Vesak Day, also known as Buddha Purnima, Buddha Jayanti, or simply Buddha Day, is a Buddhist festival celebrated across South Asia and Southeast Asia.
It’s Buddha’s birthday but also the date that the Buddha attained enlightenment (Nirvana) and the date of the death of the Gautama Buddha for Theravada Buddhists.
We think it’s important to note that Vesak Day is often written as “Waisak Day” here in Bali, though it’s still pronounced “Vesak Day”.
About Vesak Day
The Vesak celebration is when lay Buddhists and their world fellowship come together on a sacred day to honour the birth, life and death of the Buddha as well as the moment when he attained enlightenment and found spiritual renewal.
It’s a day of good deeds, for people to distribute gifts and carry out charity work. The day is widely celebrated around the world and particularly in Asia.
It is even commemorated annually at the United Nations headquarters and other UN offices.
The History Of The Vesak Festival
The festival that is Vesak Day has been held for centuries around the world, but it was in 1950 that the World Fellowship of Buddhists came together in Sri Lanka and formalized the day for Buddhists worldwide as a celebration of birth, enlightenment and death.
Today, Veask Day helps to unite followers of Buddhism in the nuclear age with a simple means to celebrate the birth, enlightenment and sometimes death of the Buddha.
The Vesak Celebration
Veask Day is usually held in the fourth lunar month of the Buddhist lunisolar calendar. However, there have been many efforts to standardize the date of this festival based on the standard solar calendar (Gregorian Calendar).
The Buddhist Flag
One of the main ways that the day is commemorated at the temples is that Buddhists gather together to hoist the Buddhist flag over the premises for the day. (This flag is something of a recent tradition and was designed and implemented by Buddhists during the 19th century).
Buddhist Monks Singing Hymns
Then, once the flag is raised, the worshippers sing hymns to the holy “triple gem” (that is, The Buddha, The Dhamma, and The Sangha – the latter two are his teachings and his followers).
Most people bring a symbolic offering to the temple to lay at the feet of the great teacher in the temple.
These offerings such as joss sticks or flowers are also meant to remind people of the temporary nature of things.
That life will whither and decay and destruction is inevitable. Devotees on Vesak Day are required to avoid any act of killing and there may be other local rules imposed on them too.
In Thailand, there is also a ban on selling or consuming alcohol on Vesak Day.
Life Release Activities
One popular activity on Vesak Day has been to take part in “life release” ceremonies.
This is when birds, insects or animals that have been held in captivity are released into the wild.
The idea for this activity is inspired by Buddhist scripture in which the Buddha helped to release a fish caught in a rice field.
However, there are some real animal rights concerns around life release activities (as many captive or domesticated animals cannot survive in the wild after release) and thus the practice has been banned in some Buddhist countries (such as Singapore) and is now frowned upon in others (such as Thailand).
Individual Buddhists At Buddhist Temples Around The World
Buddhists are expected to follow the five precepts of their faith and to spend each day making affirmations to these precepts.
However, this is upped to eight precepts for festivals such as Vesak Day which help to bring morality, humility and simplicity into their lives.
You may find that on Vesak Day, a temple has a display of a small statue of the Buddha which is placed on the altar and decorated with flowers and there is water (or sometimes a sweet tea) for the faithful to pour over the statue as an offering.
This is meant to be a symbolic cleansing based on the stories of the Guatama Buddha whose birth saw devas and other spirits making offerings to him as a baby Buddha.
There will be joss sticks burning throughout the temples too which is another way to pay homage to the Buddha on this full moon day.
Compassionate Activities On Vesak Day
One important activity on Vesak Day is to show compassion for others as compassion is where the heart of Buddhist philosophy lies.
On Vesak Day, Buddhists give gifts (often of cash) to the poor and their local temple and take part in charitable volunteering efforts.
This is a time for joy and happiness which should not be expressed by a Buddhist pandering to their baser appetites but rather by uplifting others through useful activities such as decorating a temple or painting scenes from the Buddha’s life to share with others.
Some Buddhists may also compete to provide other followers with food and refreshments on Vesak Day which is often vegetarian food to ensure that the food they eat caused no suffering to another in this world.
(Though we should note that in Southeast Asia, many Buddhists are not vegetarian or vegan and consume meat all year round).
The Importance Of Buddhist Teachings
Vesak celebrations are often about paying homage to the Lord Buddha in thanks for the Buddha’s life.
Many Buddhists believe that just before the Gautama Buddha died, he spoke to his personal attendant Ananda who was weeping.
The Lord Buddha commanded Ananda to stop weeping and to understand that the universal Buddhist law of compounded things means that everything even the Buddha’s body must disintegrate.
He told Ananda that weeping over this disintegration wasn’t the way forward but he was instead to pay attention to the Dhamma, because the only thing that is truly eternal is the Dhamma (Buddhist precepts) as it is not subject to the law of change.
Thus, the way for Buddhists worldwide to pay homage on this day is to read the teachings of the Buddha and then to try and sincerely follow them.
Offerings of flowers (even a flower festival in some countries), incense and lights are common on this full moon day, but it is most important that Buddhists reflect on the teachings of the Buddha.
When Is Vesak Day Observed
Vesak Day’s date comes from a lunisolar calendar used by Buddhists and Hindus in Southeast Asia.
The date should vary from country to country but in recent years, there’s been a harmonization of this date and while it typically falls on the full moon of Uposatha Day (in the 5th or 6th lunar month of the year) as per the Buddha’s birth, now it’s celebrated on the day of the first full moon in May on the Gregorian calendar in much of South and Southeast Asia.
However, we should note that East Asia does not follow this tradition and the Buddha’s birthday is often celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese lunar calendar, instead.
In 2025, Vesak Day will fall on the 12th of May, 2025 in Bali and Indonesia.
In 2026, it will be on 31st May.
And in 2027, it will be on 20th May.
Where Is Vesak Day Observed
Vesak Day is observed in Indonesia and the main celebration of Vesak Day here is near the temple of Borobudur in Java.
There thousands of Buddhist monks gather to chant mantras and meditate as they walk in a long circular ritual called “Padaksina” to pay tribute to the temple.
Borobudur is the largest individual Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Once the ritual is complete, the monks at this temple bottle holy water for their followers (the bottling is meant to symbolize the monk’s humility) and carry flames (to represent enlightenment in a physical form) from place to place.
In return, the people of Indonesia give the monks “Pindapata” which is a form of charity.
Vesak Day or Waisak Day has been celebrated in Indonesia as a legal national public holiday since 1983.
Here in Bali, there will be small celebrations of Vesak Day at every Buddhist temple on the island.
The festival is also celebrated in Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Japan, South Korea, Canada, United States, and other countries worldwide.
The United Nations Resolution On Vesak Day
In December 1999 resolution 54/115 was adopted by the General Assembly o of the United Nations.
This meant that Vesak Day would be fully recognized at all UN offices and UN Headquarters.
The resolution was raised by Sri Lanka and sought to see Vesak Day given international status as a public holiday and to show that two and a half millennia ago a faith came into being which has had an impact on all our thinking.
You don’t have to celebrate Buddha’s birthday to understand the Buddha’s teachings have been incorporated into ways of life around the world.
Perhaps, the most significant of which, in Western terms, is the practice of “mindfulness” which is a form of Buddhist meditation.
The first major celebration of Vesak Day by the UN took place in the year 2000 on May 15. The main celebration was in New York at UN Headquarters. However, over 34 UN offices took part and it’s an official holiday for UN staff in almost all Southeast Asian nations.
FAQs
What Is The Meaning Of Vesak Day?
Vesak Day is also Buddha Purnima, and Buddha Jayanti both of which refer to Buddha’s Birthday and for Theravada Buddhists (not all Buddhists are Theravada Buddhists) it’s the day used to commemorate not just Buddha’s birth but also Gautama Buddha’s death.
(In Buddhist precepts, there isn’t a single “Buddha” but rather “Buddha” is a title given to anyone who reaches nirvana, this means that Siddhartha Gautama is “a” Buddha, not “the” Buddha).
What Are The Rules For Vesak?
Buddhism is quite different from some religions and there are no “rules” as such, though serious Buddhists are expected to follow the eightfold path, they are not meant to master this path for many lifetimes.
However, that’s not to say that there aren’t informal rules around Vesak Day and most Buddhists around the world will choose not to eat meat, drink alcohol or otherwise “sin” on this holy day.
They will also give their homes a clean and carry out good deeds to earn merit for their karmic cycle as well as make donations to the temple and offer alms to the poor.
They may also listen to Dhamma talks given by Buddhist monks and undertake some Vipassana meditation exercises in the temple to contemplate on reality.
What Is Vesak In Indonesia? What Is Vesak Day In Bali?
Vesak Day in Indonesia (including Bali) is Waisak Day, it’s pronounced the same as Vesak Day but was transliterated into Bahasa in a slightly different fashion.
It’s worth noting that in other countries of the archipelago, there are similar changes it’s “Wesak” in Malay, and “Vesak” in Singapore and Araw ni Bisyak in Tagalog.
Is Vesak Day The Same Day Every Year?
No, the Buddhist calendar is not the same as the Gregorian calendar. It’s a lunar calendar (which means that it follows the cycles of the moon and that means Vesak Day cannot fall on the same date in a succeeding year).
However, because of a corrective mechanism in the Buddhist calendar that prevents free movement of the months, Vesak Day must always fall in the months of April, May or June (and only in the early part of June).
What Is The Religious Day In Bali?
There are many religious holidays in Bali and as Indonesia has a tradition of religious freedom, you will find holidays as diverse as Christmas, Eid and Chinese New Year Festival are celebrated in Bali.
However, the main religion on the island is Hinduism and the most important day of the Balinese Hindu calendar is probably “Nyepi” or the Day of Silence.
It’s a good idea to read up on Nyepi before you come to Bali as the whole island closes down for this day and you can’t even get a flight onto or off of the island for 24 hours!
Is Vesak Day A Public Holiday In Bali?
Yes. Indonesia has five (possibly six) official religions and their major holidays are all public holiday occasions.
Thus, the Buddhist holiday of Vesak Day is a public holiday and you do not need to be an Indonesian Buddhist to take a holiday on this day.
The same consideration is given to Islamic, Christian (both Catholic and Protestant), Hindu and Confucian holidays.
We have a full list of public holidays in Bali, Indonesia on this site.
Final Thoughts On The Most Important Buddha Day In Bali
Vesak Day is not a big festival in Bali. That’s because most people here are Hindu and don’t celebrate Vesak Day.
However, Buddhist festivals, like most other religious festivals are free to be held in Bali and there is some crossover between Buddhism and Hinduism even if most of the locals don’t understand every aspect of Buddha’s life.
There are also several Buddhist communities on the island and this is a sacred day for those groups.
If you are a Buddhist and want to participate in the cultural festivities and seek spiritual renewal, Bali is a good place for it.
