In its latest announcement, the Vesak 2025 organizing committee stated: “The necessary conditions have not yet converged, and thus the veneration and enshrinement of the sacred heart relic of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc at Vietnam Quoc Tu, as part of the United Nations Day of Vesak 2025, will not take place on the morning of May 3 as initially planned.”

As of the afternoon of May 2, the committee reported that 1,088 delegations, comprising nearly 50,000 individuals, had registered to pay homage to the sacred heart relic at Vietnam Quoc Tu in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City.

For the afternoon of May 3 alone - the originally scheduled opening day - nearly 10,000 people had already registered online, with many delegations consisting of more than 1,000 members. Online registration remains open.

According to the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Ho Chi Minh City, the new schedule for the veneration and enshrinement of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc’s sacred heart relic at Vietnam Quoc Tu will be announced once further developments arise.

The veneration and enshrinement of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc’s sacred heart relic is one of the two official spiritual events of the United Nations Day of Vesak 2025 and has received widespread interest from monks, nuns, and Buddhist followers.

“Tens of thousands have already registered to visit and venerate the relic between May 3 and 10. We respectfully ask for the understanding of monks, nuns, and the public regarding this matter,” the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Board stated.

According to the initial schedule, from the afternoon of May 3 to the morning of May 11 (excluding the afternoon of May 5), monks, nuns, and the public would be allowed to venerate the sacred heart relic at Vietnam Quoc Tu.

Thich Quang Duc, born Lam Van Tuat in 1897 in Van Ninh District, Khanh Hoa Province, self-immolated on June 11, 1963, at the intersection of Phan Dinh Phung Boulevard and Le Van Duyet Street (now Nguyen Dinh Chieu - Cach Mang Thang Tam intersection) in Saigon. His self-immolation, witnessed by thousands of citizens and Buddhist followers, was a protest against the repression of Buddhism by the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.

His body was brought to Xa Loi Pagoda for a funeral ceremony before being cremated at the An Duong Dia Crematorium in Phu Lam (Saigon). After cremation, his heart remained intact despite being placed back into the fire for hours, turning into a solid, stone-like form. The Inter-sect Committee for the Protection of Buddhism deemed it an indestructible relic and returned it to Xa Loi Pagoda. It was later transferred to Vietnam Quoc Tu and then securely preserved at the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Prior to the Buddha’s Birthday celebration in 1964, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha formally conferred upon Thich Quang Duc the title of Bodhisattva.

Tuan Chieu