Pilgrimge tours of India - Buddhist Pilgrimage
tours
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Bodhgaya
13 Km south of Gaya beside the river Phalgu,
is sacred to Buddhists as the place where the Buddha gained
enlightenment. A gian t Buddhist resort of Internationl
monnasteries and temples has grown up around the imposing
Mahabodhi Temple, while holds the world's most revered
tree an offshoot of the original Bodhi tree under which
the buddha supposedly sat.
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Bodhgaya is by far the most important and significatn of the
four holy istes of Buddhism the other three being, Buddha's
birthplace, Lumbini in Nepal, Sarnath near Varanasi, where he
preached his first sermon and Kushinagar near Gorakhpur, Uttar
Pradesh, where he passed away.
From November to February, bodhgaya is the home of an animated
community of exiled Tibetans, sometimes including the Dalai
Lama himself, as well as stream of shaven headed international
tibetophiles. During this time a huge canvas city emerges on
the ground next to the Gelugpa monastery. Hinayana and Mahayana
meditation courses attract others, while large monasteries from
oplaces like Darjeeling bring their international followers
to attend ceremonies and lectures under the Bodhi Tree, where
Buddhist from around the world rub shoulders.
Mahabodhi Temple : The elegant single spire
of the Mahabodhi temple rissing to the lofty
height of 55 m above the trees of its leafy compund at the centre
of Bodhgaya, is visible from all over the surrounding countryside.
Within the temple complex, which is liberally sprinkled with
small stupas and shrines, the main brick temple stand in a hollow
encircled by a stone railing dating from the second century
BC.
Bodhi Tree:- At the rear of the temple to the
west, the large Bodhi Tree grows out of an expansive base, in
pleasant grounds that attract scholars and meditators. For all
its holiness, this is in fact only a distant offshoot of the
original tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment as
the actual tree was destroyed by Ashoka before his conversion
to the faith. His doughter Sanghmitta took a sapling to Sri
Lanka, and planted it at Anuradhapura, where its offshoots were
nurtured, and a sapling was brought back and replanted here.
Pilgrims tie coloured thread to its far-reaching branches, decorated
by prayer flags, and Tibetans accompany their rituals with long
lines of butter lamps.
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