UNESCO celebrates International Day of Vesak

• Symposium highlights shared, cosmopolitan Buddhist heritage of Asia

The International Day of Vesak 2025 was celebrated by the Member States of UNESCO with a Symposium themed “Buddhist Cosmopolitanism and Exchange along the Silk Road: Interplay between Buddhism and Trade in Ancient Asia”, on the full moon day of Vesak of 12 May 2025 at UNESCO headquarters. The symposium was organised by the Permanent Delegation of Sri Lanka in association with UNESCO. 

The Executive Board Chairperson Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe, the UNESCO Deputy Director-General Xing Qu, and the International Buddhist Centre in Paris Chief Incumbent, the French Buddhist Union Co-President and the Chief Sangha Nayaka of France The Most Venerable Parawahera Chandaratana Thero addressed the Symposium as Guests of Honour, while the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Sri Lanka to UNESCO Manisha Gunasekera presided over the event. 

The keynote address at the symposium was delivered by eminent historian, numismatist, art historian, archaeologist, and Corresponding Member of the prestigious French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres and Emeritus Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research Prof. Osmund Bopearachchi. 

The keynote was followed by a vibrant panel discussion with a distinguished line-up of scholars comprising French Academy of Inscriptions Member and Collège de France Belles-Lettres and Emeritus Professor Jean-Noel Robert, Sorbonne University South and South-East Asian Archaeology and Art History Professor and former General Curator of Heritage, Director of Conservation and Collections at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts Prof. Vincent Lefèvre, Bonn German Archaeological Institute Research Associate Dr. Ariane de Saxcé, and Dr. Shabahang Mehrdad representing the Silk Roads Program of UNESCO.

The symposium explored Buddhism’s pivotal role in linking the ancient civilizations of Asia, and highlighted the vibrant interplay and symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and trade along the Silk Road and across the Indian Ocean. It underscored the role of Buddhist communities as mediators of culture, trade, and artistic traditions, and highlighted their enduring relevance in fostering inter-cultural dialogue. The discussions also demonstrated how ancient images and associated symbols can be seen as visual manifestations of social, commercial, and cultural networks, and how they illuminate ancient patterns of circulation across land and sea.

The discussions were followed by a vibrant exchange of ideas during the Q and A. The event was attended by Ambassadors and Permanent Delegates to UNESCO, Delegates, Members of the UNESCO Secretariat, scholars, academics, students, as well as the Buddhist clergies of many countries and religious dignitaries. 

The symposium follows the adoption of the historic Decision 219 EX/27 on the Commemoration of the International Day of Vesak by the UNESCO Executive Board at its 219th Session in 2024, subsequent to which the International Day of Vesak is celebrated in the house of UNESCO every year. The Decision underscores UNESCO’s enduring commitment to promoting peace and intercultural dialogue through the profound and universal values embedded in Vesak. 

This year’s Vesak Day message by the UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, which was referred to by the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Sri Lanka in her address, invited the world to return to the core values of “peace, compassion and generosity” advocated by the Buddha. The Director-General’s message also highlighted the Decision adopted at the 219th session of the Executive Board, and the role of Sri Lanka in the annual celebration of Vesak at UNESCO.