I was just surfing the web and looking for socially engaged Buddhist events for a list I will post soon here, and I came across this fascinating piece of news. Sarvodaya, the Sri Lankan-based organization founded by Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, organized and just finished a 12-day mass meditation event held in Colombo, with over 2,000 people participating. The purpose of the meditation was to “[harness] the spiritual energy of individuals through out the country to ensure a peaceful presidential election 2010 and to contribute to creating a peaceful society.”
There’s another story about the event here, from Asian News service.
In the past, Dr. Ariyaratne, surely one of the exemplars of socially engaged Buddhism, has led peace meditations with hundreds of thousands of people, embodying his belief that it is necessary for peaceworkers to themselves awaken, spiritually, and to transcend religious and ethnic differences.
The Jizo Chronicles 