For Koreans, India a home of their spiritual ancestors: CM

Congratulating Jogye Baudh Sangh for completing its 43-day pilgrimage, the CM said the padayatra was organised to strengthen the relations between the two countries. “When saints make efforts to deepen the relations, then its meaning becomes divine,” the CM added.

Citing history, CM said that Korea’s Jogye Baudh Sangh has its roots in India. “Shravasti, the origin of your meditation tradition Seon, is where your journey came to an end. In this sense, you have not come abroad but to the home of your spiritual ancestors,” CM said, adding that Buddha’s meditation tradition entered Korea through his disciple Huineng in China.

Stating that India was the centre of reverence and faith for the Buddhist society of the world, the CM said many places associated with the life of Mahatma Buddha are in Uttar Pradesh such as Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon, Shravasti where he spent most of his ‘varshavaas’, and Kushinagar, his place of Mahaparinirvana.

“Lucknow is surrounded by the aura of Lord Buddha from all sides. A government-run grand Buddha Vihar Shanti Upvan is in UP, International Buddhist Research Institute in our state. As international airport has become operational in Kushinagar, the development of an airport in Shravasti is also going on a war footing. The state government is going to set up an agriculture and technology university named after Mahatma Buddha in Kushinagar,” the CM added.

During the 43-day padyatra, a group of 108 monks from South Korea walked along the entire Buddhist circuit, including Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Vaishali, Kushinagarm Kapilvastu among others, covering over 1,100 km from February 11 to March 20. The pilgrimage was aimed at strengthening friendship and increasing collaboration between the two countries, the UP government said in a release.