King Charles III blessing ceremony at London Buddhist Vihara

Following the coronation of King Charles III, the London Buddhist Vihara (LBV) held a blessings ceremony for the new king earlier this week on behalf of the Buddhist community in the United Kingdom.

Vice Admiral Sir Anthony Johnston-Burt, the Master of Royal Household at Buckingham Palace represented the king at the ceremony. He was accompanied by Lady Johnston-Burt and two other staff officers from the Palace.

Among the Buddhist representatives who attended the ceremony were those from the Theravada Forest tradition of Chithurst English Sangha, Tibetan monks, Nuns from the Chinese Fo-Guan Shan Temple, Professor Sato of the Japanese Zen tradition, Ven Nagase from the London Peace Pagoda, monks from the

Japanese Nichiren tradition, and Sri Lankan monks who chanted blessings in Pali, English, Japanese, Chinese and Tibetan languages.

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena, Chairman of the UK Buddhist Society Dr and Mrs Desmond

Biddulph, Director of the Interfaith Network Dr Harriet Crabtree, along with Fr Kevin Morris from St Michael and All Angels Church, Ajith Singh and Chiranjith Singh from the Sikh religion also participated.

Pictures show the blessings ceremony in progress (left) and Ven Bogoda Seelawimala, Head Monk of the LBV and Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain handing over a gem studded Buddha statue from Sri Lanka to Vice Admiral Sir Anthony Johnston-Burt (right) to be presented to King Charles III.