Asiantribune.com, September 9, 2006

United Nations -- The Vesak World Peace Buddhist Stupa was handed over formally to the United Nations at a ceremony held on 8th September, 2006 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The Stupa contains the sacred relics of the Lord Buddha gifted by Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar is made of brass casket with pure gold leaves.

The Stupa, named as Memorial Stupa, commemorates the auspicious occasion that UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution on International Recognition of the Day of Vesak by the UN Headquarters and other UN offices in 1999. Since the year 2000, under the patronage of His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, the Stupa has traveled the world touching over 30 countries as a symbol of peace. The Memorial Stupa will be in continuous display at a solemn location in the United Nations and available for public viewing.

The Stupa dedication ceremony was attended by a large number of invitees and Buddhist monks in New York.

Speaking on this occasion Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations paid a tribute to Late Lakshman Kadirgamar, then Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka who took the initiative in 1999 on behalf of Sri Lanka and a large number of other co-sponsor States to table a UN Resolution calling for the International Recognition of the Day of Vesak.

Ambassador Kariyawasam added "Minister Kadirgamar was inspired by the desire of many Buddhists in the world that it is timely that the international community honor the Lord Buddha by declaring Vesak day as a special day for the United Nations and in recognition that the teachings of the Buddha have immensely contributed to the understanding of the human condition and promoting universal peace and equality among peoples for over 2500 years".