double, reaching more than 1.5 billion persons in as robes and alms. This year in Brisbane, the Katina ceremonies in 2050. All regions will see an increase in the size of the older population Forest Lake and Goodna temples have been scheduled to be held between 2019 and 2050. on the last week of October and first week of November, respec- tively. This year (2020) marks the 30th anniver- The tradition and the sary of the UNIDOP. Considering the manner of holding far higher risks faced by the older per- these events has sons amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, evolved gradually over the policies are to be targeted to raising the years. But it is the awareness of their special needs. practice in most tem- In Queensland, Grandparents Day is ples for a group of lay celebrated on the last Sunday of October people to get together each year. It is a day to recognise the special role played by the grand- to form a team parents and their contribution they make to their families and commu- (Katina Group) and nities. sponsor special religious functions such as Dhamma Talks, Pujas in consultation with the venerable monks of the temple. In addition to Grandparents Day is a chance for grandchildren, children and the com- the spiritual practices, the Katina Group also prepares and carries munity to thank grandparents for their love and support out special tasks in the temple such as cleaning the premises, and Courtesy: https://www.un.org/development/desa/ageing/international-day-of-older-persons- upgrading and maintaining the existing buildings. Most members of homepage/2020unidop.html Katina Group take part themselves in these events and encourage https://www.qld.gov.au/seniors/recreation-staying-connected/events-awards/grandparents- their friends and relatives to join them. At the end of the 3-month day period, a Pirith Ceremony at night, followed by a Dana Ceremony (alms giving) next day, is organised. Specially prepared Katina Robe Inside this issue: is offered before the commencement of the alms-giving function. For these ceremonies, usually all the monks and nuns in neighbour- ing temples are invited and most lay people make it a point to par- News Digest: September 2020 2 ticipate at least in these final ceremonies annually and share merits. පදයක වණ, App of the Month, Raigam Tele’es 3 Lay people offer robes, alms and all other needs for the regular maintenance of the temple. Dinesh Palipana Graduates as a Lawyer, Book Launch 4 In Buddhist texts it is stated that the Katina robe offering is one of Teaching Mother Languages 5 the highest offerings and the most meritorious of skilful deeds. Furthermore, because of these annual ceremonies, the close symbi- රසකතා: මහා කǒ තතොටගතේ ශ්රී, රාල න හා 6 otic relationship between the monastics and the laity is further ce- පත න් නිවන් ුව, Tony Opatha Passes Away mented. The continuation of the Buddha Sasana very much de- 7 pends upon the upholding of the Buddha’s teachings (Dhamma) Book Review, Ex Servicemen’s Association Office Bearers, and discipline (Vinaya) by both the monastic and the lay communi- Morris Wijesinghe Passes Away 8 ties. Where they are Now..., Stories behind the Names of Sri The Annual Katina Ceremony is undoubtedly helping to achieve Lanka, Tennyson Cooray Passes Away 9 these supreme goals. Nudge: How Behavioural Economics Can Shape Your Deci- Donald Gunatillake sions 10 Donald Gunatillake is a retired Civil Engineer who is keen in Brisbane Events 11 studying Buddhism. Brisbane Events Calendar, Things to Do, Program Schedule 12 Volume 15 Issue 10 Page 2 Monthly News Digest: September 2020 2 01 John Keells Holdings ranked Sri Lanka’s Most Respected Entity for https://island.lk/john-keells-holdings-ranked-sri-lankas- a record 15th year most-respected-entity-for-a-record-15th-year/ 02 Senior Prof. Nilanthi de Silva new VC of Kelaniya University https://island.lk/senior-prof-nilanthi-de-silva-new-vc-of- kelaniya-university/ 07 Dr. Palitha Kohona to be appointed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67038/dr-palitha- China kohona-appointed-sri-lankas-ambassador-to-china 09 Members appointed to Committee on High Posts http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67087/members- appointed-to-committee-on-high-posts 08 Construction of new buildings for Govt. institutions halted for two http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/construction-of-new- years buildings-for-govt-institutions-halted-for-two-years/ 09 Pandemonium as Premalal is sworn in http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/Pandemoni um-as-premalal-is-sworn-in/238-195485 09 President calls for immediate rehabilitation of 5,000 tanks http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67110/president-calls- for-immediate-rehabilitation-of-5000-tanks 10 Sri Lanka receives two WHO Awards https://www.newsradio.lk/local/sri-lanka-receives-two- who-awards/ 14 12 new High Court Judges appointed http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67216/12-new-high- court-judges-appointed 20 Falan Andrea becomes new Derana Dream Star http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67361/falan-andrea- becomes-new-derana-dream-star 22 Prof. Charitha Herath appointed COPE chairman http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67426/prof-charitha- herath-appointed-cope-chairman 22 Draft Bill of 20A tabled in Parliament amidst protests http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67417/draft-bill-of-20a- tabled-in-parliament-amidst-protests 23 Prof. Tissa Vitharana appointed COPA chairman http://www.adaderana.lk/news/67456/prof-tissa- vitharana-appointed-copa-chairman 30 Cattle slaughter banned, Beef imports allowed http://www.dailynews.lk/2020/09/30/local/230177/cattl e-slaughter-banned-beef-imports-allowed Volume 15 Issue 10 Page 3 3 පදයක වණ: මමෝᇒ엓මේ බැම Raigam Tele'es 2019 Wajira Jayawardana Hosts Rai- රාත්රීර කානතී ම මහමග ම දන්න්හට නෙතවහවා යෙ ප පෙවතසහ තමිගේත The 16th Raigam Tele gam Tele’es අවතාරය නා㶂තේය සමාජතී වඩාත් ප්රදචලිතත 姀වන්. ස㶂හන ජහශ්රැෙතිය ය ළ Awards ceremony was held මර්ඝ කානයක සට පෙවතතහ තමිගේ පිᗒවද කතා퇔වත්වනට සවන් මමට recently. The Award Cere- ඇතෙතමේ ප්රිසයතාවේ දේවතිය . ඇතෙතමේ එම燒න් �යට පත්තවතිය . තකතසේ mony was scheduled to be ǔවද තමිගේ පිᗒවද ස㶂කල්පතී ප්රදභවවය හා භවාǒතය ස්බවන්යතයන් held on 21 March 2020, but ජහතාව ළ පවතිය නුතී අල්පාවතවියයන්. delayed due to COVID-19 තමිගේ යනු ‘තමිහහ’ යහ පදතී ස්ත්රීර ිත㶂ගාර්යය ප. ‘තමිහහ’ යහ pandemic. පදතයන් අර්යවත් වනුතී සත් වසගǓම, නා Ǔම තහි එේ 퇔뷊ගනතය槔 In the best award category, ǒසන් තවත් 퇔뷊ගනතය槔ත මහස න්සය්බ තමතහයǓමකට නේ න්මන්. Raigam Tele'es Award for එය මතහිǒදාාත්මක කණේ වහ අතර ‘තමිගේ’ යහ තයදුම the best teledrama actor was ‘ආකර්ෂණය නවන්ගේ’ වෙනි අතන්න් තයතදන්හන්. නූතහතී පවා won by Ananda Kumara A key host of Raigam Tele’es this ද槔귔 ඉන් මය ජහ සමාජතී තමය 퇔뷊ගන හාමයේ තනස භවාǒත තකතර්. Unnehe and best teledrama year was the popular presenter Wa- actress was Shalani Tharaka. නා㶂තේය සමාජතී අපට අසන්හට නෙතවහ තමිගේ ුදු සායන්න් jira Jayawardana who is the host of In popular award category, සෙරී දතව槔 වඩාතගහ සටිහ ස්ත්රිහයන්. ඇය දර්ශහය වහවා යෙ ප Kavi 10ta Gee 10. Raween Kanishka won the පෙවතසන්තන් රාත්රීර කානතී මහමග තනිව ගමන් ගන්හා 퇔ෂ පන්ට most popular actor award පම귒. තම සමාජǒදාාත්මක හා මතහිǒදාාත්මක භවාǒතය අවතවිය Wajira contributes his segment for the second consecutive “Muthu Etayaka Kathawak” to කර ගෙගේම සදහා තමිගේ පිᗒවද උත්පත්තිය කතාව දප්රදතයිජහවත් තේ. time. Meanwhile Shalani Sandella program twice a month. ද槔귔 ඉන් මය ජහශ්රැෙතිය යකට අනුව අතයතතී එේ තණ ස්ත්රිහයේ Tharaka won the most 퇔ෂ පන් අතිය න් සහ දූෂණයකට නේව ඝාතහය Ǔතියතේ. පුව ඇයත popular actress award, breaking 24 year old record for winning both සර පාᗔ වහ තපතදසක රහසගතව ව දමා ඇත. තවොතහි කනකට awards at the same time. The Prathibha Prabha award was given to පුව එම ප්රදත뷊ශතී වගා කටුතත්තේ ආර්බභව ක තණතයේ �්බ the veteran filmmaker, Sumitra Peries. Two more special awards සෙකී්බ සදු කර뷊 ම තපොත ොතවන් මළපිටට රළ 쇒රය පෙ ණතියතේ. were given to veteran musician Manoj Peries and veteran actress පුව එම 쇒රය සරේ වවට පත් Ǔ දතව槔 ද අතිය න් තගහ තණයාට Leonie Kotelawala. Meanwhile, Himali Sayurangi won Special Ap- තමන්ව භවාර ගන්හා තනස පවසා තිය තේ. ඇතේබ කතාවකට අනුව ඇය එම preciation Award due to being nominated three consecutive times තණයාව ඝාතහය කර තිය තේ.