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The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace started its world tour in March 2009 with a most amazing trip to Vietnam. Over a three-month period, close to four million Vietnamese people came to pay homage to the Jade Buddha and to renew their faith.

Jade Buddha Project chairman Ian Green is delighted with the success of the Vietnamese tour, and inspired by the devotion of the Vietnamese people.

“No matter how tired we were or difficult the situation was, the effect the Jade Buddha had on the Vietnamese people who saw it, made it all very worthwhile,” Ian said. “You could see delight in their faces and so many were in tears after viewing this amazing Jade Buddha.”

Managing the huge crowds at the temples was a challenge for the Jade Buddha team, as they had to ensure that everyone could pay homage to the Buddha in a safe and respectful manner. “When you are dealing with crowds of up to 350,000 people per day, this requires a great deal of planning,” Ian said.

Vietnamese abbots Thich Chan Tinh and Thich Quang Hien confirmed that this was the largest number of people to attend an event in Vietnam since 1975, when the country was unified under Communist rule. The Jade Buddha brought back many people who had not been to the temples for years, according to the abbots. Visitors included Vietnam’s president, vice-president and prime minister, who paid their respects at Phat Tich temple, near the capital Hanoi.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche emphasized the importance of so many millions of people who have seen the Jade Buddha and therefore have had strong imprints placed in their minds for enlightenment.

Rinpoche said to “Rejoice, this is such a wonderful achievement! To please remember the benefits to sentient beings in what you are doing with the tour, by people even merely seeing the Jade Buddha, ultimately brings them extensive benefit.”

Great Stupa Board member Judy Green says that hearing about the discovery in Canada of an amazing 18-ton jade boulder was the beginning of a momentous five-year journey for her and Ian, starting with “serious fund-raising” and then shipping it to Northern Thailand to be carved.

Judy says carving the statue was a long and involved process, which included intensive work by sculptor Jonathon Partridge. The statue’s face was then painted gold by Rajeesh, a Nepalese painter recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Finally, early this year the Jade Buddha was ready for transportation to Vietnam to begin its world tour.

Judy describes the excitement of the occasion when the Jade Buddha was officially unveiled for the first time in Danang, Vietnam. “Now, finally, Ian and I were in Danang in another world – an extraordinary location within the grounds of a beautiful old temple surrounded by those lumpy mountains peculiar to Asia, waiting, with a large crowd of curious onlookers and with huge anticipation, to unwrap our Jade Buddha,” Judy said.

“That moment of seeing it ‘in the flesh’ for the first time was heart-stopping – the exquisite luster of the jade, the beautiful, smiling, golden face – an unforgettable and very emotional moment,” she said. “By what seemed an absolute miracle of effort and hard work and tenacity from many people, here it was. And we could not have imagined it to be more perfect.”

Ian and Judy Green were treated like major celebrities wherever they travelled in Vietnam, and Ian says they had to be shepherded through the crowds by security forces. A Jade Buddha souvenir industry quickly sprang up around the temples, and by the end of the tour there were about 200 small stalls selling mementos.

Asiatrans representative Mai Dung coordinated the transportation of the Buddha to five different temples in Vietnam. This is no easy feat when you are dealing with a four-ton statue. “Without his (the Jade Buddha’s) blessing, it’s almost impossible for us to move such a valuable huge statue around to different sites as we have done,” Mai Dung said.