Plus

Plus

Exploring Buddhagaya, pinnacle of India’s sacred Buddhist shrines
Enlightened land
By Sanjiva and Shivantha Wijesinha
It is a global melting pot, tucked away in the heart of India's poorest state. It was here at Buddhagaya at the foot of a pipul tree that 2600 years ago the Sakyan prince Siddhartha achieved enlightenment- and became the great religious teacher the world knows today as the Buddha.

Rejecting the worldly pleasures of His father's palace in the Sakyan kingdom in present day Bihar, Siddhartha left His home and family at the age of 29 to wander as an ascetic in search of the truth - striving to understand the phenomenon of human suffering.

On the Vesak full moon day in 623 BCE, while meditating under this leafy tree, the ascetic prince realised the answers to His fundamental questions - why suffering exists in the world and how one can eradicate this suffering.

To the world's 300 million Buddhists, this spot in India where He gained enlightenment represents the most hallowed spot on earth and certainly the most important site of pilgrimage. The temple at Buddhagaya where the Maha Bodhi (sacred Bodhi tree) stands was originally erected by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE. Despite the ubiquitous hawkers and beggars crowding outside its walls, once you enter the temple compound you are filled with a great sense of peace and serenity.

Strolling around the courtyard at dusk you come across pilgrims and visitors from all over the world - saffron-clad Theravada monks from Sri Lanka and Thailand, Tibetan Mahayana monks in their distinct orange and purple robes, westerners in traditional Indian dress and Indians in jeans and woolly jumpers. Truly a microcosm of the Buddhist world.

It is a deeply moving experience to be seated here in the early hours of morning when the chanting begins. You hear deep-throated sonorous Tibetan monks from one side, gentler Pali stanzas from a group of Thai pilgrims in another corner, soft singing accompanied by the percussion of a silvery bell from members of a black-robed Japanese sect.

Surprisingly, the result is not a disharmonious cacophony but a pleasing blending of sounds. You can concentrate on listening first to one group, then to another and in turn to a third - and appreciate them all.You can sit near the very spot where the Buddha sat 2626 years ago and meditate - or you can share an early morning roti and conversation with a Ladakhi monk from the Himalayas. Or you may choose just to stand and absorb the sounds and the ambience of this sacred place.

Although Buddhism originated in India, over the centuries it virtually died in this country. Fortunately it spread to neighbouring Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand (where the populations today are 80 to 90% Buddhist) and via the old Silk Routes through Pakistan and Afghanistan to China, Korea and Japan. It is pilgrims from these countries - as well as westerners interested in Buddhism - who constitute the majority of visitors to Buddhagaya today.

From here you can travel along the pot-holed roads of Bihar to other places where the Buddha lived and preached - to Rajgir, where the first international Buddhist Council was held or Veluwana, the cool and peaceful bamboo grove situated by a picturesque lake where the Buddha delivered some of His better known sermons. Both these places, as well as Nalanda are within a day's journey from Buddhagaya.

The archaeological excavations at Nalanda are amazing. There was a monastery here where the Buddha is known to have stayed during His lifetime. After His death, the monastery continued as an abode as well as a place of instruction for monks. Over the years it evolved into an institution of learning and received royal patronage - until at the time of the Gupta dynasty (4th to 7th century of the Christian era) it was attracting scholars from far and wide.

They came to learn Buddhism as well as subjects like astronomy, law, logic, mathematics, medicine and the arts. The university prospered for over 700 years until it was sacked by the Afghan invader Bhaktiar Khilji in the 12th century.

The buildings here - cells built around a central courtyard with a gatehouse at one end and a shrine at the other - are so reminiscent of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge with their porter's lodge at one end and chapel at the other!

The difference of course is that this ancient Indian university flourished from around the 5th century - whereas Oxford's earliest college dates its origins only from the year 1149! The Chinese monk Xuan Zhang (Huang Tsien) visited here in the 7th century, spending several years as a student and then a teacher. He described the place in detail in his writings, which still exist in China.

It is from the writings of Chinese scholars like Xuan Zhang and Fa Xian (Fa Hsien) who visited here in the early 5th century) that historians have been able to gain an idea of the Buddhist civilisations that flourished in the Ganges plain before they were extinguished by Moslem invaders and Hindu resurgence.

As Lord Ronaldshay, the British president of the Mahabodhi Society of India said in 1920, "It is not necessary to be an actual adherent of the Buddhist faith to be a reverent admirer of the life and teachings of its founder." Nor does one need to be a Buddhist to appreciate the serenity, the sanctity and the beauty of these sites of Buddhist pilgrimage.

Back to Plus