The Buddha (meaning whose purpose has been achieved) is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born on the Full Moon day in the month of Vaisakh in 563 BC. Traditionally, Buddhas Birthday is known as Vesak or Visakah Puja (Buddhas Day). Vesak, the major Buddhist festival of the year, celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha on the one and the same day, on the first full moon day in May, except the leap year when this festival is held in June.

BODHGAYA

Serene and quiet this tiny little village, holiest among holy places is Bodhgaya, Where the quest of Prince Siddharth was fulfilled after years of seeking the truth and the saga of Buddha began. He attained the supreme enlightenment and became 'The Buddha', the enlightened one. Thus Buddhism was born here under the Peepal Tree. The Prince had been wandering in search of supreme peace for long six years hither and thither. But it was at Bodhgaya only where his holy mission was achieved.

RAJGIR

The Buddha lived in the sixth century BC. Mahavir was born in 567 BC and the traveller in Bihar will encounter them both constantly. Rajgir is 10km south of Nalanda and sacred to the memory of the founder of both Buddhism and Jainism. Lord Buddha spent many months of retreat during the rainy season here, and used to meditate and preach on Griddhkuta, the 'Hill of the Vultures'. Lord Mahavir spent fourteen years of his life at Rajgir and Nalanda. It was in Rajgriha that Lord Buddha delivered some of his famous sermons and converted king Bimbisara of the Magasha Kingdom and countless others to his creed. Once a great city, Rajgir is just a village today, but vestiges of a legendary and historical past remain, like the cyclopean wall that encircles the town and the marks engraved in rock that local folklore ascribes to Lord Krishna's chariot. This legend, like many others associates Rajgir to that distant time when the stirring events recorded in the epic Mahabharata were being enacted.

Rajgir is located in a verdant valley surrounded by rocky hills.

An aerial ropeway provides the link with a hill-top stupa "Peace Pagoda" built by the Japanese. On one of the hills in the cave of Saptparni, was held the first Buddhist Council. The Saptparni cave is also the source of the Rajgir Hot Water Springs that have curative properties and are sacred to the Hindus.

Nalanda, where ruins of the great ancient university have been excavated, is situated at a distance of 90 km. south east of Patna by road. It falls on way to Rajgir.

Hieun Tsang, the renowned Chinese traveller of the seventh century, says that according to tradition the place owed its name to a Naga of the same name which resided in a local tank. But he thinks it more probable that Lord Buddha, in one of his previous births as Bodhisatwa, became a king with his capital at this place and that his liberality won for him and his capital the name Nalanda or "Charity without intermission". The third theory about the name of the place is that it derived from Nalam plus da. Nalam means lotus which is a symbol for knowledge and Da means given the place had many lotuses.Nalanda has a very ancient history. It was frequently visited by Lord Vardhamana Mahavir and Lord Buddha in the 6th century BC. during his sajourns, the Lord Buddha found this place prosperous, swelling, teeming with population and containing mango-groves. It is also supposed to be the birth place of Sariputra, one of the Chief disciple of the Lord Buddha. The University of Nalanda was founded in the 5th century by the Gupta emperors.

MAHABODHI TEMPLE

The Mahabodhi Temple stands east to the Bodhi Tree. Its architectural effect is superb. its basement is 48 square feet and it rises in the form of a slender Pyramid, till it reaches its neck, which is cylindrical in shape. The total height of the temple is 170 feet and on the top of the temple are Chatras which symbolise sovereignty of religion. Four towers on its four corners rise gracefully giving the holy sturcture a poise and balance. This sacred edifice is like a grand banner unfurled by time to proclaim to the world the pious efforts of the Buddha to solve the knots of human miseries to ascend above worldly problems and to attain transcedental peace through wisdom, good conduct and disciplined life. Inside the temple in the main sanctum, on an altar, is a colossal image of Buddha in a sitting posture touching the earth by his right hand. In this posture the Buddha accomplished the supreme enlightenment. The statue is of black stone but it has been guilded by the devotees. The entire courtyard of the temple is studded with a large number of varieties of stupas--votive, decorative, memorative. These stupas are of all sizes built during the past 2500 years ago. Most of them are extremely elegant in structural beauty.

SARNATH

After attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya the Buddha went to Sarnath; and it was here that he preached his first discourse in the deer park to set in motion the 'Wheel of the Dharma'. It is one of the most holy sites as in this place the stream of the Buddha's teaching first flowed.

At this place, the Buddha encountered the five men who had been his companions of earlier austerities. On meeting the enlightened Buddha, all they saw was an ordinary man; they mocked his well-nourished appearance. "Here comes the mendicant Gautama," they said, "who has turned away from asceticism. He is certainly not worth our respect." When they reminded him of his former vows, the Buddha replied, "Austerities only confuse the mind. In the exhaustion and mental stupor to which they lead, one can no longer understand the ordinary things of life, still less the truth that lies beyond the senses. I have given up extremes of either luxury or asceticism. I have discovered the Middle Way". Hearing this the five ascetics became the Buddha's first disciples.

Gautama Buddha started teaching not to debate but for the advantage of and out of compassion for human beings. He explained the middle way which avoids extremes, the Four Noble Truths, and prescribed the Eight-fold path. The Four Noble Truths are: 1. There is suffering; 2. Suffering has a cause; 3. The cause is removable, and 4. There are ways to remove the causes. So as to remove the causes the Buddha prescribed an Eight-fold Path: Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, Right concentration, Right attitude and Right view.

A Monastic tradition flourished for over 1,500 years on the site of the deer park at Sarnath. In the third century BC Ashoka erected a column 15.24 m in height which had four lions as its capital which is now treasured in the archaeology museum. The lion symbolises both Ashoka's imperial rule and the kingship of the Buddha. The four-lion capital was adopted as the emblem of the modern Indian republic. The last and largest monastery constructed before the Muslim invasion was Dharma-Chakar-Jina Vihar, erected by Kumardevi, wife of King Govinda Chandra, who ruled over Benares during 1114 to 1154. In 1194 AD, Kutubuddin Aibak, the Muslim conqueror, leveled the city to the ground. Sarnath became a forest of debris below which the historical ruins remained buried. Of the two great stupas which adorned the city only the Dhamekha remained which is of the 6th century.

The Dhamekha Stupa

This is the most conspicuous structure at Sarnath. Colonel Cunningham bore a shaft from the top centre of the stupa and discovered a stone tablet on which an inscription is written with the word Dhamekha, and mentions that this is the spot where the Buddha delivered his first sermon. Dhamekha seems to be a distorted form of Dharma Chakra which means turning the wheel of the Dharma. It is also said that at this spot the five ascetics who left Gautama Buddha in Bodh Gaya used to live in huts. The original stupa was constructed by Ashoka. The present size of the stupa is 31.3 m high and 28.3 m in diameter. The lower portion of the stupa is covered completely with beautifully carved stones. The design consists of a broad band of Swastika (fylfot) carved in different geometrical patterns with a finely chiselled lotus wreath, running over and below the swastikas.

The Dhamekha stupa is considered to be the sacred place where the voice of Buddhism was first heard. Many dignitaries of Buddhist countries visit this place for circumambulation of this sacred stupa and to worship the Buddha. Tibetans Buddhist circumambulate it chanting the mantra 'Om mani padme hum'. The first discourse of the Buddha was on the 'Wheel of Law'. The wheel symbolises samsara (world), the eternal round of existence which goes on and on, life after life because of ceaseless cravings and desire.

Kushinagar

Kushinagar is the place that the Buddha chose for his Mahaparinirvana, or final exit from this earth. Kushinagar or Kushinara as it was then known was the capital of the Malla republic, one of the republican states of northern India during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Kushinagar is identified with the modern village of Kasia, 51 kms from Gorakhpur city, in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

During his lifetime the Master traversed the dusty plains of the Ganga valley, subsisting on whatever he collected as alms, and pausing to rest only during the rainy season. In 543BC on the full moon night of Magh (January-February), the Master lectured to the Sangha at the village, Beluva, near Vaishali, on the impermanence of all living things, and said that his own life on earth was soon to end.

His last meal

From Vaishali the Lord went to Pava, where a humble metalsmith, Chunda, invited the Sangha for a meal. Having tasted the food, the Master immediately realised that there was something wrong with it and asked Chunda to burry the rest so that others would not be harmed by it. Chunda was overcome with grief and guilt when he realised that his offering was the cause of the Master's fatal illness. But the Buddha consoled him saying that one who donates the Buddha's last meal acquires great merit.

The Buddha desired to leave his corporeal body at the Sal grove on the banks of the Hiranyavati river in Kushinagar. The Master asked the Sangha, whether anyone had any queries. Sakyamuni then uttered the last words, "Now, bhikshus, I declare to you: all conditioned things are of a nature to decay - strive on untiringly."

On a bed which Ananda had prepared under two Sal (shorea robusta) trees, the Lord entered the sphere of No Nothingness then the sphere of Infinite Consciousness, then the sphere of Neither Perception, nor Non-Perception.

Paying homage

King and commoner, villager and townsman from far and near flocked to pay obeisance to the earthly remains of the Lord for the next six days. On the seventh day the Lord's person was bedecked with garlands and taken in a procession to the accompaniment of music. The revered bhikshu, Mahakashyapa lit the funeral pyre at Mukutabandha Vihara (Rambhar Stupa) in Kushinagar. Today not much remains of this stupa expect a large brick mound rising to a height of almost 15 metres set within a well-kept park.

Thereafter there ensued a war among eight great powers of north India for the possession of the holy relics. Finally the sacred relics were divided and encased in eight stupas in different parts of the country.

The Mahaparinirvana temple

In 7th century AD, the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang lamented on the desolation of this sacred site. However he mentions the Mahaparinirvana Stupa. Thereafter Kushinagar sank into near oblivion, almost forgotten by the world until early this century.

The Mahaparinirvana temple enshrines a 6 metre long statue of the Buddha in the Parinirvana posture. Carved from black stone, the statue now looks metallic gold because of the application of gold leaves by pilgrims.

The best time to visit this temple is in the early hours of the evening, when the mellow light from the candles and the chanting of mantras render a sacred aura to the temple.

About 366 metres from the Mahaparinirvana temple is the small Mathakuar shrine, built on the spot where the Buddha delivered his last sermon. Here there is a black stone image of the Buddha in the bhumisparsha mudra built in the 5th century AD.