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When traveling southwards from Colombo towards Galle, passing Beruwala you come across the "Kaluwamodara" bridge which is situated approximately 59 km (36 miles) from Colombo. Turn left upon passing the bridge and travel approximately 1 km towards "Kaalawila" to arrive at the Kande Viharaya. Situated majestically on top of a hill or "Kanda" (hence the name Kande Viharaya), the path that leads to the temple is bordered by rows & rows of trees. Trees which add beauty to the environment & serenity to the hearts & minds of the pilgrims who visit the Kande Viharaya.The Kande Viharaya is also known as the "Aluthgama Kande Viharaya" or "Bentota Kande Viharaya" because of its close proximity to the towns of Aluthgama & Bentota.

Performing rituals

For the adherent of Buddhism, the ritual of worship is essentially a respectful recognition of the greatness of the Buddha as a spiritual teacher. The ritual also implies an expression of gratitude to the Buddha for having discovered and revealed to humankind the path leading out of the mass of worldly suffering. Both these factors in combination make this ritual an expression of devotion as well.

The most common daily ritual of the Buddhist is that of personal worship, which many devout Buddhists perform daily in their homes. On the communal level the ritual is observed on the poya days at a temple or a monastery. A distinction may be made between simple respectful salutation (panama or panamana) and the ritualistic worship (vandana) accompanied by offerings of increasing complexity including food, drink, and clothing.

The former type is only an expression of respect and reverence as when a person clasps his hands in the gesture of worship in front of a religious symbol (e.g., a Buddha-statue, a Bodhi-tree, a dagaba, etc.) and recites a simple phrase like the well-known Namo tassa formula; nowadays the term sadhu has become quite popular with the Sinhala Buddhists for this purpose.Of the many articles of offering used at present in this kind of worship in Sri Lanka, flowers have become the most important and popular. They constitute the minimum requirement at any form of Buddhist worship. One can observe how the devotees arrange the flowers in various patterns on the altar. The color (vanna), smell (gandha), and quality (guna) of the flowers are taken into account when selecting them for offering. Before being offered, the flowers are "bathed" with filtered water (pan). Sometimes they are arranged in a tray (vattiya) and offered. A flower's blooming upon contact with light is regarded as symbolic of the attainment of Enlightenment, hence flowers become quite a fitting article for offering to the Buddha, the Enlightened One.

Another popular offering of much importance is that of lighted lamps, usually of coconut oil (dipa-puja or pahan-puja). As the Buddha is regarded as the dispeller of the darkness of ignorance, when lighted lamps are offered in his name this metaphorical contrast between the light of knowledge and the darkness of ignorance is taken as the theoretical basis for the ritual. This kind of symbolism being too deep for the vast majority of ordinary people, their motive for this ritual is usually the desire to acquire merit or to avert the evil influence of a bad planetary conjunction..

The offering of food and drink is still another aspect of the ritual of worship. When food is offered to the Buddha in a religious place it is usually done in front of a Buddha-image. If it is the morning meal that is offered, it would be something suitable for breakfast, usually milk-rice (kiribat). If it is lunch, it would be the usual rice-and-curry meal and is invariably offered before noon. It is an important part of this ritual that whatever food is offered in this manner should be separately prepared with special care and should not be tasted before the offering.

As regards the offering of drinks and beverages, it is customary to offer these prepared from fruit-juices. Unlike the solid foods, these may be offered in the afternoon, in keeping with the meal habits of the Buddhist monks. Offering of incense generally consists of joss sticks, these being the most easily available. Otherwise this offering is made by putting certain kinds of sweet-smelling powders or incense into glowing charcoal so that it smokes well. A kind of resin, known locally as sambrani, is the variety generally used.

The chew of betel (dahat-vita) is yet another item of offering. This is mostly for consumption after meals, and consists of betel leaves, arecanut, and certain other items like cloves, nutmeg, cardamons, etc. which give a pleasant smell and a pungent taste when chewed. For every kind of offering there are separate stanzas. These stanzas are composed in Pali, which is supposed to be the language in which the Buddha preached his doctrine.

Buddhists visit temples to make merit. They will usually begin with a visit to the shops where they will buy a set of offerings for Buddha. This will normally consist of flowers, candles, josh sticks and fruits. It is a way of donating to the temple.

Fragrant jasmine or frangipani and waterlily blooms left as offerings to the Buddha image

You can feel free to join in with the religious rituals. As long as you do it in a respectful manner, the locals will be happy to see you joining in and will point you in the right direction.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who paid a visit to the Aluthgama Kande Viharaya on his way back from Bentota

Group of Buddhist monks with the temple elephant

Text : InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu Nicoleta Leu InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Buddhist Chanting