Bodhgaya India India

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Bodhgaya India (also written as Bodh Gaya) is in northeastern India in the state of Bihar. It is thought that the Enlightenment of Buddha occurred here under an asvatta or bodhi tree (the Tree of Awakening) where the Mahabodhi Temple now sits. It is the most important Buddhist temple of the four holy Buddhist pilgrimage sites, one of which includes the temples and ghats of Varanasi on the mighty Ganges River where Prince Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon in nearby Sarnath. The two other sites are his place of birth at Lumbini in Nepal and Kushinagar where he left his body. The site of Bodhgaya India is also sacred to the world's Hindus because Buddha is is the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. 

Both the Bodhgaya Temple and the tree are sacred in Buddhism. "Bodhi" means enlightenment, and the tree itself was actually a kind of ficus (or pipal) tree, which has been propagated from a sapling of the original tree under which he sat. The current living tree is 80 feet high and about 115 years old. Under the tree is a red sandstone slab that is said to be the Vajrasana, the diamond throne that Prince Gautama sat on when he attained nirvana. Each year, millions of Buddhist pilgrims make the trip to Bodhgaya India, as Christians go to Lourdes in France. In the height of the pilgrimage season, in the cool winter season between December and March, monks in colorful robes will be seen in meditation, studying, performing prostrations, and making offerings to the many statues and stupas. You will also see the monks and other faithful circling around Mahabodhi Temple in a continuous circumambulation. Destitute families (Bihar Province is one of the poorest in all of India) are also drawn to the site, and can be seen begging for alms outside the temples and monastery grounds.