Significance of the thrice blessed Day

Places of religious significance:

The four holy places of Buddhist pilgrimage related to the life of the Buddha are Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Kushinagar and Saranath(Samath,where the Buddha gave His first sermon) in India.

Lumbini

Lumbini is the birthplace of the Buddha and it’s located in Kapilavastu, Nepal. Just before his birth in this world, the Bodhisatva was the Lord of Tushita in the Deva realm. There he had resolved to be reborn for the last time and show the attainment of Enlightenment to the world.

He had made five investigations Kalaya (time), Deepaya (country), Deshaya (land), Kulaya (cast), Mava (mother) and determined that this southern continent was the most suitable place for this purpose.

When Emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini two centuries later, his advisor, Sage Upagata, described, all these events to him, pointing out these sites.

Emperor Ashoka then made many offerings here, and built an elaborate stupa and erected a pillar surmounted by a horse capital. By the time Hiouen Tsang saw it, lightning had already destroyed the pillar. Nevertheless, even till the end of the last century, the inscription on the ruin was sufficiently legible to clearly identify the site as Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Lumbini is on the foothills of the Himalaya. There are a number of temples here including the Maya Devi Temple and the Puskarini or the Holy Pond (where Buddha’s mother took her ritual dip prior to his birth and where He too had His first bath) as well as the Kapilavastu palace.

In Buddha’s time, Lumbini was a park.

Buddhagaya (Bodh Gaya)

The Bodhisattva, having renounced the luxurious life as Prince Siddharatha, became Gauthama, the Ascetic. After leaving his palace, he started walking in the southeastern direction from Kapilavastu and came to Vaishali.

There, he listened briefly to the teaching of Alara Kaalama, but left dissatisfied. Crossing the River Ganges, he once again entered the Kingdom of Magadha and came to Rajgir, its capital, where he listened to the yogis teaching of Uddakarama.

Again dissatisfied, he left the place, followed by five ascetics. Along with them he came to the village of Uruvela, situated on the banks of the Nairanjana River close to the palace now known as Buddhagaya (Bodh Gaya).

There they engaged in a long, austere practice. For the first two years, Gautama began reducing the number of meals and gradually he reduced the quantity until at last he took only one grain of sesame seed. He finally was reduced to a skeleton and He fainted. He later realised that both extremes, luxury or extreme privation were useless. Instead He chose the middle path.

Bodh gaya in India is where Siddhartha Gouthama became the Buddha as He sat in meditation on the diamond seat under the Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa) Tree. About 250 years after Buddha’s Enlightenment, Emperor Ashoka who visited this site is believed to have founded the Mahabodhi Temple and the Vajrasana - the Seat of Enlightenment.

Buddhists believe this to be the navel of the Universe - the Vajra Seat where past and future Buddhas achieve the ultimate state.

When Emperor Ashoka visited this place he set up a stone pillar with an elephant capital just like in Lumbini, Samath and Kushinara. He also sent a branch of the still living tree to Sri Lanka where it is venerated as the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.This all happened around 250 BC.

Kushinara (Kushinagar)

Kushinara also known as Kusinagar or Kushinagar in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh is where Gautama Buddha attained Parinibbana in a Sal forest. At the time of the Buddha, it was the capital of the Mallas, but it was a small city and in fact it is said that Ananda was disappointed that the Buddha chose it for His Parinibbana. But, by preaching the Maha Sudassana Sutta, the Buddha had pointed out that in ancient times it had been Kusvati, the Royal City of Maha Sudassana.

As the scene of His death, Kushinara became one of the four holy places declared by the Buddha as fit to be places of pilgrimage for the pious.

Today temples have been built by Indian, Chinese, Sri Lankan, Thai, Burmese, South Korean, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhists, alongside the ancient ruins of monasteries and stupas. The two places most visited in Kushinagar are the Mahaparinirvana Stupa and the site of His cremation.

- Compiled by Asha Senevirathne

The life of the Buddha

Born into the royal family of a small kingdom called Kapilavastu on the Indian-Nepalese border around the fifth century BC, Prince Siddhartha had a cloistered upbringing according to the traditional story, but, however, he was jolted out of complacency when he encountered the harsh realities of life, such as old age, sickness and death.

He then left home in search of the real meaning of life. He practised meditation under various teachers and then took to asceticism.

The rigorous asceticism that he followed led him to the verge of death. But, true understanding seemed as far away to him as eternity and eventually, he abandoned this path. He then sat down beneath a peepal (bo) tree and vowed that “flesh may wither, blood may dry up, but I shall not rise from this spot until enlightenment has been won.” After forty days, the Buddha finally attained Enlightenment.

Buddhists believe that He attained a state of being that goes beyond anything else in this world. If normal experience is based on conditions-upbringing, psychology, opinions, perceptions and so on, Enlightenment is unconditional.

It was a state in which the Buddha gained insight into the deepest workings of life and therefore, into the cause of human suffering, the problem that had set Him on His spiritual quest in the first place.

During the remaining 45 years of His life, He travelled through much of northern India, teaching the way to Enlightenment to others. The teaching is known as the Buddha-dharma - ‘the teaching of the Enlightened one’ in the East.

Travelling from place to place, the Buddha taught numerous disciples, who gained Enlightenment in their own right. They, in turn, taught others and in this way, an unbroken chain of teaching has continued, right down to the present day.

The Buddha was not god and neither did He make any claim to divinity. He was a human being who, through tremendous efforts, transformed Himself. Buddhists see Him as an idol and a guide, who can lead them to Enlightenment.

Finally at the age of 81 the Buddha arrived at the Kingdom of the Malla’s, Kusinara (Kushinagar) where He attained Maha Parinirvana. He asked His disciples whether there were any subjects among His teachings that needed clarification. Finally when the Buddha attained Parinibbana, the Pali cannon says, there was a strong earth tremor.