Festival Diary – Vesak: A Day of Stillness, Solidarity and Compassion by Dr. Rehena Harilall

This blog series invites members and friends of WIN to prepare a ‘festival diary’, exploring the history and significance of specific rituals or outlining the routine of religious celebrations, as a window into the lived experience of people of different faiths. This week, Dr. Rehena Harilall – founder of Buddhists Across Traditions – shares how she will be marking ‘a different kind’ of Vesak this year.

This Vesak—the sacred day marking the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha—I will choose a different kind of observance. Rather than celebrating through community rituals or temple visits, I will spend the day in quiet reflection, grounded in compassion for a world in pain.

The day will begin by lighting incense as a gesture of remembrance. The rising smoke will honour those who have been killed, and continue to be killed, through greed, hatred, and the thirst for power. The Buddha taught that these are the roots of suffering. Today, I will face them directly, acknowledging how deeply they still shape our world. The incense will not only mourn the lives lost but serve as a call to wakefulness—to remember, to engage, and take action. This moment is beyond passive reflection; it is for active compassion, inspiring us to step forward in solidarity and meaningful action.

I will then sit in morning meditation, breathing for those who can no longer breathe freely—or at all. I will breathe for those buried beneath rubble, trapped behind borders, or suffocated by injustice. This simple act will be my first offering, holding in heart the countless people suffering through war, displacement, and fear.

Later in the morning, I will go for a walking meditation. Each step will be deliberate, a gesture of solidarity with those who cannot walk freely—those behind walls, in refugee camps, or under constant threat. As I walk, I will also hold in my awareness those who create war. I will offer compassion to decision-makers, warlords, and leaders, hoping they may awaken our shared humanity, and realise that true liberation and peace requires collective energy of action.

Throughout the day, I will fast—not to purify, but to connect. This hunger will be in solidarity with those who do not eat by choice, but by circumstance. For millions, hunger is a daily reality. Through fasting, I will stay close to this truth and honour their dignity.

I will spend time gardening. With my hands in the earth, I will remember that all life is interconnected. Every seed planted and tended will be an act of reverence—for the planet and for all beings who depend on it. This tending of soil will be a quiet practice of gratitude, care, and restoration.

This Vesak will not be marked by ceremony, but by quiet presence—through breath, steps, soil, hunger, and prayer. Through offering, not only for the peace of my own mind but for the healing of this aching world. To walk the Buddha’s path today is to not turn away, but to turn toward suffering—with love, courage, and action.

Dr. Rehena Harilall (she/we) is an engaged Buddhist in the Plum Village Tradition, having received lay ordination into the Order of Interbeing from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2016. She is the founder of Buddhists Across Traditions, an initiative dedicated to uniting diverse Buddhist communities in the pursuit of racial, social, and climate justice. Rehena’s journey of healing, love, and peace—shaped by her experiences growing up in apartheid South Africa—has been shared through Buddhist publications, including Lion’s Roar and Mindfulness Bell. In 2024, she organized the Multi-Faith Silent Peace Walk in London, an event that drew thousands from various faiths, garnered media attention, and inspired similar walks in the US, Israel, Botswana, and Switzerland, spreading a powerful message of global solidarity for peace.

If you would like to submit your own festival diary, please contact info@wominet.org.uk.