Bihar, India
The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it.
—Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha (563–483 B.C.), father of Buddhism
The stupa (bell-shaped tower) of the red-brick Mahabodhi Temple, Buddhism’s most sacred shrine, finds resonance in four small towers thrust upward as if to pull the ancient Indian sky to Earth made holy when the Buddha achieved enlightenment under a bodhi tree. A massive gold statue of Buddha in the Earth-touching mudra (symbolic gesture) occupies the temple’s inner sanctum as if it had been sitting in that asana (yoga position) for the last 2,500 years since Siddhartha Gautama achieved self-realization and became known as the “Awakened One.”
If you desire enlightenment, visit the temple in the village of Bodh Gaya where you can sit, pray, even walk in meditation. The trip from Gaya to Bodh Gaya is 13 miles, easily traveled by a daily deluxe bus service, with time to gather your thoughts before entering the Buddhist sanctuary, visiting the tree, or studying the exquisite images of Buddha carved in the walls.
Walk alongside the Cankamana (Cloister Walk) where the footsteps of the Buddha are marked with rounds of carved lotuses to indicate where he walked back and forth in meditation. Inside, study the silk-draped gilded Buddha seated serenely before a turquoise background. In this holy sanctuary, before the altar and ghee lamps, offer heartfelt prayers to develop the compassion of a bodhisattva for those who suffer. Pray for the blessings of the Buddha to guide you in your quest for enlightenment.
A section of stone railing from the first century B.C. was added as an enclosure of the small, simple shrine that Emperor Ashoka had built in the third century. You can still make out images of imaginary beasts on the railing medallions.