By 8 a.m., the stupa at Thanh Tam Pagoda, where the relics – designated a national treasure of India – are enshrined, was filled with devotees.
A military aircraft transporting the relics arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport Friday. Following a ceremonial handover, the relics were escorted to Thanh Tam Pagoda, the host venue for the 2025 United Nations Vesak Day celebration.
The relics, housed in a stupa under stringent security, are treated as a national event by India, equivalent to a state leader's visit whenever brought abroad.
Among the relics is a portion of the skull bone of Buddhism's founder Shakyamuni Buddha, unearthed in 1898 by British archaeologist William Claxton Peppe in Kapilavastu, an area near the India-Nepal border.
In 1997, Thai Buddhist artisans crafted a gold-plated stupa, adorned with 109 grams of gold at its pinnacle, to enshrine these authentic relics as a gesture of reverence.
The enshrinement area is solemnly arranged with designated entry and exit routes. Visitors are barred from bringing incense, taking photographs, or recording videos. Each person circles the relics once before exiting, a process lasting about one minute.
Nguyen Thi Ly, 76, from Cu Chi District, arrived at the pagoda at 3 a.m., queuing for nearly two hours to enter the stupa.
"I'm overjoyed to see the relics; it feels like encountering the embodiment of the Buddha," she said.
Foreign monastic delegations attending the Vesak celebration were also present early at Thanh Tam Pagoda.
Hong Hien (center, wearing a black jacket), 50, from District 5, stood among the crowd. "The weather is hot and uncomfortable, but seeing the Buddha's relics with my own eyes makes it worthwhile," she said.
In the pagoda's main courtyard, Buddhists lit incense and chanted sutras. By midday, the number of visitors continued to surge.
Over the three-day Vesak event, the Buddhist Academy will host activities including an exhibition of 87 national Buddhist treasures spanning Vietnam's religious history, the release of 12,000 floating lanterns, and the hoisting of a 500-square-meter Buddhist flag.
Vesak 2025 is Vietnam's fourth time hosting the global event, following celebrations in 2008 at Hanoi's My Dinh National Conference Center, 2014 at Ninh Binh's Bai Dinh Pagoda, and 2019 at Ha Nam's Tam Chuc Pagoda.
Organizers anticipate representatives from 80 countries and over 10,000 Buddhists at this major gathering of the world's Buddhist community.
