2022 AUSTRALIAN OBSERVANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS DAY OF VESAK
The ONLINE Celebration includes Buddhist Chanting, Prayers & Meditation
MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER
VESAK 2022
I send warmest greetings to Buddhists in Australia and around the world as you celebrate Vesak.
At this time each year, Vesak honours the Buddhist beliefs and ideals that you practise every day. The lamps you light at Vesak are a prayer for wisdom and compassion to be a light in the world.
Australian Buddhists come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and express their faith in ancient and modern ways. It is your shared devotion to the life and teachings of the Buddha that unites you in pursuit of compassion, kindness and goodness.
Here in Australia, we can practise our religious beliefs and customs — and share them with communities of all faiths — free from persecution and discrimination.
As the most successful multicultural nation on earth, we are blessed to live with acceptance, tolerance and inclusion.
May the festival of Vesak bring the Buddha’s joy and enlightenment into your lives.
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Prime Minister of Australia
May 2022
Message from the Leader of the Opposition
DAY OF VESAK
I send you my warmest greetings for the Australian observance of the Day of Vesak, when the light of the full moon gives the cue to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and passing of Sakyamuni Gautama Buddha.
Guided by that celestial glow, we reflect on how even so many centuries have failed to dim the Buddha’s wisdom. If anything, the passage of time has only served to emphasise its power.
With the flowers, candles and joss sticks you take to the temple to lay at your great teacher’s feet, you remind us that everything including life itself will one day wither away or burn out. Nothing grounds us so much as that knowledge. Your meditation and your hymns in praise of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha are an act of devotion, and a profound proclamation of your Buddhism.
As Australians we celebrate both our differences and our common ground, drawing such great strength from our breadth as a society. Vesak and the Buddhist community are an important part of that.
On behalf of my colleagues, I wish you the best on this auspicious day.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon. Anthony Albanese MP
Leader of the Australian Labor Party
Federal Member for Grayndler
Australian Observance of the United Nations Day of Vesak 