Took an eight-day train tour of sites in India/Nepal connected with the life of Buddha. Run by the Indian railways, this tour is called the ‘Mahaparinirvan Express’ (the word refers to the final nirvana achieved by Buddha i.e. death).
First a few words about housekeeping – there are only tourists (that too mainly foreign ones) in this dedicated train that sort of became our home for these 8 days (we did sightseeing during the day, and slept in the train at night - pretty efficient way of travelling but quite tiring). Though it does not have the luxury of ‘Palace on Wheels’, it is a very comfortable train and the tourists are not packed like sardines and each one gets reasonable space in the carriages.
There are four main pilgrimage sites in Buddhism – Lumbini (in Nepal, birthplace of Buddha), Bodh Gaya (where he attained Enlightenment), Sarnath (first sermon here), and Kushinagar (where he died). Apart from covering these, we also went to Rajgir, Sravasti, and a few other important Buddhist sites.
A comfortable overnight journey from Delhi brought us to our first stop – Gaya. From there we drove to Bodhgaya (which is about 15 km away). Bodhgaya is an interesting town – it was where Buddha achieved his enlightenment and the town is awash with (Buddhist) pilgrims of all hues – from Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, and of course, India. There are numerous temples in Bodhgaya built by foreign governments / organisations – Japanese / Chinese / Tibetan / Myanmarese....this gives the town skyline a very interesting and varied look. There is also a Japanese-built 80 foot Buddha statue (80 because that was the age at which he died).
However, the centre of town is the very famous Bodhi (sacred fig – peepal) tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. At the site now there is a ‘Mahabodhi’ temple and a large peepal tree which is a direct ‘descendent’ of the original tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. The tree trunk is cordoned off using a railing but there are lots of people sitting under the sprawl of the tree – some meditating, some praying, monks prostrating themselves, some contemplating life, some senior monks initiating new ones, and some just being curious tourists. With constant chanting from one group or the other, the atmosphere is pretty surreal.
Buddha, after he left home at Kapilvastu (at age 29), became an ascetic – however, he realised the futility of starving his body and broke his fast with rice curd (‘Kheer’) given by a local girl Sujata. There is a stupa near Bodhgaya marking that spot and a temple dedicated to this event. Close by flows the river Niranjana (Falgu) - we spent one evening on its banks. The timing was perfect - we managed to see a beautiful sunset against the backdrop of the (reasonably dry) river, and the Mahabodhi temple.
Our next stop was Rajgir (capital of the Magadha empire during the rule of Bimbisara / Ajatshatru both of whom were disciples of Buddha). Here we visited ‘Gidhkut’ a place where Buddha often meditated. Both Fa Hein and Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) visited this place in the 5th and 7th centuries respectively. We also visited Venuvan (where Buddha converted some disciples) before heading towards Nalanda. The University at Nalanda, apparently the first in the world, was set up in the 5th century. Now unfortunately what remains of the place are only (well-preserved) ruins of monasteries and temples. The red-brickwork reminded me a lot of the structure at IIMA. Closeby was a wee museum which was pretty uninspiring.
Our next stop was Varanasi from where Sarnath is only about 12 kms away. At the deer park here, Buddha gave his first sermon. Many temples and monastaries were subsequently built here. But the most famous monument of Sarnath is the 15 metre sandstone pillar that Ashoka got built. Unfortunately the pillar and the surrounding temple / monastaries were destroyed by invaders from the Khilji dynasty. Luckily the capital of this pillar survived and is now the India’s national emblem. The capital, much larger than what I expected it to be, made of polished sandstone, is immensely beautiful. Unfortunately, they’re very strict about not taking photos in the museum where it is kept (so just take out a currency note from your pocket and see its representation if you don’t know what I’m talking about!). Right next to the capital are remains of a large wheel that was originally placed on top of the capital. This wheel had 32 spokes that represented the 32 physical attributes of Buddha (such as second toe longer than the first one, long nose, long ears....).
Next, an overnight journey brought us from Varanasi to Gorakhpur from where we went by road to Kushinagar (after taking a couple of wrong turns). Kushinagar, otherwise a sleepy town is very active tourist/pilgrim-wise – this was where the Buddha attained ‘Mahaparinirvana’ (i.e. where he died). After his death, his body was cremated and most of the ashes were distributed among eight kings who built 8 grand stupas to house the divided ashes. A large stupa (Mahaparinirvana Temple), built in the 1950s, marks the spot where the Buddha died. A few kilometres away, Ramabhar Stupa, was the spot where he was cremated, and Matha-Kuar shrine marks the spot where he gave his last sermon.
As an aside, Ashoka asked the aforesaid 8 stupas to be opened up and the ashes be divided up further so that he could build the 84,000 stupas he wanted to build. His army managed to open up 7 of those 8 stupas – the 8th was protected by a Naga king and Ashoka’s army was unsuccessful in opening up the relics casket.
From Kushinagar, a four hour drive brought us to the Indo-Nepalese border (Nepal is one of those rare countries where Indians can enter without a visa / passport. A simple ID would do). Lumbini (where Buddha was born) is in Nepal but very close to the Indian border. Inside the Mayadevi temple there, a simple rock marks the exact spot where Buddha was born. Because our group was mainly Thai, we also visited a Thai temple.a section of which was under construction - a ferocious unfriendly dog made sure that we did not stray into the construction site. But there was a beautiful pond – full of lotus plant leaves – which was very reminiscent of a Monet masterpiece.
Our last stop was Sravasti where Buddha spent 27 monsoons (he used to travel and give sermons during the rest of the year but used to stay put in monsoons). At Sravasti, he performed a number of miracles to put the minds of sceptics at rest. There were ruins of a monastery and a number of different temples at this place.
That was the ‘mahaparinirvana’ of the tour!
As a PS, a bit about the Buddhist way of life – there are four noble truths –
1. There is suffering in life
2. The root cause of suffering is desire
3. Suffering can be ended
4. The eight-fold path is the way to end suffering.
The Eight-fold path is the moderate path that lies between the two extreme paths of Hedonism and Ascetism. Briefly the eight aspects of this path are grouped into three –
1. Wisdom – Right View, Right Intention
2. Morality – Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood
3. Meditation – Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.
OK that was the gist of Buddhism.
