The working trip to Ba Den Mountain is one of the important activities of ICDV to prepare for the biggest festival of Buddhist followers in the world , Vesak Festival, which will take place from May 6-8, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City.

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The Vesak 2025 delegation took a souvenir photo at the foot of the Maitreya statue. Photo: Sun World Ba Den Mountain

From early morning, nearly 100 delegates were present at Ba Den Mountain, a sacred mountain associated with the religious life of the people of Southern Vietnam. Here, the delegation performed the ritual of worshiping before the relics of Buddha Sakyamuni. The relics were presented to Vietnam by the World Buddhist Federation in 2014.

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Vesak delegation at the Buddhist exhibition area at Ba Den Mountain. Photo: Sun World Ba Den Mountain

During the discussion program on the Vesak Festival 2025, Most Venerable Phra Brahmapundit - Chairman of ICDV expected that this event will attract more than 1,000 delegates from 80 countries to Ba Den Mountain to visit and admire the vibrant Buddhist culture in Vietnam.

Venerable Phra Brahmapundit also praised the landscape and climate of Ba Den Mountain, calling it a precious destination. “Vesak 2025 will have a series of important programs at the Buddhist Academy in Ho Chi Minh City, in which Ba Den Mountain is a precious gem, a main highlight for this entire event," he added.

Venerable T. Dhammaratana - Vice President of ICDV also gave special compliments to this spiritual destination: "When the cable car goes through the fog to Sun World Ba Den, it creates a very interesting feeling."

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Vesak 2025 delegates visit Ba Den Mountain. Photo: Sun World Ba Den Mountain

During the working trip, the delegation visited the Buddhist cultural works system with the tallest Buddha statue in Asia located on the top of the mountain, the largest sandstone statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva in the world and visited the Buddhist exhibition space displaying simulated versions of classic Buddhist works in the world and Vietnam, watching 3D mapping movies about the formation of the universe...

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Vesak delegation at the Buddhist exhibition area at Ba Den Mountain. Photo: Sun World Ba Den Mountain

According to Venerable Thich Duc Thien - Vice President and General Secretary of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Ba Den Mountain was chosen as the place for international delegates and international Buddhists to visit and participate in religious and cultural festivals on the last day of the Vesak Festival, May 8, 2025. "The reason Ba Den Mountain was chosen is because this is a sacred mountain, a mountain that has gone down in history and is in the consciousness of the Vietnamese people. This is also a place that contains spiritual and historical origins and brings a sense of peace to everyone."

Thus, on the occasion of Vesak 2025, thousands of delegates from countries, United Nations agencies, and Buddhist leaders at home and abroad will come to Ba Den Mountain to organize sacred ceremonies at Ba Den Mountain. This is considered a meaningful and important activity in the series of activities of Vesak 2025, affirming the interest of the international Buddhist community in the traditional values ​​of Vietnamese Buddhism in general and Ba Den Mountain - a symbol in the religious life in Southern Vietnam in particular.

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Ba Den Mountain is likened to paradise by the Vice President of ICDV. Photo: Le Nhat Hung Phat

The 2025 Vesak Festival is the fourth time Vietnam has hosted the world's most important Buddhist festival, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Vietnam's reunification and the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's National Day. The event is expected to have the participation of 2,000 official delegates, including: 1,000 international guest delegates from 80 countries and territories, including a number of heads of state, leaders of United Nations agencies; leaders of Buddhist churches and sects, scholars, and researchers; and domestic guest delegates, including 1,000 monks and nuns of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

Ngoc Minh