The allure of the Buddha

 

 

Hugh & Colleen Gantzer

 

 

 

For some, it is a revered place of pilgrimage. For others, it is the fascinating, evolving, experience of a living faith that refuses to be frozen in its past while still being guided by its eternal values.

 

In the 1980s, Bodh Gaya had enchanted us. Later, we returned with our TV crew, it had become even more intriguing. Then when we came back last year, and again this year, it had changed every time like an ageless friend responding gracefully to subtle shifts in the world around. But its essential character has remained unchanged. That permanence was rooted in the iconic Bo Tree.

 

Under it, thousands of years ago, Prince Siddhartha had sat at the end of his restless quest to find the meaning of existence. He had been brought up as the pampered son of a king. But he had abandoned it all, seeking the answer from various gurus and had even starved himself in a cave. Realising that the answer lay within himself, he had accepted a bowl of payasam rice pudding from a merchant’s daughter, Sujata. That watershed in his life is marked by the Sujata Kutir brick stupa where, nowadays, pilgrims from East Asia stick commemorative gold leaf stamps on it, bow, and buzz their flashing cameras.

 

They believe that the emaciated Siddharth had then walked a few kilometres to a forest and sat under a peepal tree, resolving not to rise till he had found his answer. Eventually, in a flash of blinding revelation, it had come: Desires bind one to the world but the Middle Path between extreme philosophies and practices will bring serenity and the final bliss of Nirvana. It was a very appealing message that swept like wildfire over our people. The great Emperor Asoka accepted it and many of his subjects had followed him. He had even sent his son and daughter to Sri Lanka as missionaries, carrying a sapling of the Bo Tree. Other missionaries spread it across the rest of Asia and, now, across the world.

 

After the death of Asoka, however, Buddhism went into decline in the land of its birth. The magnificent temple, marking the sacred tree, crumbled with age and neglect. The encroaching forest covered it and all that was left of the original structure was the stone railing installed around the sacred tree. Whatever remains of this railing now stands in the Archaeological Museum.

 

 

 

In the Archaeological Museum in 1883, British archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham, decided to restore the ruined, and abandoned, Mahabodi Temple to its present glory. There was, virtually, nothing left of the original structure but its location had been guarded, according to legend, by a local non-Buddhist monastery. As for the original Bo Tree, a glossy brochure produced by the Government of Bihar put it very sensitively. It said:

 

For the Mahabodi tree to live forever, the farsighted disciples of the Buddha distributed its saplings far and wide. The present Bodhi tree is from a sapling of the ancestor tree at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, collected by British archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham.

 

Thus, the people of many faiths have contributed to the restoration of this great temple and its sacred tree.

 

Devotees in the colourful robes of their varied nations venerated, prostrated, contemplated and prayed at sites around the great shrine associated with acts of the Buddha. They sat in silence around the railing protecting the sheltering Bo Tree. They chanted in their numerous mother tongues, performed variations of ceremonies influenced by their distinct cultures. These unceasing streams of pilgrims from distant lands have transformed Bodh Gaya into a miniature spiritual United Nations. Leaving the Mahabodi, we joined awed lines of visitors at what is reputedly the oldest shrine after the Mahabodi. The Burmese Temple, said to have been built between the 11th and 13 century, has obviously been extended more recently with a serene meditation hall. We were struck by the serenity of the austerely beautiful Indosan Nipponji Japanese temple and then, in marked contrast, were dazzled by the resplendent, multi-roofed Thai Temple. There a smiling priest showed us the three different methods of making their wai Namaste, at the heart, before the eyes and, most respectfully, at the forehead accompanied by a deep bow. We spun prayer drums in a Tibetan temple and marvelled at the many variations of Buddhism that had grown out of the ethos of distant nations that had accepted the precepts of this gentle faith.

 

The Buddha had revolted against idol worship believing that it was an unnecessary, priestly created practice. Ordinary people, however, need images on which to focus their devotion and so the practice of venerating images of the Buddha arose. Though abstract images like the tree and footprints still occur in Buddhist temples, images of the Buddha generally form the focal point of worship. The most impressive one is Daibutsu, The Great Buddha Statue, erected by the Daijokyo sect of Nagoya, Japan. Towering 25 meters high, this image of the seated Buddha rises at the end of a long avenue and has standing statues of ten of his principal disciples: five on his right and five on his left. It was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the 18th of November, 1989.

 

This is the greatest wonder of Bodh Gaya: and Buddhism. It changes and adapts to the present while preserving its essential values as symbolised by the eternally rejuvenated Bo Tree.

 

 

 

Fact file

 

 

Getting there: Air: Gaya and then 7 km by road

 

Patna and then 135 km by road;

 

Rail: Gaya and then 17 km by road

 

 

 

Local Transport: Taxis, tongas, auto-rickshaws and cycle rickshaws

 

 

 

Accommodation: To suit all budgets.

 

Here are four: Bodh Gaya Regency, Royal Residency, Hotel Bodhgaya Gautam and Hotel Sidharth Vihar