bodhgaya

i met some other travellers on the train also going to bodhgaya. and together with another couple of travellers i had met at the platform at varanasi, we took a rickshaw to bodhgaya. the french girl marion knew a place to stay away from the centre. it was a little difficult to find, but asking at a shop, the guy there happened to be a good friend of the guy whose ‘hostel’ it was. actually, it was just rooms at his family’s house, newly constructed and so very clean and comfortable. we got lucky again.

bodhgaya was scorching hot too. we got to the temple early in the morning to avoid the midday heat, and even at that hour, the mercury was pushing 30 degrees. the temple and the bodhi tree... the focal point of bodhgaya. the legendary place where the buddha attained enlightenment. the place was peaceful, in contrast to the bedlam outside, with monks sitting near the tree in meditation. inside the temple, there was a small statue of a sitting buddha, and the carvings around the temple illustrated the story of the buddha from when he left his home to when he became enlightened. some tourists were seated near the tree, waiting for a leaf to fall so as to have a treasured souvenir of their visit. failing that, there were people selling boxed sets of bodhi leaves outside the temple. somehow, i was at the right place at the right time to get my authentic souvenir!

the story of the buddha is certainly worth of admiration and veneration. but buddhism, like any other religion, has become trapped in ritual and blind faith. the essence of his message has been lost, and the means to salvation has been reduced to blind recitations of scriptures and meditations. i wonder how many of the monks and lay buddhists that were there had even come close to achieving a sense of inner peace, much less the ultimate goal of enlightenment and the end of suffering. maybe i am little too harsh... i should not criticise and i don't mean to. everyone must choose their way, and there are an endless number of paths to the same goal.

the dutch couple left for gaya, and marion and i were left for a couple of days more. we watched an animated version of the life of the buddha... a little bit informative and a little bit entertaining but certainly not worth the entrance fee. we visited a few other temples... . thai, sri lankan, vietnamese... and a few others. the bhutanese one was definitely our favourite & the japanese one the worst, it was colourless and dour but it did provide a free school for the local kids nearby.

we walked around the village nearby, and got a little peek of the people’s lives away from the tourist centre. come midday, we took our siesta in the ‘hostel’. 40 degrees plus in the sun. too much! time to go to the mountains. i did my research for the trip to nepal and kathmandu. most travellers go from varanasi, but this way was also possible, but more cumbersome.