PM to address Vesak event on Thursday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in a virtual Vesak global celebrations on Buddha Purnima on Thursday.

He will deliver the keynote address in the morning, an official statement said in Wednesday.

Buddha Purnima celebrations are being held virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic. The event is being organised in the honour of the victims and the frontline warriors of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), a global Buddhist umbrella organization, is holding a virtual prayer event with the participation of all the supreme heads of the Buddhist Sanghas from around the world, the statement said.

Prayer ceremonies on the occasion will be streamed live from the Sacred Garden Lumbini (Nepal), Mahabodhi Temple (Bodhgaya, India); Mulgandha Kuti Vihara, Sarnath; Parinirvana Stupa, Kushinagar;Pirith Chanting from Ruwanweli Maha Seya in the sacred and historic Anuradhapura stupa premises, Sri Lanka; Boudhanath, Swayambhu, Namo Stupa, Nepal, apart from other popular Buddhist sites.

Vesak-Buddha Poornima is considered the Triple Blessed Day as Tathagata Gautam Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Maha Parnirvana, the statement pointed out.