The Ministry of Culture along with IBC will celebrate the auspicious day of Vaisakh Purnima with reverence and piety on 5^th May. International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) in coordination with the Himalayan Buddhist Culture Association (HBCA) will be celebrating the event at the National Museum, New Delhi.

Various autonomous Buddhist organisations and grantee Institutions under the Ministry of Culture are organising several programmes/events on the occasion.

All the staff and 600 students of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies(CIBS), Leh will participate in the grand celebrations being organized by Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) & Ladakh Gonpa Association (LGA) at the Polo Ground in Leh. On this occasion ‘Mangalacharan’ (Invocation Prayer) will be performed by the students of the CIBS, Leh. Besides, there will be a display of two tableaus depicting the birth and delivery of the First Sermon of Buddha, prepared by the students of CIBS, Leh, U.T. of Ladakh.

Organization of ‘Buddha Jayanti Samaroh’ at 6:00 AM will be followed by the release of the 63^rd edition of the research magazine, “DHIH” on this occasion by Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), Sarnath.

Traditional Pooja will be performed at the Buddha Temple by the monk-students of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM), Nalanda, Bihar, followed by a one-day national seminar on the topic, ‘Buddhism and Bihar’.

There will be performance of puja ceremony and other rituals as well as organization of debate competition on this auspicious occasion by the Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies (CIHCS), Dahung, Arunachal Pradesh.

Gentse Gaden Rabgyel Ling (GRL) Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh will be holding a World Peace Prayer and ‘Mangalacharan’ through its Monk students on the occasion.

An observance of the Aspirational Bodhisattva Vow will be held in the Tibet House, to celebrate this day.

Tawang Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh will be celebrating the occasion by holding a Speech-Cum-Lecture competition on the topic, “Buddha’s preachings, Peace and Tranquillity”.

Library of Tibetan Works & Archives (LTWA), Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, will hold an ‘Animal Consciousness Conference (ACC) from May 1^st to May 5^th, 2023 to commemorate the auspicious day. 

Vaishakh Buddha Purnima is the most sacred day of the year for Buddhists all over the world as it marks the three main events of Lord Buddha’s life – Birth, Enlightenment, and Mahaparinirvana. The day assumes special significance since Buddhism originated in India. Since 1999 it has also been recognized by the United Nations as the ‘UN Day of Vesak’. This year the Vaishakh Buddha Purnima is being celebrated on 5^th May.

Recently, Ministry of Culture held the first Global Buddhist Summit (20-21 April) attended by over 500 participants from 30 countries. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The Ministry of Culture along with its grantee body, IBC, a global Buddhist umbrella body, headquartered in New Delhi, also held a successful international meeting of experts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) nations on “Shared Buddhist Heritage” from 14^th – 15^th March, to re-establish trans-cultural links and seek out commonalities, between Buddhist art of SCO countries.

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NB/SK/RK