Vesak - Buddha's Birthday, full moon of the fourth lunar month

Shakyamuni Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of the Shakya clan, who ruled Kapilavastu at the foot of the Himalayas. By Buddhist tradition he was born on the full moon of the month of Vesak in the garden of Lumbini, in present-day Nepal, while the queen was travelling to her family home to give birth. In 249 BCE Emperor Ashoka raised a stone pillar there to mark the birthplace, and in 1997 UNESCO listed Lumbini as a World Heritage Site.

The Mahayana scriptures tell that the newborn prince took seven steps, a lotus blooming under each, while nine dragons sprayed water to bathe him. Queen Maya died seven days later and the prince was raised by his aunt Mahaprajapati. At 29 he left the palace in search of liberation, at 35 he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, taught for 45 years and passed into nirvana at 80 in Kushinagar.

The Buddhist calendar used in Vietnamese pagodas counts from the year of the Buddha's passing, 544 BCE, so 2026 is Buddhist year 2570. The image of the infant standing on a lotus, one hand pointing to the sky and the other to the earth, has become the familiar statue of the Vesak season, placed in a basin of scented water for the bathing rite.

In the heavens above and on the earth below, the true self alone is worthy of honour.

The birth declaration as told in the Mahayana scriptures

For centuries Mahayana Buddhism in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan marked the Buddha's birth on the 8th day of the fourth lunar month. Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia used the full moon of the month of Vesak instead, commemorating the birth, the enlightenment and the passing at once. The two traditions ran side by side until the middle of the twentieth century.

In 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists held its first conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and resolved that the full moon of the fourth lunar month would be the shared Vesak day for Buddhists worldwide. Vietnamese Buddhism adopted the resolution, taking the full moon as the main day and keeping the 8th as the opening day, which gave rise to an eight-day Vesak week of bathing rites, flower floats, teachings and charity.

Vesak 1963 in Huế entered history when the Ngô Đình Diệm government banned the Buddhist flag, leading to the shooting at the Huế radio station on the night of 8 May that opened the Buddhist struggle in the South and to the self-immolation of the Venerable Thích Quảng Đức in Sài Gòn on 11 June 1963. For many Vietnamese Buddhists, the five-coloured flag in front of the house at Vesak therefore also stands for freedom of belief.

On 15 December 1999 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 54/115, recognising Vesak as an international religious and cultural day to be observed at UN Headquarters in New York and at regional offices. The proposal came from Sri Lanka with the support of many countries with large Buddhist populations, in acknowledgement of Buddhism's contribution to peace and the spiritual life of humanity for more than two and a half thousand years.

The first Vesak observance at UN Headquarters took place in 2000. From 2004 the United Nations Day of Vesak has rotated among host countries, beginning in Thailand, under the International Council for the Day of Vesak. Each celebration combines Buddhist ceremonies, an international academic conference and a joint declaration on a current theme such as education, the environment or sustainable development.

In 2008 Vietnam hosted the United Nations Day of Vesak for the first time at the National Convention Centre in Hà Nội, from 13 to 17 May, welcoming thousands of delegates from more than 70 countries and territories. Six years later the celebration returned to Vietnam at Bái Đính pagoda in Ninh Bình, from 7 to 11 May 2014, on the theme of Buddhism's contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals.

In May 2019 Vesak was held at Tam Chúc pagoda in Hà Nam, now part of Ninh Bình province, with delegates from more than one hundred countries and territories discussing the Buddhist approach to global leadership and sustainable societies. In 2025 the 20th United Nations Day of Vesak took place at the Vietnam Buddhist University in Hồ Chí Minh City from 6 to 8 May, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of national reunification.

The highlight of Vesak 2025 was the procession of the Buddha's relics brought from India and the enshrinement of the heart relic of the Bodhisattva Thích Quảng Đức for public veneration. Tens of thousands of people queued for hours at Thanh Tâm pagoda and Việt Nam Quốc Tự, a sign that Vesak is no longer only a religious festival but a shared cultural occasion for Vietnamese society.

The bathing rite recalls the nine dragons that sprayed water over the newborn prince. Followers ladle scented water made from flowers and herbs gently over the shoulders of the infant Buddha statue, silently vowing to wash away affliction and keep a pure mind. The rite is held at almost every pagoda during Vesak week, and more and more families now perform it at home.

Flower floats and flower boats are a distinctive feature of Vesak in Vietnam. In Huế, seven large lotus lanterns light up the Perfume River in front of Trường Tiền bridge each Vesak, and a procession of flower boats sails on the full moon night. In Hồ Chí Minh City the float parade sets out from Việt Nam Quốc Tự through the central streets. The Buddhist flag of blue, yellow, red, white and orange was designed in Sri Lanka in 1885 and adopted as the common flag by the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1950.

Today, for many Vietnamese, the Vesak season is a time to eat vegetarian for a few days, release animals, give to those in need and slow down in the middle of the year. Pagodas hold retreats, teachings and lantern-floating ceremonies on the full moon night. At work, colleagues go to the pagoda together in the evening or share a vegetarian lunch, a gentle way to bring compassion into everyday work.