On May 22, the Buddhist Association of China held an event to celebrate the Buddha's birthday at the Lingguang Temple in Beijing. More than 1,000 Buddhist followers from the three major Buddhist communities in China (Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism) as well as from Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, and Korea joined the event together.

This year, the celebration event set up a special "Buddhist Association of China Foreign Exchange Photo Exhibition" and a "Belt and Road Buddhist Culture Photo Exhibition". Photos and accompanying texts showed the historical achievements in foreign exchange of China's Buddhism and Buddhist culture in the countries and regions along the "Belt and Road". Guests at the event attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for the photo exhibition and enjoyed the exhibition with great interest.

The Beijing Lingguang Temple is a place that houses relics of the Buddha's teeth. According to Han Buddhist traditions, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month is the day to commemorate Sakyamuni Buddha's birthday. About at the same time, followers of Tibetan Buddhism will celebrate the Sagadawa festival and followers of Theravada Buddhism will celebrate Vesak, both of which commemorate the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.

Editor: Tommy Tan.