05/17/2011, 00.00
NEPAL – JAPAN
Send to a friend

Nepal celebrates the Buddha’s birthday by honouring two Japanese with a peace award

by Kalpit Parajuli
Celebrations are held today in Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace. The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki receive the Gautam Buddha International Peace Award for their action against the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Nepalis marked the 2,555th anniversary of the Buddha’s birth with prayer vigils across their mountain nation. Celebrations began this morning in Lumbini (southwestern Nepal) where Siddhartha Gautama was born. The key moment came when the Gautam Buddha International Peace Award, the most important international prize awarded for spreading Buddhist values in the world, was given to its first recipients, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Tadatoshi Akiba (Hiroshima) and Tomihisa Taue (Nakagasaki) were recognised for their action against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the dangers of atomic energy, especially important since the Fukushima tragedy.

Both civic leaders are also members of the ‘Mayors of Peace’ movement, a group that brings together more than 4,000 mayors around the world.

The Nepali government first conceived the prize in 1998 as a way to highlight the Buddha’s message of peace and humanity.

The prize honours every five years Nepali or foreign individuals or organisations that promote peace and human rights around the world.

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
To remember the past is to commit oneself to peace, say Archbishops of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
05/08/2005
Nagasaki warns against stopping anti-proliferation efforts
09/08/2007
Lumbini: major dig into the Buddha's life gets underway
17/01/2014
Buddha is Nepali: a world conference to clarify the origins of Buddhism
10/05/2016 13:30
Inter-faith prayer to honour the memory of Father Prakash, Nepali martyr
15/07/2008


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”