Even as the diplomatic relations between India and South Korea complete half-centenary, the spiritual ties between the two go back to centuries because India is not ‘foreign’ but ‘home’ to spiritual ancestors of the Koreans, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said at the felicitation ceremony of Jogye Sangh.

The function was held on the completion of the 43-day ‘padyatra’ of Buddhist pilgrimages by Jogye Sangh of South Korea on the completion of 50 years of diplomatic relations between India and South Korea.

About 108 Buddhist pilgrims from the Republic of Korea walked over 1,100 kms in over 43 days as part of the walking pilgrimage organised by Sangwol Society of South Korea.

Speaking on the occasion, Yogi said: “Lord Gautam Buddha had started his Dhamma Yatra from Sarnath by giving his first sermons. I congratulate you on completing your 43-day pilgrimage. The ‘padyatra’ is being organised to strengthen the relations between the two countries on the completion of half-century of the diplomatic relations between India and South Korea. When saints make efforts to deepen the relations, its meaning becomes divine.”

Lord Buddha’s meditation tradition entered Korea through his disciple Huineng in China. “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,” Yogi said.

The group of monks travelled on foot along the entire Buddhist circuit, including Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, to Kushinagar, the place of Mahaparinirvana. 

Yogi said: “Both India and South Korea celebrate independence on August 15. India got the opportunity to chair the G20 summit in its ‘Azadi ka Amrit Kaal’. This year, the theme of G20 is ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’; it connects us with the spirit of India’s ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam’.” 

“Buddha’s preaching inspires the entire mankind to embrace friendship, oneness, compassion, and humility. India is the centre of reverence and faith for the Buddhist society of the world,” the CM added. He went on to say that many places associated with the life of Mahatma Buddha are in Uttar Pradesh.

“Lord Buddha had delivered his first sermon in Sarnath while in Shravasti, he spent most of his ‘varshavaas’, and Kushinagar is his place of ‘Mahaparinirvana’,” Yogi noted. 

“Lucknow is surrounded by the aura of Lord Buddha from all sides. Shanti Upvan Buddha Vihar is in UP and so is the International Buddhist Research Institute. As the international airport has become operational in Kushinagar, the development of an airport in Shravasti is also underway on a war footing. The state government is going to set up an agriculture and technology university named after Mahatma Buddha in Kushinagar itself. The relations between India and South Korea are scaling new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. 

The chief minister added that the mutual trade between India and South Korea is $28 billion, in which India exports goods worth $9 billion and imports worth $19 billion from South Korea.