On the day of Gurupurnima (full-moon), Lord Buddha is said to have held the first sermon Dharmachakra after having attained enlightenment.

The four stamp series of Buddha depict the four episodes of Buddha?s life namely, his birth in Lumbini, enlightenment in Bodhagaya, first sermon in Sarnath and Mahaparinirvana in Kushinagar.

The small stone pillar related to Buddha was seized at the Tribhuvan International Airport when it was about to be smuggled to other countries via flight in 2057 B.S.

The stamp series printed in four mixed colours was designed by artist of the Bureau Mohan Narasingh Rana. About 2,50,000 copies of stamps have been published.

The first sermon preached by Lord Buddha on this day is known as Dharmachakra all over the world. According to him, only those who can renounce greed, illusion, affection can attain enlightenment which means to know oneself.

Speaking at the function, Minister Dhakal said only those can be genuine followers of Buddha who follow the path of non-violence and peace shown by him.

He called on the people to extend their support to historic move made by His Majesty the King which was aimed at ending terrorism in order to restore peace in the country.

Minister Dhakal, meanwhile, expressed his conviction that the string of stamps will help spread the message of peace in every corner of the world.

Speaking on the occasion, Director General of the Nepal Philatelic Bureau, Shreedhar Gautam expressed hope that the Buddha stamp series will help spread Buddha?s message of Panchsheel as well as help researchers.

The Bureau has issued 30 types of stamp series of Buddha so far. On the occasion, Chairman of the Nepal Philatelic Society, Kedar Pradhan informed that additional stamp series of Buddha will be released in the near future.

At the function presided over by patron of society and vice chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust, Omkar Gauchan, assistant director general of the Department of Archeology, Chandraprakash Tripathi and others also expressed their views.