Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha meets Dalai Lama, extends invite for Vesak celebration in Vietnam

Nov 10, 2024

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], November 10 : The Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (VBS) on Friday met with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala. During the meeting, the VBS members requested the Dalai Lama to send representatives of Tibetan Buddhism to attend Vesk, a significant Buddhist celebration in May 2025 in Vietnam.
Ven Thich Nhat Tu, a member of the Vietnamese delegation said, "We requested his Holiness to send a delegation from Tibetan Buddhism from Dharamsala to attend an important Buddhist event to be hosted by Sangha from 6th to 8th of May next year and he has approved our proposal."

"We also requested his Holiness to authorise a Tibetan master to sign an MoU with VBS for long life cooperation between Tibetan and Vietnamese Buddhist. Apart from this we also requested him to allow us to translate some of his books so that Tibetan Buddhism can be read and viewed by more and more people in Vietnam and then we also requested him to live a long life for the benefit of people around the world," he added.

After attending the Asian Buddhist Conference in Delhi last week, 45 members of the Vietnamese Buddhist delegation visited Dharamshala to see the Tibetan spiritual leader on November 8.
Notably, VBS is the only Buddhist association recognised by the government of Vietnam.
Vesak, the day of the full moon in the month of May, is the most sacred day to millions of Buddhists around the world. It was on the day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 BC, that the Buddha was born. It was also on the day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and it was on the day of Vesak that the Buddha in his eightieth year passed away, according to the United Nations.