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Buddhist Pilgrimage
The most important places in Buddhism are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of southern Nepal and northern India. This is the area where Gautama Buddha was born, lived, and taught, and the main sites connected to his life are now important places of pilgrimage for both Buddhists and Hindus. Many countries that are or were predominantly Buddhist have shrines and places which can be visited as a pilgrimage. Sites associated with Buddha's life Four main pilgrimage sites listed by Buddha himself Gautama Buddha himself had identified the following four sites most worthy of pilgrimage for his followers, observing that these would produce a feeling of spiritual urgency: * Lumbini: birthplace of The Buddha as Prince Siddhartha Gautam (in Taulihawa, Lumbini, Nepal) is the most important religious site and place of pilgrimages for Buddhism. It is also approved by UNESCO for World Heritage sites as most holy place for Buddhism and world religions. * Bodh Gaya: (in the current Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sankassa
Sankissa (also ''Sankasia'', ''Sankassa'' and ''Sankasya'') is an ancient city in India renown for the descent of Gautama Buddha from the Tushita heavens where he taught his mother before landing at Sankissa. Considered among the eight great pilgrimage sites, it was thirty leagues from Sravasti.''Dhammapadatthakathā'', iii, 224 Around 300 years after the Gautama Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, king Ashoka visited and built a Pillar of Ashoka of which the elephant capital survives. He also built a stupa and a temple commemorating the Buddha's descent from the heavens. The ruins of the stupa are still present, as is a temple of Vishari Devi and an ancient staircase. Sankissa has ruins of ancient Buddhist monasteries, and other monuments from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. The Briton Alexander Cunningham explored the site in 1842. Sankissa is now identified with Sankisa Basantapura on the north bank of the Ikkhumati river (Kalinadi), between Kampil and Kannauj. It is twenty- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gayā is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple complex, situated in the Gaya district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment (Buddhism), enlightenment (Pali: ) under what became known as the Bodhi Tree. Since antiquity, Bodh Gayā has remained the object of Buddhist pilgrimage sites, pilgrimage and veneration for Buddhism, Buddhists. In particular, Archaeology, archaeological finds, including sculptures, show that the site was in use by Buddhists since the Mauryan period. For Buddhists, Bodh Gayā is the most important of the four main pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Lumbini, and Sarnath. In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple, located in Bodh Gayā, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Bodh Gayā is considered the holiest site in Buddhism. Known as Uruvel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sravasti
Shravasti (, ; ) is a town in Shravasti district in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala which was ruled by Lava and the place where the Buddha lived most after his enlightenment. It is near the Rapti river in the northeastern part of Uttar Pradesh India, close to the Nepalese border. Shravasti is one of the most revered sites in Buddhism. It is believed to be where the Buddha taught many of his ''Suttas'' (sermons), converted many of his famous disciples, and performed his "Sravasti miracles" – "great miracle" and "twin miracle" – a subject of numerous historic reliefs, statues and literature in Buddhism. Sravasti is also important to Hinduism and Jainism. The earliest manuscripts of both mention it and weave some of their legends in Sravasti. Archaeological excavations of the Sravasti site have unearthed numerous artworks and monuments related to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Shravasti, as a capital, was at the ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushinagar
Kushinagar (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India, east of Gorakhpur on National Highway 27, Kushinagar is a Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha died. Etymology According to Alexander Cunningham, Kushinagara was named for the abundance of the kusha grass found in this region. History Iron Age Buddha's death When the Buddha reached his eightieth year, according to the '' Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' ( Sutta 16 of the ''Dīgha Nikāya''), he and some of his disciples undertook a months-long journey from Rājagṛha, through Pāṭaliputta, Vesāli, Bhoganagara, and Pāvā, to their final destination at Kushinagar. At Pāvā Cunda, a resident, invited the group to a meal that featured a food called ''sukaramaddava''. Buddha was afflicted by a painful illness resembling dysentery soon after eating it. After the meal, the Buddha crossed the Kakkuttha River (now called the Khanua River) and compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushinara
Kushinagar (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India, east of Gorakhpur on National Highway 27, Kushinagar is a Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha died. Etymology According to Alexander Cunningham, Kushinagara was named for the abundance of the kusha grass found in this region. History Iron Age Buddha's death When the Buddha reached his eightieth year, according to the '' Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' ( Sutta 16 of the ''Dīgha Nikāya''), he and some of his disciples undertook a months-long journey from Rājagṛha, through Pāṭaliputta, Vesāli, Bhoganagara, and Pāvā, to their final destination at Kushinagar. At Pāvā Cunda, a resident, invited the group to a meal that featured a food called ''sukaramaddava''. Buddha was afflicted by a painful illness resembling dysentery soon after eating it. After the meal, the Buddha crossed the Kakkuttha River (now called the Khanua River) and complet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarnath
Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, ''Sarangnath'', ''Isipatana Deer Park'', ''Rishipattana'', ''Migadaya'', or ''Mrigadava'')Gabe Hiemstra, "Buddha Chronicle 24: Kassapa Buddhavaṃsa". ''Wisdom Library'', 14 September 2019. is a town northeast of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. As the '' Lalitavistara'' sutra states, the Gautama Buddha chose ''"Deer Park by the Hill of the Fallen Sages, outside of Varanasi"'' for his first teaching after he attained enlightenment Samye Translations, "Sarnath: The First Turning of the Dharma Wheel", ''Nekhor: Circling the Sacred'' in Bodh Gaya. The teaching is entitled Dhammacakkappavattana sutra. Sarnath is one of the eight most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists, and has been nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha's ''sangha'' first convened, when he gave the first teaching to the Buddha's original five disciples Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama, known as ''The First T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (; ; "The Four Arya (Buddhism), arya satya") are "the truths of the noble one (the Buddha)," a statement of how things really are (Three marks of existence, the three marks of existence) when they are seen correctly (Noble Eightfold Path#Right view, right view). The four truths are * ''dukkha'' (not being at ease, 'suffering', from ''dush-stha'', standing unstable). ''Dukkha'' is an innate characteristic of samsara, transient existence;Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "The first truth, suffering (Pali: dukkha; Sanskrit: duhkha), is characteristic of existence in the realm of rebirth, called samsara ()." nothing is forever, this is painful; * ''samudaya'' (origin, arising, combination; 'cause'): together with this tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twin Miracle
The Twin Miracle, also called the Miracle at Savatthi (Pali), or the Miracle at Śrāvastī (Sanskrit), is one of the miracles of Gautama Buddha. There are two major versions of the story that vary in some details. The Pali account of the miracle can be found in the ''Dhammapadattakatha'' and the Sanskrit version of the Miracle Month in the ''Pratiharya-sutra.'' Buddhists believe it was performed seven years after the Buddha's enlightenment, in the ancient Indian city of Savatthi. Tibetan Buddhists celebrate this event with Chotrul Duchen. According to Buddhist texts, during the twin miracle the Buddha emitted fire from the top half of his body and water from the bottom half of his body simultaneously, before alternating them and then expanding them to illuminate the cosmos. The miracle was performed during a miracle contest between Gautama Buddha and Six Heretical Teachers, six rival religious teachers. In the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition, it is considered one of the Buddhahood#I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China China–Nepal border, to the north, and India India–Nepal border, to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a Geography of Nepal, diverse geography, including Terai, fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten List of highest mountains#List, tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and List of cities in Nepal, its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural state, with Nepali language, Nepali as the official language. The name "Nepal" is first record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaishali (ancient City)
Vaishali, Vesali or Vaiśālī was an ancient city located north of Patna in present-day Bihar, India. It is now a Buddhist pilgrimage site that also contains two important stupas of the Buddha,Robert Beer, ''The Encyclopaedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs''. Boston: Shambhala, 1991. the '' Relic Stupa of Vaishali'' and the ''Stupa of Complete Victory''. As an archaeological site it forms part of the Vaishali District in Tirhut Division. It was the capital city of the Vajjika League of Vrijji mahajanapada, considered one of the first examples of a republic that dates from c.6th century BCE. Gautama Buddha preached his last sermon before his mahaparinirvana in , and Vaishali is also home to two important stupas directly related to the Buddha, the Relic Stupa of Vaishali, which is said to contain the ashes of the Buddha, and the ''Stupa of Complete Victory'' that represents the prolongation of the Buddha's life by three months when he was eighty years old. In 383 BCE the Secon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
