Please go to the Buddhist Festival Month website
 
Also, please download A4 posters below.

Buddhist Festival Month

The Buddhist Festival Month is intended as a celebration in May for Buddhist ceremonies and festivities and a way of bringing the Buddhist community closer together, recognising that all Buddhist groups and traditions share the same core teachings. At the same time, it is also intended to be an invitation to the general public to come and explore the Buddha’s teachings and how it can be incorporated into one’s lifestyle. The main events during the Buddhist Festival Month would include the traditional Vesak and Buddha’s birthday events, but also, for the first time, a Buddhist Expo, the Mitra Conference and a Buddhist Film Festival.

Buddhist Expo

The Buddhist Expo will be the flagship event of the Buddhist Festival Month and will be held on the first weekend of May.  It will be open to the general public and provide an opportunity for anyone wanting to know more about Buddhism to experience it for themselves. The emphasis would be on informing, experiencing and participating in the application of Buddhist teachings to everyday life. 

Opening Ceremony

To launch the Buddhist Festival Month we will have an opening ceremony which will probably include a combination of Buddhist chanting, meditation and short speeches on an appropriate theme.

Mitra Conference

In 2010, the Mitra Conference will run alongside the Buddhist Expo on the first weekend in May. It will continue to have a full conference program with a range of the best international and local speakers and topics. Running it in parallel with the Expo gives those interested an opportunity for deeper involvement and exploration into Buddhism.

Buddhist Film Festival

An opportunity to showcase to the general public a range of top quality films with Buddhist themes.

Education Day

While the expo is still set up, we will run an Education Day on the Monday after the Conference/Expo weekend. Schools that teach Buddhism in Studies of Religion or other school subjects can book a timeslot for class excursions. Students can fill in question sheets which can be answered with reference to the educational Expo displays.

What we are doing

The Buddhist Council of NSW is underwriting these Buddhist Festival Month events. We have engaged the services of a professional event manager and we will be committing a bigger budget for venue and marketing than in previous years. We invite interested people to volunteer for the various teams which will be planning, preparing and running the activities in Buddhist Festival Month in May 2010.

Latest News

Planning for the Buddhist Festival Month 2010 is up & running. The Project Team met for the kick-off meeting in early August 09. Around 30 volunteers came to BCNSW office on 16th August 09 where they chose the teams they would like to join. The meeting was very creative as teams brainstormed ideas about how and what to include in the Buddhism Expo, what should the theme be & who should be the key speakers for the conference, how to approach marketing the events, what to include in Education Day & how to make to topic both educational & exciting to children, even ways to hold an opening ceremony which is meaningful for everyone.

Volunteering

We have lots of room for more volunteers, so if you are interested, download the brochure below and send an e-mail to Jacqueline Yetzotis - admin@buddhistcouncil.org