Twenty academic and non-academic staff members of Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka including the Venerable Vice Chancellor attended the 16th UNDV Vesak Conference 2019 that was held in Vietnam from 12-14th May.
The United Nations commemorates the United Nations Day of Vesak every year in May in a different Buddhist country, in order to uphold values of Buddhism. Every year since the resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 1999, the thrice-sacred day of Vesak (celebrating the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha Gautama) is celebrated internationally. The International Council for the Day of Vesak has been granted Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2013.
This year, the United Nations Vesak day celebration was held in a beautiful venue in the Tam Chuc region of Vietnam, focusing Hanoi. The conference welcomed 1650 international delegates and more than 560 delegations from 112 countries and territories. 398 international scholars contributed their papers to the conference, out of whom 110 were invited to deliver their presentations at five thematic workshops on May 13, 2019.
10 academic scholars representing the faculties of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka were invited to attend the conference. The research papers of the invited academic staff members were published and several presented their research papers at the conference as well. In addition, over 08 non-academic staff members of the Buddhist and Pali University also joined the conference as self-funded delegates.
The United Nations Day of Vesak celebrations held in Vietnam in 2019 was an amazing spectacle of religious and ritual festivity at Hanoi and Tam Chuc, with thousands of Buddhists from all over the world gathering at the Hanoi’s National Convention Centre to spread Tathagatha Gauthama Buddha’s message of peace, love and harmony. It was one of the biggest ever Buddhist international event in Buddhism’s over 2000 years’ long history in Vietnam.
