2004 Annual report

2004 marks the eighth year for the Great Lakes Buddhist Vihara (GLBV), which is located in Southfield Michigan. We have once again had a flourishing year and it is with great pleasure that we present to you the summary of the progress we have made in 2004.  We were able to make significant accomplishments because of your hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm along with your financial and spiritual support. We would like to express our deepest gratitude and blessings to each and every one of you for all your generous contributions and diligent efforts.  

Board of trustees-

  The 2004 Board of trustees are as follows;

President: Rev. Brahmanagama Muditha; Vice-president: Vijitha Kiridena, Treasurer: Liyana Chandrapala, Joint secretaries: Gomika Udugamasooriya & Richard Smith, Trustees: Rev. Yatinuwara Sankichcha, Champa Dassanayake, Subhadra Deundara, Harsha Jayathilake and Sunil Jayawardane.

  We expressed our sincere appreciation to the Board of Trustees of the year 2003, Namely Vice-president: Hapuwita Dissanayaka, Treasurer: Lohitha Dewasurendra, Secretary: Andrew Nancarrow and Trustees: Gothamie Matthew, Rohana Jayathilake and Mahinda Ranasinghe.

    Resident monks-

Our sincere appreciation goes to the resident monks at Great Lakes Budhist Vihara ; Rev. Muditha as the abbot, Rev. sankichcha and Rev. Buddhananda for providing us the spiritual guidance and inspiration throughout the year. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Rev. Sathindriya who left the GLBV to give his service to Buddhists in Minnesota. Also our heartfelt gratitude goes to the visiting senior monk Rev. Piyarathana who served the GLBV for nearly one year sharing his Dhamma thoughts and experience with the Michigan Buddhist community. We warmly and respectfully welcomed Rev. Rathanapala who arrived at GLBV as a new resident monk.

Religious and Cultural Ceremonies-

Buddha Pooja

The special Buddha Pooja (devotional offering) marked the beginning of GLBV’s calendar year 2004, invoking blessings and wishing all a happy and prosperous new year. 

Aurudu Udanaya (Sri Lankan New Year)

In May, GLBV conducted a Sri Lankan New Year event for the purpose of educating our younger generation in religious and cultural traditions associated with the New Year according to Sri Lankan customs. We wish to thank Darshana Thalagala and the dhamma school staff and the organizers for making this a successful event.

Children’s Vesak Day-

A Vesak program for the children was conducted at the Vihara premises on May 16^th and we would like to thank again the Dhamma school staff and all parents and children for their support and attendance, making it a very special day.

Vesak celebration-

The Vesak celebration for the public was held on Sunday, May 30^th.  As always, this was a very successful event which included a sill observance retreat. A special thank goes to the Wayne State Sri Lankan Student body for providing Dana for the monks and Sil observants along with lunch for participants. Later in the day, we held the popular Bhathi Geetha (devotional songs) presentation which was performed by our talented members and their children. This was followed by the annual flower basket auction and a bountiful Dansala. All of this took place around a splendid display of Vesak Lanterns made by parents and children and a special electrical decorations arranged by Danister Abeygunawardane and the team. We wish to acknowledge the efforts of everyone involved in this event for making this event a great success.

Katina & Pirith chanting-

The Katina ceremony was held at the Finnish Center Hall on October 26^th, and was the other major religious event for the year, proceeded by evening Pirith chanting on October 25^th at the GLBV premises. For the Katina Pooja we were pleased to have 20 venerable monks participating in this meritorious event for the first time in GLBV history. We wish to express our sincere thanks to Sarath & Sandhya Silva and their family for being the key sponsors of the Katina ceremony and especially for taking care of the monks during the Vassana season. We wish to acknowledge the efforts of everyone involved in these two events for making them truly successful.

Regular Services-

In 2004, GLBV continued to conduct its many regular services throughout the year. These services include: Sunday Buddha Vandana, Dhamma sermons, Bi-weekly Sunday Dhamma and Sinhala class for children, weekly meditation programs, and the monthly Sil program.  In addition to these programs, this year we were able to sponsor four one-day complete meditation retreats and to start a special Wednesday meditation program for beginners.

We would like to thank our Dhamma school staff; Rev. Sankichcha, director Dharshana Thalagala, Pahan Godakumbura, Sanjaya Abeysirigunawardene and Dinuka Abeydheera for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm for the benefit of the Dhamma School. We would also like to thank all of the volunteers, parents and children for their participation and commitment as this program continues to flourish.

Several high schools, junior high schools and university student groups continuously seek GLBV’s services while inviting monks to their institutes and organizing their programs in the Vihara.

Key Project of the 2004-

The most notable achievement for the year 2004 was the selling of the old Vihara property which had become a real burden for the GLBV for over 9 months. H.R. Dissanayake and his wife Amitha, decided to buy this property to take the burden off of GLBV. Once again we all would like to thank Disa and Amitha for their great commitment on this matter. GLBV was able to pay off the personal loan of $40.000. We also need to thank Deepthi Weerappuli for the hard work done in handling the real state matters.

Other significant steps we have taken to communicate with the public include; creating the newsletter, publishing of advertisements and pamphlets about our meditation programs and setting up a mailing system. We also wish to thank to Srini De Mel for maintaining GLBV website.

Contributions and fundraising events-

Our thanks go to the team led by Ranjan and Suri for organizing several fund raising events at the vihara premises. Also our sincere thanks go to the Sri Lankan students and their families at Wayne State for organizing a fund raising event on campus with the support of other congregational members. Our dedicated congregational members organized three Shramadanas (volunteer activities) to beautify the vihara property.

We would like to express our appreciation to the congregational members who made considerable material donations during the last year. Specially, we like to acknowledge Jayapalan family from Ames, Iowa for helping the vihara to purchase a multi purpose riding mower. Also we would like to express our appreciation to Nancy Sullivan and Tony Martin for their assistance to the Vihara and to the resident monks.

Visiting dignitaries-

We were privileged to receive several monastic and lay dignitaries during the year 2004. Among them were Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ven. Maduluvave Sobhitha, Bhikkhuni Kusuma, Ven. Ahangama Dhammarama Nayaka Thero, Ven. Walpola Piyananda Nayaka Thero, Ven.Yogavachara Rahula and Dr. A.T. Ariyarathne. We also had the opportunity to host a meeting with the “Friends of Sarvodaya”.   

Conclusion-

Again we wish to express our deepest gratitude for your continuous support along with other Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike for their involvement and commitment to the success and the development of the GLBV. The success of our Vihara is a direct result of your noble dedication and effort.

By the power of the noble blessings of the Triple Gem, we wish you and your family prosperity, good health and happiness!

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Gomika Udugamasooriya - Secretary                                        Rev. B. Muditha - President