WCC News: WCC extends greetings to Buddhist community on Vesak

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended greetings to the Buddhist community across the world on the occasion of the Vesak festival. A Buddhist monk sits in the doorway of a temple in the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia, which dates to the 12th Century, Photo: Paul Jeffrey/Life on Earth 5 May 2023 “On behalf of the WCC, I send cordial greetings to you as you, the Buddhist community around the world, celebrate the Vesak festival,” Pillay wrote. “This is an important festival to remember Buddha’s life, his practices and teachings. You commemorate on this day three auspicious moments of Buddha’s life: birth, enlightenment, and death. May the inner movement that the Buddha shared with his disciples flow and nurture relationships among humans and all beings: compassion, loving kindness, empathy and equanimity.” Pillay invited Buddhist friends to continue to build interreligious solidarity together, and to work for the peace and wellbeing of all. “From within our faith tradition we can see resonance with such spiritual disposition, as we Christians enter into such movement through Christ’s love for the world,” wrote Pillay. “In the spirit of loving kindness and peace, I wish you a blessed feast of Vesak.” Read the World Council of Churches General Secretary’s Vesak Message See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland