Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Myanmar joined a three-day commemoration in Yangon marking the 70th anniversary of the Sixth Buddhist Council, the historic synod that recited and revised the Theravada canon between 1954 and 1956.
The opening ceremony was held at the Maha Pasana Cave Ordination Hall under the chairmanship of the Maha Sangha and Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing, the Foreign Ministry said. Organised by the Myanmar government, it brought together senior monks from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, along with diplomats and devotees, underscoring the council’s enduring place in the preservation and propagation of Theravada Buddhism.
To mark the anniversary, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Yangon donated the Buddha Jayanthi Sinhala Tripitaka — the island’s landmark compilation of the Buddhist scriptures — to Myanmar’s Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sasana, under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, in a religious initiative on May 1.
The first three volumes were symbolically handed over during the commemoration. The collection will be housed at the “Sri Lanka Madura,” a dedicated section within the Maha Pasana Cave Ordination Hall precincts that reflects the long spiritual and historical ties between the two Theravada nations.
Officials said the donation aimed to support the preservation, study and wider dissemination of the Buddha’s teachings while strengthening religious and cultural bonds between Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The original Sixth Buddhist Council, convened in then-Rangoon, drew significant participation from Sri Lankan monks and scholars.
The event is the latest in a series of Buddhist cultural-diplomacy initiatives, following the exposition of sacred relics abroad and Sri Lankan monks’ international peace engagements. It comes as the island prepares for its state Vesak festival.
Source: The Island — 70th anniversary of Sixth Buddhist Council marked in Yangon.
