Raising the Buddhist flag at the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Ho Chi Minh City

The world's largest Buddhist flag measuring 500 square meters with five colors of blue, yellow, red, white and orange fluttered during the 2025 Vesak celebration at the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Ho Chi Minh City.

On the morning of May 5, the organizing committee of the 2025 Vesak Festival held a ceremony to raise a 500m² Buddhist flag on the campus of the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Ho Chi Minh City - Campus II.

The image of the Buddhist flag is 500m² in size.

According to the organizers, the flag is 500 square meters in size, sewn with special super durable fabric according to international tradition, with 5 colors: blue, yellow, red, white, orange, arranged in order according to the standard model of the Buddhist flag.

The length of 25.69m symbolizes the length of Buddhist history over 2569 years. The width of the flag is 19.47m.

Monks and Buddhists participate in the flag-raising ceremony

The five colors of the flag also symbolize the unity of the five continents, expressing the desire for world peace, and also the desire of Buddhism to spread compassion, in accordance with the spirit of this year's Vesak theme: "Solidarity and tolerance for human dignity: Buddhist wisdom for world peace and sustainable development".

The monks perform the flag-raising ceremony.

Attending the flag-raising ceremony were monks, nuns, Buddhists and local people. After the flag was raised, local people released 500 balloons to celebrate the event.

Image of Buddhist flag with 5 main colors

The 20th Vesak Festival 2025 is co-organized by the International Organizing Committee for the United Nations Day of Vesak (ICDV) and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

This is the fourth time Vietnam has hosted the event, previously in Hanoi (2008), Ninh Binh (2014) and Ha Nam (2019).

This year, 80 countries and territories are expected to participate, taking place from May 6 to 8 at the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Most Venerable Thich Nhat Tu, Standing Member of the Executive Council, Vice President and Deputy General Secretary of the 2025 Vesak Festival, the 80 countries and territories symbolize the 80 years of Buddha Shakyamuni's life of practicing Buddhism and saving sentient beings.

Source: https://ttbc-hcm.gov.vn/thuong-ky-la-co-phat-giao-o-hoc-vien-phat-giao-viet-nam-tai-tp-hcm-1018609.html Vesak Festival 2025