ISLAMABAD: A Korean scholar has proposed the establishment of Korea-Pakistan cultural corridor to promote of relations between the two countries through cultural diplomacy and cultural tourism by highlighting the common heritage of Gandhara and Buddha’s message of peace.

Dr Esther Park, a Korean Buddhist scholar and secretary of the Islamabad-based Gandhara Art and Culture Association was speaking at an event held to commemorate the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha at the Lok Virsa Media Centre on Sunday.

The event was organised by the Centre for Culture and Development (C2D), in collaboration with Lok Virsa.

A number of prominent politicians, academics, art and culture activists, and members from the foreign community attended the event.

The speakers unanimously called for the promotion of Buddha’s message of peace, truth, and Gandhara heritage to woo tourists from around the world.

Dr Park said Pakistan is a cradle of great civilisations like Gandhara but few people know of its historical and civilisational importance.

She gave a detailed presentation on the similarities between the ancient art, architecture, and symbolism of all religions such as domes, minarets and floral motifs in art, the history and philosophy of Mahayana movement.

She spoke about the teachings of Buddha and the spread of Buddhism, as well as Maranantha, the monk who spread Mahayana Buddhism across the Korean peninsula in the late 4th century AD, who was from Chota Lahore in the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, she regretted that ancient Buddhist remains in the monk’s hometown are unmarked and ignored by the authorities since its discovery in 2000.

“This site is like Mecca for the Buddhists,” Dr Park said. “But not even a single signboard has been put up to mark it.”

Dr Park is the only Korean scholar of Gandhara. She has been awarded the Presidential Award in recognition of her services for promoting Gandhara heritage worldwide. She was the first to invite Korean monks to Pakistan to celebrate Vesak festival in 2006 at Dharam Rajika.

Veteran politician Farhatullah Babar said that Buddha was a prophet of peace who explained philosophical issues in a very simple but very effective manner.

For instance, about truth Buddha said that it was present all around us every time but anyone could have perceived only a small part of it at any point of time, he said, just as one can keep a count of only a handful of leaves falling in autumn but not all the leaves, same is the truth and no one individual can claim to know all of it.

He said that if this teaching of Buddha was followed there would be greater tolerance and peace.

This was echoed by Ayub Malik of National Party, who said that in a country where hate mongering is on the rise, there is a dire need to promote Buddhist teachings to counter extremism and hatred.

Dr Nadeem Omar Tarar, executive director of C2D, moderated the discussion and emphasised that we should keep playing our role, however, we can, to create interfaith harmony, religious tolerance, peace and prosperity in the region.

He added that if we respect other’s religion, they will do the same and by reviving these spiritual places and reconstructing them from archaeological remains to religious sites, Pakistan can become a favourite destination for religious tourism, which will not only create revenue for he local community but will also bring other countries closer to us.

A ceremony will also take place at Dharmarajika Stupa on May 19 to commemorate Vesak Day, celebrated on May 15, which is a sacred day for millions of Buddhists around the world.

Buddha was born on the day of Vesak in 623 BC, attained enlightenment on the same date and also passed away on the day.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2019