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Apart from a handful of minibuses and the big autorickshaws that could accommodate a dozen passengers (and long distance trains, of course), public transport is scarce between Varanasi and Saranath. But the wary traveller doesn’t need a route map on the road to Saranath. Houses, shops, gates, billboards…everything features a familiar leitmotif - Ashoka Chakra, the wheel with 24 spokes.

Path to enlightenment

Don Sebastian
2007-03-08 19:42:35

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1904. Contributions poured in from across the world. Dharmapala died at Saranath after seeing the completed shrine.

The shrine became a revered centre after the British handed over the relics unearthed by John Marshal from Takshashila in Pakistan Punjab in 1913-14. A silver scroll dated AD 79 found with the silver casket, said it were the relics of the Blessed One. On the full moon day of every November, the relics are taken out in procession when a multitude of monks will be in attendance to witness and worship it.

The walls of the shrine feature important scenes from the life of Gautama Buddha as painted by Japanese artist Kosetsu Nosu. In the courtyard, Dhamma Chakka Pavattana Sutta, the first sermon of the Buddha, originally in Pali, is engraved in many languages on granite slabs. Kings, presidents and the rich have engrained the sacred words in their languages. White kerchiefs and coloured prayer bills are festooned in the sanctuary.

"Evam Me Sutam (Thus I have heard)," begins the sermon in reported speech. Tathagata, enlightened after his meditation in Bodh Gaya, reached the deer park in Isipatna, the former name of Saranath. He told the five ascetics: "And what, O bhikkus, is that middle path found out by Tathagata, which giveth vision, which giveth knowledge, which tends to peace, higher wisdom, enlightenment and Nibbana?

"It is this very Noble Eight-Fold Path namely: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration." He condemned the pleasures of senses, "which is low, vulgar, worldly, unworthy and harmful" and self-mortification, "which is painful, unworthy and harmful". The prince who wanted to know and conquer suffering had set the Dhamma Chakka (wheel of law) in motion.

A peepul tree with a remarkable autobiography stands in the sanctuary. The tree has a genealogy that goes back to the famed tree in Bodh Gaya, where Siddhartha ...

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Buddhism flourished in India and later spread to other parts of the world. Three of the four holy Buddhist sites in Buddhism are located in India. Sarnath is one amongst the four holy Buddhist sites. People come in large number to visit this small town in Uttar Pradesh. It is a pilgrimage destination for them. Bodhgaya, the place where Siddharta Gautama attained enligtenment is visited in large number by both Buddhists and non Buddhists from around the world. they come here to seek spiritual bliss. If you wish to know more about Buddhism like me you can visit http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/

Shantanu Kumar, 2008-05-26 10:46:27