Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed appreciation to Indonesian Buddhists who celebrate this year’s Vesak Day by observing strict health protocols.
"I would like to thank Buddhists who continue to observe health protocols, avoid large crowds during prayers, lower mobility during the Vesak holiday, and celebrate Vesak Day online. Community compliance with health protocols represents a virtuous religious practice, mutual respect and appreciation, as well as collective efforts to receive the blessings of good health," the President said in his online remarks from Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java Province, as quoted from the Cabinet Secretariat's website.
The President also called on Buddhists to make the Vesak a momentum to strengthen the commitment to respect the true meaning of life, to practice justice and righteousness to achieve harmony, and to implement the concept of Dhamma (dharma) as taught by the Buddha as a way of life to fulfill duties and obligations.
The President also stressed that the concept of Dharma is highly relevant to the current pandemic situation because it reminds all of us to continue to take the journey along the paths of righteousness, to control ourselves from bad habits, to raise a sense of concern for each other, as well as to to give sincere helps.
This year, Indonesian Buddhists celebrate Vesak Day Vesak Day under strict health protocols.
Vesak is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists and Hindus in South and Southeast Asia, as well as Tibet and Mongolia.
The festival commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha in Theravada Tibetan Buddhism and Navayana.
For the record, Buddhism is recognized as one of six official religions in Indonesia, along with Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism and Confucianism.
According to the 2010 national census roughly 0.8% of the total citizens of Indonesia were Buddhists and numbered around 1.7 million.
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