Source: Religion News Service
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (RNS) — Celebrated across the Buddhist world each spring, the holiday Vesak commemorates the three most important events of Gautama Buddha’s life: birth, enlightenment and death.
Often called Buddha Day or Buddha’s Birthday, Vesak normally falls in late April or May, according to the lunar calendar, but different branches of Buddhism observe it on different dates.
In Malaysia, where Buddhism is the second-largest religion after Islam, Buddha Purnima (as Vesak is called locally) is a national holiday that brings together Buddhist communities from many of the country’s widely varying ethnic and social groups.
Categories: Asia, Buddhists, Malaysia, The Muslim Times