REVERSING INTOLERANCE, CROSS-CULTURAL TENSIONS VITAL TO PEACE, STABILITY,
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN MESSAGE FOR BUDDHISM’S DAY OF VESAK

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the occasion of the Day of Vesak, to be observed on 29 May:

It gives me great pleasure to send you my greetings on this happy occasion, which celebrates the birth, enlightenment and passing of Gautama Buddha.

More than 2,500 years on, the Buddha’s teachings continue to guide and give meaning to the lives of millions of people across the world.  This annual observance provides his followers with an opportunity to reaffirm their devotion to those ideals, and to highlight the principles of compassion, understanding and peace preached by the Buddha.

These values are timeless, but their celebration today is highly timely.  Events of recent years have created a growing gulf between communities and nations.  They have led to a worrying rise in intolerance and cross-cultural tensions.  Reversing these trends has become vital to long-term peace and stability in our world.

This requires every one of us look beyond our narrow short-term self-interests.  As the Buddha teaches, we must be mindful of our words and actions, and their effects on people around us.  We must recognize our essential interdependence, and we place the well-being of our communities and of all humanity on a par with our own.

On this Day of Vesak, let us all -- Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike -- resolve to deal with our fellow human beings graciously and objectively, without hatred or ill will.  Let us strive every day to improve both ourselves and our world.  In that spirit, I wish you all a most enriching Day of Vesak.