--
Bodh
Gaya --
The
Sacred
Buddhist Village
in
the
state of Bihar, North India
About
160
miles east of the holy Hindu city of Varanasi
(aka
Benares)
-- though by automobile today it seems
infinitely
farther
-- lies the town of Bodh Gaya (aka
Buddhagaya)
.
As the site of Siddhartha Gautama's
enlightenment,
Bodh
Gaya is one of the most sacred,
if
not
the most sacred, of many treasured locations
for
Buddhists
of every school and sect. Today, it is the
site
of
the famous Mahabodhi Temple, which is a
pilgrimage
destination
for Buddhists from
all
over
the world.
(Clicking
on
any image will yield a larger version of it.)
The front
of the Mahabodhi Temple, as seen from
the main
entrance
early in the morning.
As one
approaches
the temple, there stands an
ancient arch
that resembles a Shinto torii (gate).
It was
reportedly
placed there (along with many
other things)
by the great emperor and Buddhist
missionary,
Ashoka, in the third century BCE.
To the left is one of several sets of footprints of
the Buddha
on the temple grounds, which many
believers
regard as authentic impressions left by the
sage, rather
than as mere symbols. To the right
stands one
of many stupas (symbolic reliquaries)
that surround
the temple.
As the visitor
draws closer to the temple, its great
spire looms
large.
On
either
side of the main entrance are images
of the Buddha,
with his hands in different positions
(mudras)
in
each. The one of the left suggests
reassurance,
while the one on the right points
to the earth
as a witness to his enlightenment.
Inside the
temple, the focal point is an eighteen-foot
golden image
of Siddhartha Gautama. During seasons
of pilgrimage
(during the winter), the small chamber that
houses it
will be jammed with devotees.
Around the
temple is a marble walkway, which is used for
what is
perhaps
the most common act of devotion here:
circumambulation.
Though
employing various styles (and
speeds) of
walking meditation, Buddhists of various schools
and different
cultures ritually traverse the circumference of
the temple
-- some once, others seven times, and still others
one-hundred-eight
times.
Just above eye level all around the
temple are
niches, in each of which sits a golden image of the
Buddha in
his teaching pose.
At the rear
of the temple and behind a concrete enclosure
(which the
tour books had told us would be closed to the
public) stand
the famous Bo (or Bodhi) Tree, under which
Siddhartha
sat and attained enlightenment. Though the
original tree,
a pipal or ficus
religiosus, died long ago, it has
been replaced
several times by saplings of tree that
themselves
had been grown from offshoots of the original
and sent to
other locations.
Dr.
Laughlin's
wife, Randy, stands at one corner of the
enclosure
as, in the distance, a devotee circumambulates
the temple,
oblivious to the strangely Western acts of photo-
piety that
we are performing nearby. To Randy's left are two
glass cases
containing yet more footprints of the Buddha.
A few
feet more to her left (camera right) is the entrance,
which is (to
our surprise) open to visitors.
The base of
the tree is wrapped with large plastic ribbons.
On the right,
between the tree and the temple, and beneath a
colorful
awning,
is a golden platform supposedly built by
Emperor (Maharajah)
Ashoka
to mark the very spot where
the Buddha
sat in his pursuit of enlightenment. The sign
at the base
of the tree, written in Hindi, has an English
counterpart
on the opposite side of the tree (where the
second photo
of the platform was taken). Both signs
give
instructions
for the proper treatment of the tree.
The
(fractured)
English version reads as follows:
"1. PLEASE
DO NOT PLUCK LEAVES FROM THE BODHI-TREE
2. DO NOT
TAKE SOIL FROM BODHI-TREE GROUND
3. KINDLY
SAVE THE SACRED BODHI-TREE
4. PLEASE
DO NOT UP ON BODHI-TREE GROUND.
BHIKKHU-IN-CHIEF,
SECRETARY
MAHABODHI
MAHAVIHAR
BUDDHA
GAYA TEMPLE"
(We were very
careful to abide by all of these rules. As far as
we can recall,
neither of us upped on the ground there. Thanks
to our guide,
however, we did manage to walk away and return
home with
a piece of bark that had fallen from the tree.)
The temple
spire as seen through the branches
of the Bo
tree.
The grounds
immediately surrounding the temple
are crowded
with all kind of structures, including two
other walkways
(each at a higher level than the one
around the
base of the temple), and many stupas,
statues,
arches,
and even a small temple or two.
Most of the
statues, not surprisingly, are of the
Buddha
himself,
though the photo at the far right
shows
Mahakashyapa,
the Buddh'a greatest
disciple and
hand-picked successor.
This temple
being located in religiously eclectic India,
one is not
terribly surprised to see Hindu deities
honored
at this sacred Buddhist site, in the case,
Lord Shiva
and his family -- including his elephant-
headed son,
Ganesha, appearing at the far right.
From the
highest
of the walkways, one can see at a lower
level some
inscriptions in the Tibetan language. The one
enlarged at
the right is the famous Vajrayana mantra
OM MANI PADME
HUM.
Adjacent
to the main temple complex -- behind a locked gate
casually
"guarded"
by (what luck!) a friend of our guide
who might
be persuaded to open it to special guests
(aka
foreigners
with a few rupees to spare) -- lies a
peace park
conceived, built, and dedicated a decade or
so ago by
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Also adjacent
to the main temple complex is an
artificial
body of water, Muclalinda Lake, named after
and honoring
the large cobra that according to tradition
shielded the
meditating Buddha from a raging storm
with his huge
hood. Floating on the lake are lotuses,
only a few
of which (unfortunately) were yet in bloom.
One quickly
notices that most of the people at this temple
are also
foreigners
-- though most are Asians: mostly Thai,
Burmese, and
Tibetan, but a Vietnamese and Korean or two.
That
is because Buddhism as a separate religion has all but
died out in
India in the past thousand years. More specifically,
Hindus have
simply come to regard Lord Buddha as the ninth
incarnation
(avatar) of the god Vishnu, and thus Buddhism
as just
another
sect (among many) of their own faith.
The variety
of piety observable here, even on an
off-season
day, is remarkable. A Burmese Theravada
monk sits
in silent meditation. A laywoman prostrates
herself in
prayer in the Tibetan style. A Tibetan layman
quietly (but
audibly) chants Sutras (scriptures) to himself.
But the main
act of piety remains circumambulation.
Some merely
stroll, pausing here and there
to bow in
reverence or prayer.
Others,
like
the Burmese monk below, take a few quick
steps, raise
prayerful hands, kneel, bow, rise, and then
repeat this
routine -- for the entire circumference of (in
this case)
the highest, outermost and therefore longest
walkway around
the temple.
Most
impressive
of all, however, is a young red-robed
Tibetan monk,
first spotted walking on the marble pavement
at the far
corner of the temple. He is walking incredibly
-- almost
imperceptibly -- slowly. (Another circumabulator,
moving at
his own faster pace on the burlap carpet, quickly
overtakes
and passes him, as if he were -- well -- standing
still . .
. which he almost is.) With perfect balance, he lifts
and moves
each foot, one after the other, moving at most
a few feet
per minute. His concentration is intense at the
same time
that it seems perfectly natural -- at least for him.
(Notice from
the position of the shade line how little distance
he has covered
in the time that I have walked the full length
of the temple,
pausing to take pictures of other things along
the way.)
At one point,
wife Randy worries that my picture-taking
will disturb
or distract him. "Not if he's doing it right,"
I reply --
and it is clear to me that he is, and that I am
bothering
him no more than a fly landing on his nose.
As I am
about
to depart the temple grounds, my guide
introduces
me to a "priest," a "very holy man," I am told.
He first
uncovers
a standing Buddha in a little grotto for
me to
photograph
-- a gracious act for which he (not
surprisingly)
expects a tip. He then rushes ahead to untie
a decorative
scarf from around a sacred pillar that, according
to the sign,
was erected by Ashoka to mark one of the many
spots on these
grounds where the Buddha meditated during
his seven
weeks here. The "priest" shows me the scarf,
then touches
it again to the pillar and generously hands it to
me as a
gift.
I bow deeply, thank him, and start to walk away.
"More
tip?"
he asks. "Sure," I respond. After all, it's a
living...
and this is
a very poor country...and a little to me is a lot to
him.
(But
I silently wonder what my guide's cut is...and try,
in good
Buddhist
fashion, not to care whether he thinks
that he has
duped yet another gullible tourist.)
The
Mahabodhi
Temple -- picturesque from any angle
and in any
light.
A few
kilometers
away are the moutains and
valleys that
were, according to tradition, the haunts
of Siddhartha
Gautama during his six-year period of
ascetic search
that eventually failed him and led him
to sit
resolutely
under the Bo tree until he should
reach
enlightenment.
This
eighty-foot
statue was erected by Japanese Buddhists
not far from
the Mahabodhi Temple a decade or so ago
in honor of
the Buddha. Notice how much it resembles
in style the
bronze Daibutsu (Great Buddha) at Kamakura,
pictured below
it.
The mudras
(hand positions) are different, however,
because the
Japanese Daibutsu is an image of the
Amida Buddha,
not Siddhartha Gautama.
A final
word
of warning to would-be pilgrims to Bodh Gaya.
This town
is not on any standard tourist route, and for good
reason.
Although on the map, the mere 150 miles or so from
Varanasi
(Benares)
makes Bodh Gaya look like a simple add-
on, the
interstate
road is at best what would be called a country
road in the
U.S., and in many spots it would be considered
impassible
by Western standards. It is, moreover, typically
clogged to
a standstill with (literally) thousands of trucks, buses,
and other
severely overloaded vehicles in various states of
disrepair.
The
trip -- for us, eight-and-a-half hours without
a stop, except
to add water to an over-heating and therefore
un-air-conditioned
"luxury"
car -- was, in a word, harrowing...
except for
the parts that were merely terrifying.
(On top of
everything else, there were warnings as of early
2000 -- which
the India tourism industry do not bother to
inform their
clients about -- that the state of Bihar has been
known to have
roaming packs of robbers who prey on tourists.)
Also, one
needs to know that there are no luxury
accommodations
in Bodh Gaya, at least by Western
standards.
The
best hotel -- the Bodh Gaya Ashok -- is
expensive
by Indian standards (and overpriced on any scale),
but it is
quite run-down and downright seedy in many ways,
the
electricity
is very unreliable and unpredictable, and the
service rather
inattentive to detail. (Do you mind having to
search for
someone to serve you in the restaurant at posted
meal times
or finding mold on your toast at breakfast? For
that matter,
do you relish the idea of staying in a hotel
whose
emergency
fire equipment is four red buckets of
sand marked
"Fire" on a rack by the entrance?)
My
suggestion
would be to go to Bodh Gaya only if it is a
matter of
spiritual or professional necessity; and, if you do,
to avoid doing
so by car or bus. There is a train that runs
from Varanasi
to the city of Gaya, which lies just to the north
of Bodh
Gaya.
There is also a small airport in Bodh Gaya itself.
I would tell
my travel agency to arrange for either a train ticket
from Varanasi
to Gaya and driver to Bodh Gaya from there,
or a private
plane from Varanasi to Bodh Gaya, again with a
driver to
meet you there. A professional guide in Bodh Gaya
is helpful
and inexpensive, but not absolutely essential. Allow
two to five
hours to explore the temple grounds and observe
the pilgrims
and regulars there; then catch your plane or train
back to
Varanasi
or north to Patna (which is closer) in order to
make
connections
to other destinations (e.g., Delhi, Agra, or
Kathmandu).
Any
Indian tour company will be able to help with
these
arrangements,
once you make clear that an automobile
or bus ride
to or from Bodh Gaya is not an acceptable option.
Namaste!