Bo tree (Bodhi tree) In Buddhism, the pipal under which the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) found enlightenment (bodhi) at Bodh Gaya, near Varanasi, n India. A pipal at Anuradhapura, n Sri Lanka, is said to have grown from a cutting taken from original Bo tree by King Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. Family Moraceae; species Ficus religiosa.

Bo Tree, Bodhi Tree (Skt., bodhi, ‘enlightenment’). The tree (ficus religiosa) under which the Buddha is believed to have gained enlightenment. Situated in Bodhgaya, Bihar, the present tree is not particularly large and is unlikely to be the original.

It became customary to plant a Bodhi Tree (a cutting when possible), usually surrounded by a low railing, in the courtyard of a vihāra to signify the presence of the Dharma, and this practice continues to the present day.

bo tree a fig tree native to India and SE Asia, regarded as sacred by Buddhists. Recorded from the mid 19th century, the name represents Sinhalese bōgaha ‘tree of knowledge’ (Buddha's enlightenment having occurred beneath such a tree), from Sanskrit budh ‘understand thoroughly’ + gaha ‘tree’.

bo tree / bō/ • n. a fig tree (Ficus religiosa) native to India and Southeast Asia, regarded as sacred by Buddhists.