From May 29 to 31, 2026, Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) held its twenty-ninth annual public Vesak celebration — marking the full moon day on which Buddhists around the world commemorate the Buddha’s birth in Lumbini, his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, and his passing in Kushinagar. Director of ABC Tan Hup Cheng shared some incredible details of the history and effort behind this event, and we are delighted to share this story with you. 

Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

Vesak is a time to reflect on the preciousness of this human life and on the reality of impermanence — that all beings are subject to birth, old age, sickness, and death. It is also a time to renew our refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha as the unmistaken path to liberation. For twenty-nine years, Amitabha Buddhist Centre has offered this occasion to the wider community of Singapore, and we rejoice in what this year’s celebration made possible.

The three-day event was held at the Aljunied Open Ground beside the MRT station — the same site where the first public celebration took place in May 1997. This year, as in previous years, more than 3,000 people gathered over the course of the three days.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi leading puja at the Vesak Celebrations 2026. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.

They were especially fortunate that Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi was able to join them. Rinpoche led Refuge and the Five Precepts, the Eight Mahayana Precepts, and blessings for the public and for animals, and presided over the pujas together with the Kopan Sangha. Over the three days, the community gathered for Chenrezig Puja, Yamantaka Fire Puja, Tara Puja, Namgyalma Puja with 1,000 offerings, White Dzambhala Wealth Deity Puja, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Vajravidarana Ritual.

30ft (9 meters) Maitreya Statue during Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

A focal point of this year’s celebration was a thirty-foot (nine-meter) Maitreya statue — a large holy object made from polystyrene foam and displayed at the center of the grounds for circumambulation and offerings. Each year, ABC creates and displays a new holy object in this way as part of the merit-making offered to all who attend. Community activities throughout the three days included a bodhicitta art coloring contest, sutra tracing, gilding a statue of the Buddha, and the traditional bath offering ceremony.

Tan Hup Cheng, ABC director reflects on how this offering has grown over nearly three decades:

Vesak Celebrations 2026, organised by Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

“The first public Vesak celebrations began in May 1997, on this same site next to the MRT station. The conditions came together to allow us to do it on a big scale, and every year when a Dharma celebration of this scale is staged, you see a spontaneous appearance of volunteers coming forward to man the different stalls. I have seen children below twelve going round to serve drinks to the other volunteers. You also see grandmothers over seventy coming to sell candles and flowers. You also see devotees coming to make offerings to the Buddha images, with deep devotion.”

Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

The preparation behind this offering is itself a year-long practice. An eleven-member volunteer executive committee, four staff members, and two hundred volunteers carry the work together. Dates are set a year in advance. Ten months out, organizers write to authorities for permission to use the open ground. Three months before, publicity on social media begins and sponsorships are invited from members and the public. Two months before, contractors and service providers are engaged. Two weeks before, the large tentage goes up and stalls are installed. Eleven weeks before the event, monks from Kopan Monastery arrive to lead all the pujas. On the opening day, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and the Kopan Sangha begin the celebration with the first puja.

Vesak 2026, Singapore. Photo Courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre

ABC is committed to staging this public Vesak event each year in order to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to create merit and encounter the Dharma. “Many of our existing members came to ABC because of Vesak,” Tan Hup Cheng recalls. “Some members of the public will come to the center and study the Dharma. It is a life-changing experience for them. They may not have met the Dharma had we not organized this event.”

Thank you dinner for the volunteers of Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Vesak 2026. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre

The director notes that events of this scale are only possible with a large and dedicated volunteer force. The weekend following the celebration, ABC hosted a buffet dinner at Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant for all who had served — joined also by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi — as an expression of gratitude for their collective effort and kindness.

We rejoice with Amitabha Buddhist Centre, with Khen Rinpoche, with the Kopan Sangha, and with the thousands of people who year after year find their way to the Dharma through this generous and sustained offering. May all the merit created over these three days benefit all sentient beings.

Please read about other events and celebrations around FPMT during the holy month of Saka Dawa.

We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!

Volunteers of the Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.