A visit to Buddhagaya

by Dr. Narme Wickremesinghe

IT was our National New Year's Day, 2005 and my wife Nirmali and I set out early in the morning from Varanasi (Baranes Nuwara), the holy city for the Hindus on an 8 hour 270 km road journey to Boddhgaya, the holiest city for Buddhists - the place of the Buddha's Enlightenment in 528 BCE. We got a feeling of oneness with all religionists on this New Year Day.

That evening we visited the Mahobodhi Maha Viharaya - the Most Sacred and I am told the most beautiful temple in the Buddhist World. As we entered the 8th century AD gateway, there to behold was the 52m high magnificent temple with sculpture and statues on the outer walls, and on a rectangular base - similar to Hindu temples in Sri Lanka.

As we descended to the base of the Maha Viharaya on the left were Hindu shrines and indeed even inside and under the main Enlightenment Shrine Room was also a Hindu shrine. Although this Buddhist Shrine has existed here after the pass away of the Buddha in 488 BCE and King Asoka is likely to have built a Stupa on his visit to Boddhgaya in 260 BCE, the structure similar to the present one has been in existence only since around 300 AD, but renovated and built on by devout kings and monks. It was in a neglected and dilapidated state when the British came to India, but with the support of the colonial government it was restored by archaeologists, chiefly Gen. Sir Alexander Cunningham and Dr. Rajendralal Mitra.

Soon after the entrance to the Maha Viharaya is enshrined a massive, serene and compassionate looking Statue of the Buddha in the touch - ground (Bumisparsha) position - calling upon the earth to witness His Enlightenment victory.

This gold plated Statue was installed in AD 380 over the very place that was traditionally held to be where the Buddha attained Enlightenment and called the Vajrasana (or 'Victory throne'), and the slab representing it is archaeologically dated to be even before Asoka in the third century BCE.

A part of this polished sandstone slab has been removed to a place outside the Maha Viharaya directly under the Mahabodhi Tree (Outer Vajrasana).

Peepal Tree

In the quiet of the evening we found the area under the Peepal Tree close to the Outer Vajrasana, a serene and spiritually uplifting place. Musical chanting of the Three Refuges by the Tibetan Monks, at different tone to the Sri Lanka Pansil and the scent of the incense offered, added to the solemnity of the environment. This Bo-Tree (Ficus religiosa) is an offshoot of the original which crashed in 1876 and replanted at the same site from its scions by Gen. Cunningham.

But the oldest continuously documented trees from the Sapling of the Original are the Sri Maha Bodhiya in Anuradhapura (brought by King Asoka's daughter Sangamitta Theri) and the Ananda Bodhi in Sravasthi (brought by the Buddha's disciple Ananda at the Buddha's command). Anagarika Dharmapala brought saplings from the Sri Maha Bodhiya and planted them in Saranath and Bodhgaya. On two evenings we sat under the Mahabodhi tree in silence and contemplated the history of this Sacred Place and the comparative narratives in our own religion. More of that later.

Lines from Sir Edwin Arnold's poem 'Light of Asia' would make a Buddhist's hair stand on edge:

'Then he arose, made strong by the pure meal

And bent His footsteps where a great tree grew,

The Bodhi Tree (thenceforward in all years)

Never to fade and ever to be kept

In homage of the world, beneath whose leaves

It was ordained the Truth should come to Buddha,

Which now the Master knew, whereafter He went

With measured pace, steadfast, majestical,

Unto the Tree of Wisdom. Oh, ye world's

Rejoice! Our Buddha wended unto the Tree!'

The reference in the first line is to the meal of sweetened milk rice given by Sujatha to the Buddha whilst undergoing severe austerities in search of the Truth, but which made Him undertake the middle way without extremes - somewhat different to the 'Fast unto death', undertaken in Sri Lanka to achieve one's desires!

The cave where He fasted can still be seen across the Neranjana River (where the Buddha bathed in Bodhgaya) on the Dhungeswara (Pragbodhi) Hills - again a very serene, silent atmosphere pervades there. The site of Sujatha's abode in the valley is today an excavated mound of a Stupa.

Around the Mahabodhi Tree

The Buddha spent seven weeks in contemplation around the Mahabodhi Tree after His Enlightenment, thinking of the joy of liberation. These places are depicted by venerated structures today. The Vajrasana is the slab under the Tree which depicts the place where He sat motionless during the First Week of Enlightenment.

Former President R. Premadasa built a brass railing around it. Here we saw Tibetan Monks paying extreme veneration to the Vajrasana and the Bo-Tree in the form of physically exhausting dips.

In the second week, He chose a spot nearby to look at the Mahabodhi Tree unblinkingly where a smaller Stupa similar to the Main Temple has been constructed and called the Animesalocana (Unblinking) Chaitya.

In the third week, the Buddha spent His time walking up and down. His feet are sculptured on a black stone decorated in the walking strip beside the Main Temple and referred to as Buddhapada, and contains the marks of greatness found at His birth.

The fourth week of contemplation is marked by the Ratnacankama Ceitiya - the jewelled promenade shrine of knowledge, on the right side of the Main Temple, where some archaeologically valuable statues are found, and pillar in its is dated around 1000 BCE.

A tablet at the gateway of the Temple commemorates the Ajapala Tree where the fifth week was spent. It was here that the Buddha told a proud Brahamin that a Brahmin is a priceless, learned, composed and celebrate one - not by birth, caste, race or religion, a principle that led to the conversion of millions of Hindus to Buddhism in India in modern times.

Passing a broken King Asoka pillar there is a lake that has been symbolically created to represent the sixth week when the Buddha overcame the temptations of Mara (evil) and was protected by Nagaraja Mucalinda. A statue under the protection of a Cobrahood is found on this lake but the actual Mucalinda Lake is about 1 1/2 Km away.

The last and seventh week was spent under the Rajayatana Tree where He gave some of His hair to two merchants, Tapassu and Bhalluka, who accepted the Buddha and Dhamma and took the Relic to Burma. A tree from Burma now stands here to represent that week.

There are several modern temples from different countries in Bodhgaya, each with a characteristic indigenous national architecture, giving the town an intonational flavour - from Tibet, Thailand, Bhutan, Burma, Japan (several sects), China, Vietnam, Korea, Nepal, and India. the oldest is the Sri Lanka Mahabodhi Rest Hoses set up in 1901 by Anagarika Dharmapala, with a tablet on the wall built by the Malwatu Chapter. Sinhalese is freely spoken by guides, urchins, vendors and even in saree shops - making any Sri Lankan to feel at home in Buddhagaya. There is also a huge 80 ft. tall Buddha Statue that was unveiled by the Dalai Lama in 1989.

Christian thoughts

Contemplating under the Mahabodhi Tree many thoughts of comparative religion entered my mind - of course many will disagree calling me an apostate and missionary at the same time. The most significant was the fact that both the Buddha and Christ taught the Truth and attained Immortality. It was after hard austerities and temptations of Mara, the personification of evil, that Siddhartha attained Enlightenment - and showed the way of salvation to all living beings.

The Lord Jesus Christ too was tempted by Satan, suffered on the cross at the hands of evil people, and achieved immortality at the Resurrection but with a difference that He carried the burden of our sins and gave salvation to all humankind. The Buddha and Jesus Christ were in their thirties when they achieved their goals. The Buddha was meditating in a cave in the Dungeswari Hills when He realised the Path of the Middle Way and then achieved Buddhahood under a tree.

Christ prayed and was transfigured on a high mountain, went to a garden mount of olive trees prior to the Crucifixion and Resurrection from an empty tomb. Indeed the wood of the cross is called a tree in the Christian scriptures.

I was amazed at the birth story of the Buddha. His mother Mahamaya Devi had a dream of a star entering her womb and His father called on the interpreters to give its meaning. It was also a star that led the magi to the birthplace of the Lord Jesus, and King Herod called on the wise people to interpret it, and Christ's conception too was by the visit of an angel to His blessed mother, Mary. the names of both mothers begin with the letter 'M' or the phonetic sound 'Ma'.

At Bodhgaya, there is a shrine that commemorates Buddha's decision to preach the Dhamma for "the deathless to respond with faith," and soon after in Saranath, he told the newly formed Sangha to "Go forth, monks for the good of many..... Let no two go in the same direction. Teach the Dhamma". Jesus Christ too sent the seventy to preach the good news but two by two, and His final commission to Christians was "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole world". Buddhism and Christianity are missionary religions, where its founders came to fulfil what was old and not destroy requiring its adherents not merely to be born into a religion but to understand, to be inspired, and to teach others. The anti-conversion Bills seem to be contrary to the religions taught by both the Buddha and Christ.

Sri Lankan connection

Seeing President Premadasa's railing on this national New Year's Day I thought of the Sri Lankan connection to Buddhagaya. Of course, the primary connection is in the third century BCE one Bodhirakshita from Sri Lanka donated a cross bar for the railing round the Mahabodhi Tree - the first known pilgrim from overseas. In the fourth century AD King Sri Meghavarna constructed a three-minaret monastery from where the monks and all pilgrims could reside and maintain the holy site - a virtuous task continuously done by Sri Lankans till around the 13th century AD. A Sri Lankan Buddha Statue from the latter part of this period can still be seen, and ruins of the monastery was excavated by Cunningham. Ven. Mangalaswamin was the last of the Sri Lankans to administer the shrine.

In 588 AD, a monk named Mahanama built a shrine and donated a statue - the inscription in Sanskrit is now in the Calcutta museum. Two other Sri Lankan donors around this time are Dharmagupta and Dharmatrasena. A hundred to two hundred years later a lay person called Udayasri set up a statue and engravings. Around this time another pilgrim monk, Prakayatakirthi of Sri Lankan royal lineage repaired the Mahabodhi Temple had a perpetual lamp burning in the monastery and performed poojas for world peace.

It is to Anagarika Dharmapala (and the archaeologist Cunningham and writer Sir Edwin Arnold) that the world must be grateful for having found the holy sites in India, made it known, founded the Mahabodhi Society and for encouraging pilgrimages. He and his family (Hewavitharana) in fact built a Stupa at Saranath and grew a Bo-Sapling from the Sri Maha Bodhiya there. His tomb and statue is at Saranath.

Thanks to Bank of Ceylon Travels, a meaningful itinerary was arranged for us to go on the Holy Trail: Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Patna, Vaisali, Kushinara, Lumbini, Kapilavasthu, Sravasthi, Varanasi and Saranth. The Buddha spoke of four Sacred Places for pilgrimage: Lumbini (birth), Bodhgaya (Enlightenment), Saranath (Preaching) and Kushinara (Mahaparinirvana).

Thanks to a gift by a former CMS Ladies College teacher, Ms. Sylvia Goonetileke, we were able to read the Buddhist Publication Society book 'Middle Land, Middle Way' by Ven. S. Dhammika of Australia and understand the significance of the places we visited. A tour on the holy trail in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal and particularly to Bodhgaya is an interesting and exhilarating experience.