TBCM President Vesak Message 2025

Culture can contribute a great deal to enrich our Religion.

In Asia generally, the practice of culture is clearly linked to religious activities. Dances, songs, and art largely draw their inspiration from religious subjects. Without culture and traditions, religious activities may turn out to be very dry and uninteresting.

The celebration of Vesak, as a cultural festival, is where people of other religious denominations too are invited to attend this celebration of The Tri Sacred Day for Buddhists all over the world.

The Birth, the Enlightenment and the Passing of the Buddha.

This serves as a sense of communal solidarity. Through various cultural performances we hope to instil the value of oneness amongst us, not only as a Buddhists community but as Malaysian.

We remind ourselves, when we practice the Buddhist culture, we ensure that this is not in conflict with other cultures and traditions. This is mindfulness as advocated by the Buddha, a form of tolerance and peaceful coexistence which is the main ingredient of unity and communal solidarity, an enhancement for Human Dignity in contrast to where wars and human conflicts destroy this very human dignity.

In 2025, may we resolve to live our lives with dignity through some simple ethical guide of respecting life, respecting others’ belongings, respecting other gender, respecting the truth in our speeches, respecting our judgement without external alcoholic influences. May boundless love flourish in the world.

Sādhu, Sādhu, Sādhu.

Tan Leng Huat
President TBCM