BODH GAY?

The Buddha attained complete and perfect enlightenment while seated on the diamond throne (vajrasana) under the bodhi tree at Bodh Gay?. Also called the seat of enlightenment (bodhima??a), this throne is said to be located at the earth's navel, the only place on earth that rests directly on the primordial layer of golden earth supporting the cosmos. Only there can the earth support a buddha undergoing full enlightenment without breaking apart. The bodhima??a numbers among the numerous invariables in all buddhas' biographies, which have only three distinguishing features. These are the genus of their bodhi trees, and the places of their births and deaths. Hence, individual buddhas are identified with and by their particular bodhi trees, ??kyamuni's being the pipal tree (ficus religiosa).

The enlightenment is further ritualized and solemnized by its being embedded in an elaborate sequence of actions, beginning with Siddh?rtha's decision to abandon physical austerities and to follow the middle way. Despite the site's extent, the ground is thick with sacred traces of the Buddha performing these actions. According to the Chinese pilgrims Faxian (ca. 337–418 c.e.) and Xuanzang (ca. 600–664 c.e.), individuals hailing from different places and eras erected st?pas, pillars, railings, temples, and monasteries to memorialize deeds and places. An example is the jewel-walk, one of the seven spots where the Buddha spent one week of his sevenweek experience of enlightenment.

Though the emperor A?oka probably established Bodh Gay? and the bodhi tree as Buddhism's most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site and object, the earliest extant remains and inscriptions are ?u?gan (second to first century b.c.e.). Recording three ?u?gan noblewomen's donations to the King's Temple, its railing and the jewel-walk posts, these inscriptions inaugurate an ongoing domestic and foreign tradition of donations and repairs. Early inscriptions also record Sri Lankan, Burmese, and Chinese pilgrimage. For example, Sri Lankan donative activity began with King Meghavarman's building of the Mah?bodhi Monastery (ca. fourth century c.e.) to house Sinhalese monks. Beginning in the eleventh century, the kings of Burma sent several expeditions to repair the temple.

Muslim invaders vandalized Bodh Gay?, probably before the last Burmese repair in 1295. The site remained desolate until the seventeenth century, when a Mahant settled there. Gaining ownership of the site, he salvaged its archaeological remains to build a ?aivate monastery near the Mahabodhi temple. The nineteenth century saw the resurgence of foreign Buddhist pilgrimage and Burmese reparative expeditions. The latter inspired British interest, resulting in colonial excavation and rebuilding in the 1880s. In 1891 Anag?rika Dharmap?la founded the Mah?bodhi Society in Sri Lanka to reestablish Buddhist ownership of the site. A lengthy legal battle ended victoriously in 1949. Today, Bodh Gay? is a thriving center of international Buddhism, attracting millions of Buddhist pilgrims every year from all over the world. Continuing a long-standing tradition, Buddhist sects throughout Asia (Sri Lanka, Burma [Myanmar], Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan) have established flourishing missions and built and repaired monasteries and temples there.

See also:Bodhi (Awakening)

Bibliography

Ahir, D. C. Buddha Gay? through the Ages. Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1994.

Barua, Benimadhab. Gay? and Buddha-Gay?, Vol. 1: Early History of the Holy Land (1931). Varanasi, India: Bhartiya, 1975.

Barua, Dipak Kumar. Buddha Gay? Temple: Its History. Buddha Gay?, India: Buddha Gay? Temple Management Committee, 1975. Second revised edition, 1981.

Beal, Samuel, trans. Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (a.d.629). London: Trubner, 1884. Reprint, Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corp., 1969.

Bhattacharyya, Tarapada. The Bodhgay? Temple. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyah, 1966.

Legge, James, trans. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hsien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (a.d. 399–414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. Oxford: Clarendon, 1886. Reprint, New York: Paragon, 1965.

Leoshko, Janice, ed. Bodhgaya: The Site of Enlightenment. Bombay: Marg, 1988.

Leela Aditi Wood