On the History of Vesak

By Shravasti Dhammika | 5/11/2025

Vesak is the most universally observed of all Buddhist celebrations or holidays. Traditionally it is believed that the Buddha was born, Awakened and passed into final nibbāna on the same day, the full moon of the second month of the ancient Indian called Vesākha, which corresponds to the modern April-May. For at least the last 60 years, Vesākha has been widely pronounced as Vesak, the Sinhalese way of saying it. Why not the Thai (Waistkha), the Tibetan (Sa Ga Dawa), the Korean (Seokga Tansinil) or the Vietnamese (Phat Dan) forms? Or for that matter, why not the Pāḷi/Sanskrit Vesākha? Because in 1950 the inaugural meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in, paid for and very much dominated by Ceylon, and so that country’s way of saying it became current.

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