On the Road with the Monks

"Why don't you come with us to Bodh Gaya?" Lama Pema asked, "That is, if you don't have to get back to Delhi for work."

When your spiritual teacher asks you to accompany him on a pilgrimage to some of the holiest sites in India, your only response should be "When do we leave?"

After meeting Lama Pema at one of his teachings in Minneapolis last summer, I reconnected with him at the prayer festival in Lumbini, Nepal.  Naturally, I accepted his offer and joined him -  along with two Tibetan monks and two of his American students - on a pilgrimage spanning southern Nepal and the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The trip took us to four of the holiest Buddhist sites in South Asia:

1) Lumbini - where Buddha as born

Our starting point - a temple marks the exact place where Buddha is fabled to have sprung from his mother's side.  This temple and the surrounding area are preserved as a heritage site in Nepal.  The site is peppered with temples from every branch of Buddhism imaginable. 

(Enamored as I am of Tibetan prayer flags, I neglected to take a picture of the temple itself!)

2) Kushinagar - where Buddha died

A giant golden statue graces Buddha's final resting place.  In his last breaths, he admonished his life-long disciple Ananda to remember the impermanent nature of all phenomena as he passed away.

3) Bodh Gaya - where Buddha reached enlightenment

A towering stupa stands next to the famous Bodhi tree under which prince Siddartha realized the true nature of reality and became the historical figure we refer to as Buddha today.

4) Sarnath - where Buddha gave his first sermon

Several days after his enlightenment, Buddha is said to have come here and given his first teaching to five ascetics - a teaching on the middle way, right action, and the nature of human suffering that has come to be known as the first "turning of the wheel of Dharma." A giant stupa marks the place where this sermon was delivered.

Comments

Posted on 2/21/2010 by

Nath Vemula

After reading this article I learnt a bit more about Siddhartha aka Gautam Buddha. All I know was a spiritual teacher and a wise man so are parents named their kids siddhartha or Gautam. But you connected the remaining dots which made it complete. The two places I have visited is Lumbini park(which has a gigantic Buddha Statue) in Hyderabad and the place Thotlakonda where Buddha monasteries stationed to disemminate their principles to Srilanka and south-east Asia.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thotlakonda)

Posted on 2/28/2010 by

Valerie Hohman

Thanks, Nath - I've got a few pics of the giant Buddha in Hyderabad as well. The trip from Lumbini was a whirldwind tour, but it was great to visist these places, especially since I'd have been hesitant to visit Bihar on my own.

Post a Comment

• Email
• Password
• Comment

Login & Post Comment