(Chinhphu.vn) - On the morning of May 22, on the occasion of the Buddha's birthday (Buddhist calendar 2568 - Gregorian calendar 2024), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated the leaders of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and attended the Buddha's birthday celebration with dignitaries, monks, nuns, and Buddhists at Quan Su Pagoda, Hanoi.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated the Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and attended the Buddha's Birthday celebration with dignitaries, monks, nuns, and Buddhists at Quan Su Pagoda, Hanoi - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Also attending were Comrade Nguyen Van Thang, member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Transport; Comrade Pham Tat Thang, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Committee for Mass Mobilization; Vice President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Hoang Cong Thuy; Most Venerable Thich Thanh Dung - Deputy Supreme Patriarch, Chief Secretary of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha; Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, Deputy Supreme Patriarch of the Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Chairman of the Central Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha; Most Venerable Thich Thanh Duc, Deputy Supreme Patriarch of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha; religious leaders of the Council of the Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha; leaders of departments, ministries, branches, central agencies and Hanoi city.
Expressing his joy at attending the Buddha's birthday celebration on the Buddhist calendar 2568 - Gregorian calendar 2024 organized by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Prime Minister respectfully conveyed the congratulations of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to Buddhists nationwide on the occasion of Buddha's birthday, and reiterated the General Secretary's words on the spirit of great national and religious solidarity: "Vietnam is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, with 54 ethnic groups and many religions living together in communities... The Constitution and laws of Vietnam stipulate that all people have the right to follow or not to follow a religion. In Vietnam, there are no religious or ethnic conflicts, everyone lives together in harmony...", for the goal of peace, cooperation and development.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that this is an important religious event in the spiritual and religious life of Buddhists, and a world cultural and religious festival recognized by the United Nations.
Government of Pham Minh Chinh with dignitaries, monks, nuns and Buddhists at Quan Su Pagoda, Hanoi - Photo: VThuongThamGP/Nhat Bac
On behalf of the Party and State leaders and with personal feelings, the Prime Minister respectfully sends to the dignitaries of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, monks and nuns, Buddhist followers at home and abroad, and delegates the best wishes; wishing the Buddha's Birthday 2568 - Gregorian calendar 2024 of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha a perfect success.
The Prime Minister stated: Buddha's Birthday is a sacred holiday, with many meanings for society, especially for Buddhists, and is an occasion to honor the noble values that Buddhism brings to human life, which are the spirit of compassion, wisdom, solidarity, sustainable development, and humanity.
Over thousands of years since Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam, Buddha's birthday has had a strong cultural vitality in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people; not only has a sacred religious meaning but is also a common spiritual and cultural festival of society, conveying a message of love, solidarity, harmony and development.
The Prime Minister affirmed: With the spirit of "Protecting the nation and bringing peace to the people", Buddhism always accompanies the nation - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
As a religion of compassion, kindness and goodness, Buddhism was born for human life and for the happiness and peace of humanity. In practicing its teachings and life, Buddhism always upholds the spirit of religion and life being closely linked. Over thousands of years of history, Buddhism has taken root, penetrated deeply and integrated into Vietnamese society, becoming an element of the beautiful traditional culture of the Vietnamese people, Vietnamese civilization and culture.
The Prime Minister affirmed: With the spirit of "Protecting the nation and bringing peace to the people", Buddhism always accompanies the nation; the history of Vietnamese Buddhism has always been closely linked to the history of the nation in the process of building and defending the nation, of our country. In the heroic history of the nation, many Zen masters and famous monks have wholeheartedly supported the dynasties to build the country to develop brilliantly; in the resistance wars against foreign invaders of the nation, many monks "took off their robes and put on their armor" to leave behind their feats for posterity. With its profound and noble humanistic values, Buddhism has a positive influence on the nation's concepts, thoughts, ethics, and lifestyle; contributing many valuable material and spiritual cultural heritages, enriching the rich, unique culture, imbued with the identity of our nation, of Vietnamese civilization and culture.
The Prime Minister requested the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha to implement the motto "1 promote - 2 pioneer - 3 focus" - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Over the past nearly 80 years, Buddhism has had positive impacts and influences and made great contributions to the struggle for national independence, national unification, and the construction and protection of the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland led by our Party.
With profound philosophies and the spirit of "Buddhism - Nation - Socialism", Buddhist activities and social activities of Buddhism are always directed towards people, for people, for the happiness of the people, for the prosperous development of the country, for the longevity of the nation. Combined and blended with the ardent patriotism of our people, this is also one of the factors contributing to writing the heroic history of our nation throughout the process of resistance, nation building, fighting for national independence in the past, building, developing and protecting the Fatherland today.
During the struggle for national independence and unification, many monks, nuns and Buddhists directly participated in revolutionary activities, many Buddhist places of worship became places to shelter and hide revolutionary cadres, many monks went to the front, many people heroically sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the nation. Such as Venerable Thich Dam Thao in the Dien Bien Phu battlefield; 27 monks founded the Buddhist Platoon at Co Le Pagoda in 1947; The Legend of Thang Phuc Pagoda (Tien Thang, Tien Lang, Hai Phong) has 5 monks who were martyrs who heroically sacrificed in response to President Ho Chi Minh's call for "National Resistance" and countless other heroic and brave examples who sacrificed themselves for the beloved Fatherland.
The Prime Minister congratulated members of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha on the occasion of Buddha's Birthday - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
In the process of innovation, integration and development, together with other religions, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and Buddhists across the country have made many contributions in various fields, contributing to the great achievements of historical significance of the country.
"We are very excited, proud and moved by the contributions of monks, nuns and Buddhists in many aspects of social work, charity and humanitarian activities, contributing to easing the daily worries of many people both materially and spiritually, contributing to the implementation of the goal of hunger eradication and poverty reduction, disease prevention, contributing to ensuring social security, and bringing the country to rapid and sustainable development," the Prime Minister emphasized.
According to the Prime Minister, our country has many religions and beliefs - each religion has its own cultural characteristics, but all aim at the values of Truth - Goodness - Beauty; therefore, there is integration, interweaving and harmony, unity in diversity. Together with other religions and beliefs, Vietnamese Buddhism has oriented spiritual life and built ethical standards, contributing to social stability and promoting national development.
On behalf of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the Party, State, and all levels and sectors for their congratulations on the Buddha's Birthday - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Beloved President Ho Chi Minh - National Liberation Hero, World Cultural Celebrity - He devoted his entire life to the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, the happiness of the people and the peace and progress of humanity, highly respected and admired the noble spirit of sacrifice of the founders of Buddhism and Christianity and believed that their noble goals were similar in that they all wanted to "seek happiness for humanity, seek welfare for society", demonstrating a unique revolutionary method imbued with Ho Chi Minh's style.
In the context of our country's increasingly deep international integration, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha has promoted international exchange activities, making important contributions to the development of world Buddhism; thereby contributing to enhancing Vietnam's position in the international arena, contributing to affirming the policy of respecting and ensuring freedom of belief and religion of our Party and State.
On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the Prime Minister respectfully thanks and highly appreciates the contributions of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, of all Vietnamese monks, nuns and Buddhists to the community, to the whole society and to the heroic country of Vietnam.
The Prime Minister and the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha burn incense to pray for national peace and prosperity - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
The Prime Minister stated: 2024 is an important year for our country and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha - the second year of implementing the Buddhist activities program according to the Resolution of the 9th Congress of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, term 2022 - 2027.
The Prime Minister emphasized that in the context of the world situation continuing to evolve very rapidly, complicatedly and unpredictably, the spirit of great national solidarity needs to be promoted more than ever, in which religions in general and Buddhism in particular play a particularly important role. Looking at the 4,000-year history of national construction and defense, this is also one of the very important factors, creating the "all-people-as-one" strength of the heroic Vietnamese nation and heroic Vietnamese people. This invincible strength needs to be further promoted in the coming time to create more momentum to promote the cause of innovation, integration and development, bringing the country firmly on the path of national independence and socialism that beloved President Ho Chi Minh and our Party have chosen.
Prime Minister and dignitaries, monks, nuns and Buddhists of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
With that spirit, together with other religions in the country, the Prime Minister suggested that the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha implement the motto "1 promote - 2 pioneer - 3 focus".
"1 promote" is: Promote great national unity under the leadership of the Party, promote the spirit of domestic solidarity, international solidarity, solidarity of religions, and solidarity among the people.
"2 pioneers" include: (1) Pioneering in mobilizing people nationwide to donate organs and blood to save lives with the spirit of "Giving is forever", promoting humanitarian and charitable activities nationwide; (2) Pioneering in fighting superstition, ensuring healthy religious activities with the spirit of "Religion and life - life and religion", resolutely not allowing acts of taking advantage of religion and belief to oppose the State, nation, people, or for personal gain, violating both Buddhist and legal regulations.
"3 focuses" include:
(1) Contribute to educating patriotism and love for the people among Buddhists and in the whole society with the spirit of "Protecting the country and bringing peace to the people";
(2) Live a good life and practice morality, promote more effectively the ideology of "Religion - Nation - Socialism";
(3) Contribute to hunger eradication, poverty reduction, social progress and justice, leaving no one behind with the spirit of "Many things cover the mirror/People in the same country must love each other", "Love others as you love yourself", "The whole leaf covers the torn leaf", "The torn leaf covers the more torn leaf", especially in times of hardship, fire, natural disasters, storms and floods...
The Prime Minister stated that the Party and State are always consistent in the principle of ensuring freedom of belief and religion, healthy, legitimate and legal spiritual activities of religious followers, fully demonstrating the good nature of our regime, of socialist democracy, of the socialist rule of law state of the people, by the people, for the people. The documents of the 13th National Party Congress affirmed: Promoting good cultural and ethical values and resources of religions for the cause of national development.
The Prime Minister hopes and believes that the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha will continue to achieve many successes in Buddhist affairs; operate and develop according to the orientation of "Discipline - Responsibility - Solidarity - Development" set forth by the 9th National Congress of Buddhist Delegates, guiding monks, nuns and Buddhist followers of Vietnam to continue implementing the motto of "Dharma - Nation - Socialism", contributing more to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.
On behalf of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the Party, State, and all levels and sectors for their congratulations on the Buddha's Birthday.
According to Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, 2024 is the second year of implementing the Resolution of the 9th Congress of Vietnamese Buddhist Delegates, term 2022 - 2027. Over the past half year, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha has closely followed the program and operating principles of the Sangha, which are "Dharma - Nation - Socialism", "discipline, responsibility, solidarity, development" and "good life, good religion", achieving many important results.
In particular, the Church organized a grand ceremony to pray for the dead, commemorate and pay tribute to heroes and martyrs on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory; supported the construction of 500 gratitude houses worth 60 billion VND for the needy in Dien Bien province; attended the 19th United Nations Vesak in Thailand...
Informing that Vietnam was chosen and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha was chosen to host the 20th United Nations Day of Vesak (Vesak) in 2025 (the 4th in Vietnam) in Ho Chi Minh City, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon requested all levels and sectors to support and create favorable conditions for the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha to successfully organize the Vesak.
Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon affirmed that the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, together with monks, nuns, and Buddhist followers nationwide, always accompany the nation and the country, well implement the Party's policies and guidelines, the State's laws, and the Sangha's Charter, contributing to building an increasingly prosperous, civilized, prosperous, and integrated country./.
Ha Van - Government Portal
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