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Travelogues
A Western Pilgrim in India
As a western Buddhist on pilgrimage in the Ganges basin, one of the most startling discoveries was the complete absence of Indian Buddhist communities. Every Indian town, even the humblest village, has dozens of shrines dedicated to Hindu deities and at least one major and various minor temples where people worship every day. Most urban skylines also feature the rounded domes and minarets of Islamic mosques. But outside of the eight great places of pilgrimage, Buddhist temples are virtually unheard of in most parts of India.
As Khenchen Palden pointed out in his speech at the dedication ceremony for Padma Samye Chökhor Ling, there are many people in India who have never heard of the Buddha and know nothing about his teaching. All of the major pilgrimage sites are surrounded by booths selling malas, incense and cheap statuary, as well as the typical contingent of food stalls offering chai tea, somosas, rice and dahl. The salesmen are inevitably
non-Buddhist. So are the beggars. Buddhism is something of a relic in the very land where it originated.
Eight sites in northern India host the original stupas containing the Buddha's remains. Since 1949, these places have been designated and protected as national treasures. Ironically, to most Indians, the real treasure associated with these sites comes in the form of the tourist dollar, while the spiritual resonance of the presence of the Buddha merely serves as a strange attractor. Rarely will you enter one of these sanctuaries unaccompanied by a self-made tour guide who will insist on practicing his English on you, overriding all your attempts to have a quiet, meditative experience... and then charge you for the intrusion... Outside of the busloads of Theravada pilgrims from southern India, I did not meet one Indian Buddhist in the month that I spent wandering through across the Gangetic plain. The major Buddhist sites sport a few handfuls of foreign monks maintaining small monasteries built and supported by Buddhists in other countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Tibet, China, Japan and Korea. In spite of the fact that the Buddha wandered and taught throughout this area 2500 years ago and that Buddhism has long since become one of the world's major religions, most of the present Buddhist institutions in India have been established within the last fifty years. Since the wave of Muslim conquest swept across northern India in the early thirteenth century, Buddhism has effectively
disappeared from its original homeland in the Ganges basin. Fortunately, long before the final wave of conquest effaced the Dharma from India, it had already found more fertile ground in both Tibet, China and Sri Lanka as well as in other countries of eastern Asia where it has been preserved for the last 800 years in living traditions.
Gaya
Long ago, there lived an asura named Gayasur who performed great penances in the Kolahala Mountains. As a result, Vishnu blessed him so that whoever touched his body would go to heaven then and there. As the hells began to empty, Yama complained to the council of Gods, and Brahma agreed to ask the
ascetic for his body to perform a yajna sacrifice. Gayasur was devoted and readily submitted but even this did not kill him.
Yama carried a special rock which had once been his daughter. She had married Brahma's son Maricha who got terribly jealous one evening and turned the poor girl to stone. She asked Lord Vishnu for help, but was told she would never be able to regain her form. Instead, Lord Vishnu granted her second request, that all with whom she came into contact would be liberated from
Samsara.
Yama placed this holy stone on the body of Gayasur who yet continued to move beneath it. Finally, Vishnu and his retinue arrived. The Lord stood upon the asura and in recognition of his devotion, granted him a final boon. The big fellow calmly said, 'Lord, may the place where I die be turned to stone supporting the feet of Lord Vishnu and all the other gods. May it be known by my name and become famous throughout the world. May the ancestors of those who come here and offer
sweet cakes over my body, be freed of all sins. May this place remain as long as the earth, the sun, and the moon exist.' As he died, his boon was granted and he immediately turned to stone.
Lord Vishnu named the place Gaya Kshetra and his footprint is enshrined within a black stone temple. An octagonal basin, four feet in diameter, sunk into the marble floor and plated with silver surrounds the magical impression of Vishnu's foot. The Vishnupada itself is about sixteen inches long and six inches wide. The Lord had big Feet.
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