Seema Malaka, Buddhist temple on Beira Lake, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Seema Malaka is a Buddhist temple on three platforms over Beira Lake, reached by pontoon bridges. The main pavilion has a dark tiered tile roof and walls of vertical wooden slats; a reclining golden Buddha sits on the platform before it, and white lion sculptures flank the steps. The platforms hold seated Buddha statues with different mudras, a wooden-panelled meditation shelter, and a Bodhi Tree grown from a branch of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.

Seema Malaka was first built in the late 19th century. By the 1970s the original structure had slowly sunk into Beira Lake. In 1976 architect Geoffrey Bawa redesigned it on three concrete platforms over the water, funded by S. H. Musaji and his wife in memory of their son Ameer S. Musaji.

Seema Malaka is used for meditation and rest rather than worship, as part of the Gangaramaya Temple a few hundred metres to its west. On the side platform stands a Bodhi Tree grown from a branch of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura, and its four corners hold small shrines to Shiva, Vishnu, Kataragama deviyo and Ganesha. A shrine to Guanyin stands at the entrance, with another statue inside the complex.

You must remove your shoes before stepping onto the temple platforms, and the site is open from sunrise to sunset each day. The wooden walkways can become slippery in wet conditions, so bring non-slip footwear.

The Bodhi Tree on one side platform grew from a branch of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura, and the four corners of that platform hold small shrines to Shiva, Vishnu, Kataragama deviyo and Ganesha. A shrine to Guanyin stands at the entrance, with another Guanyin statue inside the complex.