A Group Led by Dr. Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Visits Shaolin Temple

To deepen exchanges in Buddhism and other areas between China and Sri Lanka, Dr. Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan ambassador to China, commercial officer Ms. Han Jie, Mr. Rosen and others visited Shaolin Temple accompanied by deputy director Guo Hua of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’ s Government of Henan Province, and communicate with abbot Shi Yongxin friendly.

There is a long friendly exchange history between China and Sri Lanka. Both sides’ Buddhist circles also communicated consequently. Dr. Palitha Kohona expressed his gratitude for Shaolin Temple’ s warm welcome. He highly praised the development of Buddhism in Shaolin Temple since its introduction to China. He said that China always gives a hand to Sri Lanka in the social stability and economic development. It was hoped that the journey to Shaolin Temple could contribute to friendly exchanges between two countries.

Abbot Yongxin mentioned Sri Lanka is the holy land of Buddhism. He himself has ever been there many times to visit and exchange. Shaolin Temple also successively sent lots of monks to visit and learn in Sri Lanka. In addition, Shaolin Temple also received many Sri Lankan King monks and politicians, maintaining close interactions at the top and other levels of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government also invited Shaolin Temple many times to build the Shaolin cultural center in the local area. Shaolin Temple also would like to positively interact with Sri Lankan people in various ways.

Abbot Yongxin and Dr. Palitha Kohona also explored in more depth monastic talents, and Shaolin cultural center’ s site selection and construction.