Bodhgaya

22 March 2010

Since I have a little extra time now that I’m not going to Bangladesh I’ve added two more stops in my route to Delhi. Instead of only the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Varanasi and Ayodhya, I’ve decided to include the Buddhist towns of Bodhgaya and Sarnath. I never intended for this trip to take on any form of spirituality or pilgrimage, but I clearly forgot how impossible it is to separate religion from culture in this part of the world.

Bodhgaya is a small, dusty town in the poor and corrupt state of Bihar. It is home to the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the world, Mahabodhi Temple. The temple marks the place where, in the 6th century BC, Prince Siddartha Guatama meditated under the Bodhi Tree and became Buddha. The great Emperor Ashoka (who converted India temporarily to a Buddhist empire, 2nd century BC) laid a stone slab at the location of Buddha’s enlightenment and cared passionately for the Bodhi tree. Legend says that one of Ashoka’s wives became extremely jealous of the tree and the attention he doted on it so she killed it. Luckily, Ashoka had sent his daughter to Sri Lanka to plant a cutting of the Bodhi tree, and so a new cutting of the offspring was replanted in Bodhgaya. This close descendent and 2,000+ year old tree is said to be the Bodhi tree that now is protected next to a tall temple in Bodhgaya.

I arrived in Bodhgaya with no expectations, only curious to observe such a holy place for Buddhism after having traveled through 4 Buddhist countries. It hadn’t occurred to me during my trip that I would be ending my journey in the country of the origin of Buddhism. For me India is so heavily connected to Hinduism, and somewhat to Islam, that I had completely forgotten it is also the mother of another world religion, until I read my Lonely Planet.

There are two ways to pass your time in Bodhgaya. You may spend time at the main temple and Bodhi tree or you can visit the numerous international monasteries. I visited the main temple complex 3 times to take in the scene at different times over 2 days. The temple is surrounded by a pleasant garden with several parallel paths that guide visitors around the complex. There are small grass lawns, grassy hills, and trees filled with birds. To the untrained eye, the eye of someone unfamiliar with India, this “garden” would seem unremarkable, crowded, and noisy. But with some perspective the area easily becomes a peaceful place, a place with nature, pilgrims, and prayer. Having only been in India for about 1 week I think I felt somewhere in between. I sensed the uniqueness of the place but was disappointed by the lack of quiet. However, by my 3rd visit, my appreciation had grown and I was sad to have to leave Bodhgaya.

I particularly enjoyed sitting near the Bodhi Tree, watching people interact with it. The tree was certainly the most beautiful part of Bodhgaya for me. The idea of “worshipping” a tree as sacred because it provided the shelter and companionship for Buddha when he formulated his philosophy of life seems more appropriate than the huge temple to me. The temple is beautiful and houses a large Buddha statue, but the tree is given much stronger devotion. The tree is large and old and its enormous stretching branches are held above the ground with crutches to support their weight and keep them out of people’s reach. The base of the tree is enclosed by a large wall, protecting the trunk and root system from overzealous devotion and the thousands of people that visit every day. People offer flowers at the base of the tree, and if you peer through the gated wall you can see chipmunks munching away at those flowers and carrying them up into the tree for a snack. One side of the tree is shaded by the towering temple, the other side is where everyone sits to pray, meditate, or study. Here I watched as young Tibetan monks, boys no older than 10, skip around to catch the leaves of the Bodhi Tree. Across from the Bodhi Tree are two large trees of the same species, and so the many leaves on the ground are impossible to distinguish as a genuine Bodhi Tree leaf or from a close cousin tree. The young monks, under the instruction of their elders, wait for a breeze to pass through the garden and then follow the leaves from the branches to the ground, jumping to catch them or rushing to collect them before another eager hand snatches them up. They fill their cloth bags with the leaves to take home. I managed to collect 2 leaves, which I am still fondly carrying around pressed inside my journal.
Bodhgaya was a little disorienting for me. There are monasteries built by Buddhist nations, like religious embassies, scattered around the town. Bangladesh, China, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam are all represented by their respective temples and stupas. Visiting each temple taught me a little about each culture’s architecture and religious values. The different temples also transported me back into memories from my trip, comparing the similarities and differences between the religious cultures. And not only the buildings were diverse, but the people as well. Bodhgaya receives a surprising amount of international tourism. Somehow, people that would normally not visit India find their way into the heart of India to stay in Bodhgaya and soak up the spirituality of Buddha’s transformation. At the main temple there are beautiful Vietnamese women monks dressed in grey starched robes with shaved heads; they find private shade to meditate under. There are groups of Japanese tourists/pilgrims dressed in all white cotton with cameras around their necks listening to their guides. There are Tibetan monks, young boys and old men, dressed in orange robes. There are Indian families visiting the temple, which is significant to Hindus for its spiritual importance as well, they bring a rainbow of colors to the garden. And then there are two groups of Westerners visiting Bodhgaya, tourists including Bodhgaya in their list of sights and those seeking spirituality. My mother would have been amongst the latter, meditating with everyone else, contemplating the knowledge of the Bodhi Tree, and performing endless prostrations on the prayer boards facing the temple. I, again, consider myself somewhere in-between, though certainly more on the tourist side. I was there to observe and witness, not to participate; I still don’t know how.

And so it was with this international group and mix of temples that I found myself inside the Thai temple thoroughly confused. I had just passed some monks on the way in, walking down the green path. Teenage boys who reminded me strongly of the young monks in Luang Probang, Laos. Inside the temple I felt transported back to Bangkok, with the gold guild banisters and statues and bright mosaic decorations. Then a white man, dressed as a monk, a monk who was an American white male, approached me to ask if I needed help finding something, or was I just looking around? Just looking around, thanks, I replied. He left me alone and as I walked out of the temple I found a small water-lily filled pond and I heard my brain ask myself, “where are you again?” I’m not kidding. I actually had to backtrack and fast forward through my trip: Vietnam (check), Laos (check), Cambodia (check), Thailand (check), and now I’m… in…. India? Yes, I was in Kolkata, that was definitely India. And if I walk back out of this complex, the dusty road outside has a chai vendor on the side. Definitely India. Ok, I’m in India. Certain about my location once more I headed to find lunch. I ended up in Siam Thai, ordering green curry and rice.

My time in Bodhgaya was an unintended conclusion to my trip through SE-Asia. I reflected on the cultures and societies I had observed and the evolution of Buddhism in each nation, adapted to each culture. I still know very little about Buddhism, but I am impressed by its ability to transcend cultures, spreading its message without altering people’s cultural identification.