Buddha Bound

The Bodhi Tree

BODHGAYA: Home of the Bodhi Tree, under which a Prince named Siddartha sat and became enlightened. The town is loaded with Thai, Burmese, Tibetan and other Asian Buddhists, along with hundreds of monks, who are there for 3 or 4 days of chanting. We arrive in the afternoon and meet Peldan, the Tibetan monk who will travel with us for the next 4 days, in front of the temple, as hundreds of the above Pilgrims stream past us and hawkers of mala beads, plastic buddhas and Dalai Lama paraphanalia crowd around us to hassle us to buy buy buy! [This is India, a masalla of everthing].

Peldan takes us into the temple, where a monk is changing the robes on the statue of Buddha-and he winks at me as he looks down on the masses of us crammed into a room about the size of a public toilet. My stereotypes about monks are about to be broken in a million pieces over the next few days, and they start with this one wink.

Around the perimeter sit a nation of Buddhist monks, seas of burgandy, orange and yellow, while pilgrims sit outside the fenced in area and listen or walk around clockwise, prostrating themselves to the Buddha or running laps on the malas with their own private mantras. The Bodhi tree [not the original, that one died a long time ago, but the son or grandson of the original tree] is hosting an ordination ceremony for some Thai monks as the hoardes stream past. Up one level is another walkway, where you can look down on the chanters, and see piles of food, books [with sacred Buddhist texts- donated by a follower] waiting to be distributed to pilgrims. We decide to walk this perimeter in the morning, which proves to be even more crowded, and full of people who seem to be on a marathon-rushing through by pushing and shoving people out of the determined pathway. Seems to me to defeat the purpose, but I do not live in this part of the world or in this culture.

Bodhgaya is the first stop on our Buddhist trail. On the way to Kushinigar, where the Buddha died, we visit Rajgir, where there is a Japanese stupa high on a hill, and some caves where significant teachings of the Buddha took place. We reach the stupa via chair lift- the operative word being CHAIR. They are wooden lawn chairs hanging onto a cable by a very small hook. I calculate how far the fall would be and how many bones I would break if the chair fell with me in it. I mention this to Peldan when we get off and he tells me he has the same thoughts-only his are accompanied by visuals from a movie he saw of a helicopter crash. [Peldan loves movies and is extremely excited when we stop somewhere for the night and there is a TV- commanding the remote like a jealous lover]. I am happy to be in the company of a monk who is just as neurotic about heights as I am. Halfway down from the stupa [temple] we stop at the point where Buddha gave the heart teachings to his disciples. I ask Peldan what the heart teachings are and he tells me they are about nothingness. This doesn't really give me a clue- or does it?

Me at the Rajgir caves

Near Rajgir is Nalanda, where an ancient and famous Buddhist university lies. The university is a ruin now, a series of half buildings strewn in beautiful surroundings- very peaceful. You would hardly guess that a thriving, hustling market lies just outside the gates. Typical of spiritual history, another religious group [I knew but have forgotten] burned the university down. It is said that it took days for the library to burn because of all the texts there. Pelden and I wander around the ruins talking about everything from Buddhism- our original intent- to thoughts and visions and the Dalai Lama and the political scene in Tibet and even Richard Gere- he tells me I have Richard Gere hair.

Peldan and a local Sadwa

Next we head to Kushinigar, where the Buddha died. See you there!

Namaste!