Bodh Gaya

Well,the bus ride may not have been pleasant, but Bodh Gaya is nice. Not counting the hotel, of course. Bodh Gaya is kind of the Jerusalem of Buddhism. Jerusalem as it pertains to Christians, that is. Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha became enlightened and did much of his teachings. All the major Buddhist sects have temples here and it is considered the holiest place in Buddhism.

The highlight is the Mahabodhi Temple. It was built around 250 BC by the emperor Asoka on the location of the Buddha's enlightenment in about 530 BC. The Bodhi Tree (actually a fig) that the Buddha sat under is said to still be here, right next to the temple. Because the temple has not been under continuous control of Buddhists, that claim is hard to verify. That claim would also mean that the tree in question is at least 2,600 years old. That is certainly possible, and the tree does look old, but again, it's hard to verify. I should note that scientists are not permitted to cut into the tree. In the end, I'm not sure it really matters because it is clear that this is where the Buddha meditated during his enlightenment. We know this because the place was under the control of the Buddha's followers until Asoka built the temple,and they remembered. And it's damn clear that nobody moved the temple. It's big and heavy.

After seeing the Mahabodhi Temple, Tamding and I went to see the Tergar Monestary, which is run by a Tibetan sect. It was somewhat closed off because His Holiness, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa was visiting for an upcoming ceremony at the Mahabodhi Temple. The Karmapa is a very important lama, and is second only to the Dalai Lama in importance to Tibetans. I guess I should note that the Dalai Lama's full title is "His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, 14th Reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion." Anyway, the monastery being restricted, we had to rely on Tamding's connections. Fortunately, we ran into a monk friend of his from Mudgod and we got a special tour. It was really nice. Afterwards, the monk took us back into town (he paid for the taxi), and we saw the Grand Buddha, which is a Buddha statue about 80 feet tall surrounded by statues of the ten apostles. He then left us for a meeting with some monks at the Bhutan Temple. Tamding and I then toured the Japanese, Thai, and Bhutan temples. Amazingly, in all my travels in Asia, I have still not learned to bring along sandals to make the required shoe removal easier.