On the 14th – 21st December 2012, a group of 17 Kecharians went on a pilgrimage to India.

Dear friends,

I had requested some of our Kecharians to take their parents to be blessed by going on holy Buddhist pilgrimage. They immediately agreed and were very happy to do so. I thought it would be a good way for some of our members to repay the kindness of their parents to take them for pilgrimage. Many high and great masters have expounded the many benefits of going for pilgrimage so therefore it is important to go at least once in our lifetime. It’s wonderful we can physically take care of our parents, but spiritually taking care of them is equally important. We must endeavor to do so by our own example and gaining the trust of our parents and other significant persons in our life for this pilgrimage.

I have asked Pastor David Lai to write an account of this and guess what, it was back logged and now I am publishing it. Better late than never as the old adage goes. Nevertheless what Pastor David succinctly shares is timeless, moving, accurate, historical as well as beautiful. You must read what he has written. I saw the potential in him to be a great writer when I first met him and I still believe in his talent as attested here and his personal (http://www.davidlai.me/) blog. He has a wonderful way with words what is natural and inborn. You will be delighted and laugh at his account and be touched by the love he has for his dad who went on this pilgrimage. This is a great travelogue account in fact. Also much historical information is shared by Pastor David too. This is a must read.

This is a must read for those who wish to visit the holy sites. Who cannot make it and or who have gone already. Bodhgaya is the very place Lord Buddha attained full enlightenment and therefore highly significant.

Do enjoy and be blessed.

Tsem Rinpoche

Walking After the Buddha

written by David Lai

The first view of the Mahabodhi Stupa when I arrived at the temple grounds.

A few months ago, Rinpoche suggested that I take my father on a pilgrimage trip along with 15 other pilgrims to Bodhgaya. The very thought of going on a pilgrimage brought back a flood of memories from my last trip to Bodhgaya 8 years ago with H. E. Tsem Rinpoche. The old Stupa, the Bodhi tree, the Buddha statue, the monks and pilgrims with the sound of their beautiful chanting and kneeling under the Bodhi tree to receive refuge from H. E. Tsem Rinpoche are some of the images that came rushing back to me.

This time around, it would not be Rinpoche leading us on this pilgrimage but Liaison Paul Yap. I was really excited and looked forward to this sacred journey back to the land of the Buddha. I think this trip was made extra special by the fact that I get to take my dad, who had been a devout Buddhist for many years. I am very happy to have this honor because the pilgrimage would be a powerful blessing for his future rebirths because of the powerful blessing that was left there by the Buddha.

Before going on pilgrimage with Rinpoche, I had never really known what pilgrimage was all about. I used to think that it was just another glorified holiday through locations with spiritual or archaeological significance. I am glad to be able to dismiss that as I learnt the true meaning of a Buddhist pilgrimage. In essence, it is a journey to power places that the Buddha or any other holy being had resided or performed enlightened actions in order to create a powerful blessing with the spiritual energy left there. The blessing can open up our merits from past lives to delve deeper into our spiritual practice and to embed even more spiritual seeds into our mind streams.

According to Rinpoche, there are 4 great locations associated with the Buddha and they are Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar. These places correspond to the birth, enlightenment, first turning of the wheel of the Dharma and Parinirvana (passing) of the Buddha. It is mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures that the Buddhas of the past and the future ages would appear to perform enlightened deeds at these locations again.

Hence, Buddhists flock to these power places to gain a powerful blessing and to create the causes to meet future Buddhas and to receive teachings from them in future rebirths. In fact, the Buddha himself had recommended visiting these power places for future practitioners. That is why it is a goal for every devout Buddhist to go on pilgrimage to these holy places. For me, that made a lot of sense and I am glad that I managed to bring my father to these power places.

Here are some highlights from this pilgrimage that I went with my dad:

Bodhgaya

A majestic sight of the soaring spires of Mahabodhi Stupa.

An ancient Indian Buddhist saint by the name of Asvagosha called Bodhgaya, ‘The Navel of the World.’ I can see why because this is the place where Lord Buddha attained full enlightenment under the sacred Bodhi tree. An ancient Buddhist king Ashoka built a temple on the very spot and also a stone fence railing surrounding the compound of the temple and the Bodhi tree. It is the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the world.

In the 12^th Century, floods buried the courtyard of the temple in silt and over time, the temple lay buried and forgotten. It was rediscovered in the 19^th Century by Sir Alexander Cunningham and was duly excavated and restored. Just outside of the courtyard lay a garden of ruined stupas and other votive shrines and temples that surround the main temple like a sacred Mandala. There is a circumambulation path that surrounds the outer compound allowing for a breathtaking view of the temple, as one would follow the other pilgrims on a devotional circuit around the temple.

The temple compound comes alive with the shuffling of pilgrims going about on their devotional rounds. Some pilgrims sit meditating in contemplative silence while other pilgrims chant Buddhist mantras and other devotional verses in a low murmur lending an air of sacredness to the temple. The majority of the pilgrims are monks and thus, bathing the compound with a sea of maroon. In the space between smaller stupas and shrines, a sea of monks and lay pilgrims prostrate on rectangular planks towards the temple itself. The ancient stupas, the pilgrims, the sound of mantras and presence of the monks imbue the place with a sense of peace and devotion.

While I rest on my circumambulation rounds, I love to sit by the stone railing to do my mantras and stare up the outer wall lined with little alcoves bearing Buddha images rendered in bas-relief. Buddhas like Shakyamuni, Avalokiteshvara, Tara, Manjushri and other enlightened figures gaze down benevolently onto the shuffling pilgrims. However, a personal favorite is the Manjushri that’s just next to the Bodhi tree. It is a simple Indian figure that I wish I could cart back home to have on my own personal shrine. My other favorite Buddha statue is the actual statue of Buddha Shakyamuni enshrined within the temple itself.

A caretaker monk carefully offers our robes onto Lord Buddha.

According to Rinpoche, this statue was made 60 years after the Buddha’s parinirvana by one of Lord Buddha’s female disciples. The statue is actually made of black stone but has since been covered with a layer of gold by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This statue is said to be the closest resemblance to Lord Buddha and so, it was very fortunate for my dad and myself to have the honor to offer robes to the statue and it felt like we were offering it to Lord Buddha himself when the caretaker monk very quickly and skillfully placed the robes on.

The Vajrasana or the golden seat of Buddha’s enlightenment.

Even holier than the statue is the exact spot where the Buddha sat on and achieved full enlightenment that Buddhists call the Vajrassana. King Ashoka built a raised stone platform in veneration of this sacred spot. In recent times, a stone fence had been built surrounding the tree probably in fear of vandalism. So, the tree is locked away behind the stone fence and so we have to place our head onto the stone fence to glean a blessing from this sacred spot.

There are 7 spots within the compound of the temple that is especially sacred because it was at these spots that the Buddha spent a week each, meditating after attaining enlightenment. The first week was spent meditating under the Bodhi tree. Then, on the second week, the Buddha was meditating on the spot where the Animeshlochana Chaitya stands while gazing at the Bodhi tree without blinking. The third week, he was at the Ratnachankrama or Jewel walk where the Buddha spent the week in a contemplative walk. Then, the Buddha spent the fourth week at the Ratnaghar Chaitya where the Buddha reflected on higher aspects of reality. It was said that blue, yellow, red, white and orange rays of light emanated from the Buddha’s body while he meditated. Therefore, the Buddhist flags displays these colors.

The fifth week, the Buddha meditated in the east near the main entrance of the temple today. At this location and in response to query by a wanderer, he explained that it was by the merit of one’s deeds and not the virtue of one’s birth that makes a Brahman. On the sixth week, the Buddha meditated at the area of the Muchhalinda pond south of the temple. There was a great shower of rain, and the Naga king, Muchhalinda sheltered the Buddha by winding his coils seven times round the Buddha’s body and holding his hood over the Buddha’s head. Finally, the seventh week was spent in the southeast meditating under the Rajyatna tree where he also taught. These are all wonderful locations but I spent most of my time under the Bodhi tree.

The marble pathway surrounding the temple is remarkably clean of any leaves that may have fallen from the sacred Bodhi tree. This is because faithful pilgrims would quickly snatch any leaf that falls off the tree. Any leaf from the tree is considered a living relic of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Although this Bodhi tree is not the original tree from the Buddha’s time because the original have since been uprooted but the current tree was replanted from a sapling taken from a living descendent of the exact Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka.

After an hour waiting for a leaf to fall, I gave up and decided to focus on my prayers instead. If you are really desperate for a leaf, you could talk to any one of the little Sinhalese monks that wander about the temple. They might offer you a leaf but there’s no guarantee that it’s the leaf from the exact Bodhi tree. Besides the Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya is also the home to many temples from different Buddhist traditions.

We took a tour of the Japanese, Chinese, Bhutanese, Thai, Taiwanese and Tibetan temples. I must say that I found the Bhutanese temple to be particularly breath taking with its ornately decorated interior. I loved the fact that they had carved stucco figures protruding from the walls to depict the Buddha’s life story. Nonetheless, we did also stop by the 80-feet Buddha statue, one of the main stops for pilgrims who come to Bodhgaya to make prayers and have our customary pilgrim photos taken.

Dungeshwari (Mahakala Caves)

The entrance to Lord Buddha’s meditational cave

Lying against the rugged terrain of the mountains outside of Bodhgaya, a stone path leads up a flight of steps to several small Tibetan monasteries crowding the little space by a cliff. On the higher platform lies a cave that was traditional believed by some to be the location where the Buddha spent 6 years engaged in various ascetic practices that left him emaciated. The statue of the fasting Buddha in the cave immortalizes this period of the Buddha’s life.

The statue of the Fasting Buddha within the cave.

According to Rinpoche, the fasting Buddha has a special blessing and inspiration for us to achieve unshakeable faith and perseverance in our practice. This image of the Buddha holds particular relevance for the modern practitioner beset with tremendous distractions and a multitude of obstacles that can potentially derail us from our spiritual path. However, Rinpoche said that the Buddha did not reside here for the entire duration of the 6 years and the actual location is at a place known to the Tibetans as Lotrugawa by the banks of the Niranjana River. Nonetheless, we made our offerings, mantras and prayers here and moved on to the other locations.

Sujata Stupa and Temple.

The shrine at Sujata’s temple to Lord Buddha and Sujata kneels towards the right side of Lord Buddha.

Sujata Temple is actually a little shrine dedicated to the spot traditionally believed to be where the local herds’ maid Sujata had offered the emaciated Buddha his first meal of milk rice and honey.

After 6 years of engaging in strict practices, the Buddha realized the futility of these practices and decided to follow a middle way. Therefore, he accepted Sujata’s offering at this location. Realizing this significance, I told the pilgrims to make offerings at Sujata’s shrine to pray for the merit to provide for the Dharma (financially or in any other way) in much the same way as Sujata’s offering provided sustenance to the Buddha. It is said that it is exceptionally meritorious for Sujata to make this offering to the Buddha just before he attained enlightenment.

Not too far away lies a commemorative Stupa built by King Ashoka in honor of Sujata’s offering. We didn’t really do much at the Stupa but instead took a ride down to Lutrugawa.

Lutrugawa

This is the place Tibetans would come on a pilgrimage in memory of the spot where Lord Buddha engaged in his 6 years of ascetic practices. There are no ancient temples or shrines here except for a recently built platform in memory of the Buddha’s sheer determination to gain enlightenment. Therefore, the pilgrims stood by the platform and recited the King of Prayers here to plant powerful aspirations.

The spot believed to be where Lord Buddha performed ascetic practices.

This location seemed the most probable considering the fact that it lay near the spot where he met Sujata and also the Niranjana River. It is believed that after he completed his first meal, the Buddha took the bowl and placed it in the river. He prayed and requested for an omen that if he was on the right path towards attaining enlightenment. When the Buddha released the bowl, it miraculously flowed upstream against the tide of the flowing water. I love this location because it is off the beaten path of tourists and regular pilgrims. At the time we were here, there were no other pilgrims, allowing us space and leisure to perform our prayers and offerings.

Vaishali & Kesariya

The ruined remains of the Stupa at Vaishali.

At Vaishali, we visited 3 stupas, the first stupa is just the ruined remains of a Stupa destroyed by the Muslim horde. This is one of the many stupas that the Lichchhavis, the ancient kings of Vaishali had enshrined the sacred relics of Lord Buddha. After the passing of the Buddha, the relics were divided equally amongst the 8 Buddhist kings and the share that the Lichchhavis had received was divided into 13 Stupas built throughout Vaishali. Today, only 7 Stupa ruins have been unearthed.

The second Vaishali Stupa we visited was better preserved along with the Ashokan pillar with its lion pointing towards the direction Lord Buddha had left after giving his last teaching. This old stupa look imposing amongst the ruins and it was a good introduction to the ancient Indian architectural style, which was very different from the Tibetan, or even the Chinese architectural styles. I felt transported back in time to the reign of the Licchavi kings. Vaishali is noted to be where the Buddha laid down many of the Vinaya rules that the Buddhist monks adhere to and that’s why there is a profusion of monastic ruins surrounding the stupa. The Second Buddhist Council of the Sangha was held here in Vaishali a century after the passing of the Buddha to straighten out competing interpretations of the Vinaya rules. I could just image a grand procession of Indian monks and arhats adorned with their saffron-coloured robes passing through.

One of the monastic ruins was in the shape of a swastika (when viewed at bird’s eye view) and is believed to be the ruins of a nunnery that was built in honor of where the Buddha had ordained his foster mother, Mahaprajapati Gotami along with 500 other Shakyan women. Those who aspired to be nuns felt that this was a particularly significant location and took their time to make special prayers here to be a good nuns when they receives their Bhikshuni (nun) vows. I made my prayers here too but not to be a nun but to hold my vows and commitments strongly.

The excavated remains of the mammoth Kesariya Stupa.

At Kesariya (known as Kessaputta during the Buddha’s time), we came to the site of the mammoth Stupa, whose size rivaled the Borobuddur in its heyday. However, it is in a dilapidated state today and it’s just a shadow of what it once was. King Ashoka built the Stupa over a pre-existing smaller stupa erected by the Lichchhavis who were given the Buddha’s alms bowl at this spot to prevent them from following him as he walked for the last time towards Kushinagar. This massive stupa would become the prototype for Indonesia’s Borobuddur Stupa. I couldn’t help but marvel at the devotion and engineering feat of constructing such huge structures with just primitive tools.

Vulture’s Peak

A simple shrine at Vulture’s Peak.

For Mahayana Buddhists, Vulture’s Peak or Griddhakuta Hill is amongst the holiest sites because it was where the Buddha had requested the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara to expound on the profound teaching on emptiness. This teaching is forever immortalized in the Heart Sutra.

The peak itself is reachable through a long walk up a stone path lined with peddlers, beggars and porters carrying older pilgrims on sling-like litters suspended on thick bamboo poles. Peddlers sell walking sticks that come in rather handy for braving the steep steps up. I got my dad one as we began ascending up into the hill. Thank Buddha for the very kind Japanese who built the stone path for making the site accessible to pilgrims, as the terrain was treacherous. As we get closer up to the peak, we come across caves that are believed to be Ananda and Shariputra’s meditational caves. We marched on and only did our prayers at the caves when we descended later.

The sweeping view from Vulture’s Peak.

The sweeping view at the peak was spectacular and its no wonder the Buddha enjoyed engaging in retreats and teachings here. The actual site is just a nondescript platform with a lot of offerings left by pilgrims. There were enough room for all 17 of us pilgrims to sit to do our recitations and prayers. Needless to say, we had to recite the Heart Sutra to invoke the blessings of the Buddha and Avalokiteshvara to gain realization into the most profound of teachings.

Nalanda Ruins & Museum

Not too far from Vulture’s Peak, we came to what looked like a park. It has large flat grassy lawn with a path lined with trees. The path leads to the ruined remains of the famous medieval Nalanda monastery. Nalanda monastery was the oldest and greatest university in the ancient world. It began as a Buddhist monastery and grew to become an institution of great learning, not just of Buddhism but the arts, sciences, medicine and philosophy. This great institution was famed throughout the ancient world and attracted scholars, translators and practitioners from all over India, Tibet, Persia, China and Greece.

The modest entrance to the ruins of the great Nalanda Monastery.

Nalanda was founded in the 5^th Century over the site where the Buddha often came to reside with his chief disciples Shariputra and Moggallana. It is said that Shariputra attained Nirvana here. The most imposing structure in the excavated site is Shariputra’s Stupa. The whole university covers over 14 hectares or 34.6 acres across the flat landscape of the area but the excavated site covers only a small fraction of the entire complex. What remains of the gate is a modest entrance into a city-like brick landscape of passages, stairs, broken pillars, platforms, meditational cells, halls, latrines and temples.

A panoramic view of the ruins from a platform at Nalanda.

According to history records, the gatekeepers of the monastery are learned scholars and they would only permit entry to the monastery to those who could answer their riddles. I went into one of the meditational cells and sat on the stone beds and could hardly stifle my amazement of being at the very place Buddhadharma was expounded and debated upon. I thought I could be sitting on the very bed that any of the great Indian pandits of old like Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Dharmakirti, Chandrakirti or Shantarakshita had slept. In fact, many of the famous Mahasiddhas were once great students of this monastery. Before moving on, I managed to recite a few prayers.

The imposing view of Shariputra’s Stupa.

The immensity of the monastery lend an awe-inspiring feeling of how great this massive institution once was, much in the same way I had felt in Gaden monastery. In fact, Lama Tsongkhapa modeled Gaden after the monastic system that was developed here. The great monasteries of Lama Tsongkhapa like Gaden, Sera and Drepung had over the centuries produced countless great yogis, scholars and monks. The propagation and preservation of the Buddhadharma owes much to these great institutions. I felt sad that the Muslim invasion destroyed Nalanda and with it; Buddhism was systematically wiped out from India.

Not far from the ruins, the Indian government had established a Nalanda museum to exhibit precious statues and artifacts excavated from the ruins. The statues and artifacts offer a glimpse into the devotional world of the ancient monastic life of Nalanda. There are statues of the Buddha, Tara, Manjushri and a plethora of Tantric deities that are living proof that the great Tantric traditions of Tibet originated here and were brought over to Tibet.

Sarnath

Next, we traveled to the ancient city of Varanasi and not far from the city is the famous Sarnath deer park. This is where the Buddha traveled to after attaining enlightenment in search of his 5 companions who had abandoned him.

The huge Dhamekh Stupa dominates the landscape at Sarnath.

It was in Sarnath that the Buddha met with the 5 ascetics again and he turned the wheel of the Dharma for the first time when he taught them the 4 Noble Truths. Thus, the Sangha was founded in this park and, a big stupa was built along with surrounding monasteries and temples. There are 2 stupas but only one survives and the surviving stupa is called Dhamekh Stupa. It was built over the site believed to be where the Buddha taught the 5 ascetics.

The other stupa, Dharmarajika sadly had been dismantled by the officer of the Maharaja of Varanasi who was looking for building materials in the 18^th Century. Just next to the site of the Dharmarajika Stupa is the site where Lord Buddha was said to have meditated while in Sarnath. A huge temple was built over this site and was known as the Mulagandhakuti. However, it was sad that the temple complex has since been destroyed by the first Muslim invasion in the 12^th century.

Just a stone’s throw from Sarnath is the archaeological museum with perhaps the best exhibition of a large collection of statues and artifacts discovered amongst the ruins of Sarnath. The Buddha statues exhibited are some of the finest I have ever seen of the surviving images of the Buddha in India. I can’t help but marvel at the artistry and devotion of the ancient Indians who carved these magnificent statues. The 4-lion capital of the Ashokan pillar in Sarnath is exhibited in this museum as well and since independence, it has become the symbol of the Indian government.

The finest statue of Lord Buddha at Sarnath Museum

Kushinagar

This is the final resting place of Lord Buddha and one of the 4 great power places that includes Lumbini, Sarnath and Bodhgaya. Lord Buddha arrived at Kushinagar and gave his last teaching before succumbing to his illness at Kushinagar. It was believed that the Buddha had partaken meat and some sources said that it was a type of truffle that may have caused his untimely demise. The Buddha immediately knew the food was bad and told Ananda to bury the remaining food so nobody would eat it.

A group shot of the pilgrims in front of the Mahaparinirvan Temple.

Finally, the Buddha passed into Parinirvana and a funeral pyre was built but the wood mysteriously wouldn’t burn. Meanwhile, one of the Buddha’s chief disciples, Mahakasyapa was rushing back to pay his last respects. Only when Mahakasyapa lit the funerary pyre did the wood start to burn. King Ashoka later built a Stupa called Ramabhar Stupa over the site of the funerary pyre and it enshrines some of the Buddha’s relics within it. The spot where the Buddha had entered Parinirvana and it is also the site of the Mahaparinirvan temple dedicated to the Buddha’s passing.

The 6-feet long statue of the reclining Buddha and the red cloth was collectively offered by the 17 pilgrims.

This temple was rebuilt by the Indian government and enshrined within the temple is a 6-meter ancient statue of the reclining Buddha. All 17 pilgrims bought a large piece of silk robe to offer onto the Buddha statue and we circumambulated 3 times before sitting down to recite the King of Prayers and a powerful recitation of Rinpoche’s long life mantra. Rinpoche did explain once that coming on a pilgrimage to Kushinagar has the effect of extending our lives. The statue is originally black in color but is golden because numerous pilgrims have offered gold leaf onto it. The temple felt somber probably because the entire compound was shrouded in mist when we visited that morning and that the pilgrimage was coming to an end.

This slender image of Lord Buddha stands at the Mathakuar Shrine.

Just before leaving the temple, we stopped by a very special Mathakuar Shrine. In it has a carved image of Buddha Shakyamuni. Apparently, this is the site from where the Buddha delivered his final teaching. It is also the spot from where the Buddha requested Ananda to fetch water from the nearby river because he was thirsty. Ananda failed to deliver the water because it was made very muddy by passing cattle but the Buddha requested again and on the third request, Ananda miraculously managed to deliver crystal clear water. This is clearly a great teaching by the Buddha on the joyous perseverance in carrying out the instructions of our spiritual guides will bring tremendous beneficial results. I believe that Ananda not only managed to bring crystal water for the Buddha to drink but managed to create the tremendous cause to clear mental obscurations through this simple offering due to his faith and effort. This is the last holy site on our whirlwind pilgrimage and a powerful final teaching for us.

Videos of the Bodhgaya Pilgrimage:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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