About 1,000 Buddhists held a religious ceremony on Thursday in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to see off the holy Buddha Finger Sarira, which is heading for South Korea for one month of enshrinement there.

The ceremony was chaired by Master Monk Yi Cheng, president of the Buddhist Association of China, and Master Monk Sheng Hui, who is in charge of the escort, at Famen Temple of Xi'an, one of the four sacred places in Chinese Buddhism.

The Buddhists, from both China and South Korea, saluted the images of Buddha and chanted aloud sutras from Buddhist classics at the ceremony.

The Buddha Finger Sarira, or the finger bone relic of Buddhism founder Sakyamuni, is regarded as China's state treasure. It is going to South Korea at the invitation of the South Korea Buddhist Association.

This is an important event in the 1,600-year history of friendly relations between the two countries, said Sheng.

The enshrinement of the Buddha Finger Sarira could bring the South Korean people happiness, improve social morality and boost friendship between the two countries, said Hui Cong, head of the inviting Buddhist delegation from South Korea.

The Buddha Finger Sarira will stay in South Korea from November 11 to December 20.

Since it was unearthed from a secret chamber at the Famen Temple in 1987 after being buried underground for nearly 1,000 years, the Buddha Finger Sarira has been sent to Thailand and China's Taiwan Province and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for enshrinement. The three activities, arranged respectively in 1994, 2002 and 2004, attracted millions of Buddhist believers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2005)