Loke bathing the Bodhisattva during the national- level Raise the Buddhist Flag Campaign launch.
BUDDHISTS in Malaysia celebrated Wesak Day yesterday. Due to the leap month which occurs in this year’s lunar calendar, some countries are celebrating Wesak Day in June instead, including our neighbours Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Wesak, more widely known as Vesak in the global community, is also known as Waisak in Indonesia, Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima in India and Nepal, and Buddha Day in various other countries.
The name “Vesak” is derived from the Pali term vesakha or Sanskrit vaisakha for the lunar month of Vaisakha.
The United Nations General Assembly formally recognised Wesak Day by resolution 54/115 in 1999, “to acknowledge the contributions of Buddhism for over two-and-a-half millennia and continues to contribute to the spirituality of humanity”. This year the UN will be marking Wesak Day on May 5.
As a public holiday
In retrospect, one of the reasons Wesak Day was designated as a public holiday was because the Buddhist communities from various traditions and ethnic groups agreed to a mutual date to celebrate Wesak Day.
National-level Raise the Buddhist Flag Campaign launch on April 15 at Lilulishan Buddhist Monastery in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor.
The Mahayana Chinese Buddhists used to celebrate Wesak on the eighth day of the fourth lunar moon while the Theravada Sinhalese, Thais and Burmese groups celebrated Wesak on the Full Moon Day.
The then British colonial government had said it would only consider declaring Wesak Day a public holiday if both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions agreed on the same date.
On March 1, 1949, 31 Buddhist temples and organisations had a meeting at the Penang Buddhist Association premises to discuss appealing to the government to declare Wesak Day a public holiday.
After deciding to celebrate Wesak Day on the first Full Moon of May, a memorandum of appeal to declare Wesak Full Moon Day as a public holiday was duly submitted to then British high commissioner Sir Henry Gurney for consideration.
On April 28, 1949, the colonial government declared Wesak Day, which fell on May 12, 1949, as a public holiday in Penang, Melaka, Kedah and Perak. For the states of Selangor, Kelantan, Perlis, Terengganu and Negri Sembilan, Buddhist government servants were given a holiday on Wesak Day.
Post-Independence
After Malaya’s Independence and after efforts by the Buddhist community and leaders of the then Malayan Buddhist Association, the then government of the Federation of Malaya on Jan 3, 1961, declared the Day of Wesak as a national public holiday for the whole Federation from 1962.
The first national holiday for Wesak Day was celebrated all over the country on May 18, 1962.
It is important to take note that in the said memorandum, the spelling for this most important Buddhist religious festival as mutually agreed by the Buddhist community leaders during their meetings since the 1940s and then accepted by the British colonial and Malaysian Federal Government is spelt “Wesak”, with a “W” and not “Vesak” as normally used in Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Buddhist Flag
Wesak Day commemorates the Birth, Enlightenment and Maha Parinibbana (Passing Away) of the Lord Buddha. The Buddhist Flag is a symbol of faith, peace and unity which is used worldwide by the Buddhist community.
The Buddhist flag was first hoisted on Wesak Day May 28, 1885, in Sri Lanka and was adopted as the official Buddhist flag by the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1950.
Beginning 2017, the Selangor Buddhist Development Council (SBDC) has been encouraging the Buddhist community to fly the Buddhist flag at their homes to welcome and celebrate Wesak Day.
The international Buddhist flag is the rallying point for all of us to be united for the purpose of achieving common good and mutual respect.
During the recent national-level Raise the Buddhist Flag Campaign launch in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said: “Malaysia is one of the very few Muslim-majority countries in the world to have Wesak Day as a national public holiday.
“I hope on the Day of Wesak, the Buddhist community will visit the Buddhist temples to offer prayers for the well-being and happiness of loved ones, the King and the country.
“To welcome Wesak Day, I hope the Buddhist community will proudly fly the Buddhist flag at their homes as inspiration to radiate the rays of wisdom, peace and unity.”
LOKA NG SAI KAI
Selangor Buddhist Development Council
