White House Celebrates Buddhist Festival of Vesak Organized by Dharma Into Action
- The inaugural festivities were attended by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, to commemorate the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.
For the first time, Dharma Into Action celebrated the Buddhist festival of Vesak at the White House on May 26, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff lit a candle, in the presence of three Venerables representing the three traditions of Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism. Shekar Narasimhan, president of Dharma Into Action Foundation also attended the White House event.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on the occasion. āJill and I extend our warmest wishes to Buddhists in the United States and around the world as they celebrate Vesak, a day honoring the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha. The ceremonial lighting of a lamp, the symbol of this holiday that has been celebrated for over 2,500 years, reminds us of Buddhism’s teachings of compassion, humility, and selflessness that endure today. On this day, we also commemorate the many contributions of Buddhists in America who enrich our communities and our country as we all work together toward brighter days ahead.ā
Dharma Into Action an association of Dharmic American leaders, tech entrepreneurs, business executives and philanthropists collaborating to create a community-based think tank that produces research-based data about needs in the community, best practices and models for Dharmic activities, finding partners to implement programs, and some seed funding to scale. It aims to identify and respond to urgent needs in the community by providing resources, knowledge base and relevant information to serve Americans in need, at large scale and multiple locations. Our approach is to connect researched needs with evidence-based practices to reach those in need embodying secular and inclusive core values.
