Sitting in Buddha's footsteps, Bodhgaya..
Trip Start
Jul 15, 2010
1
35
47
Trip End
Ongoing
Bodhgaya, Bihār, India
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Left the hostel at about 7.30am made it to the highway on the edge of the city at exactly 12.30pm, had a drink of water then got back on board heading for the home of enlightenment trying to make sure I arrived stress free and content with where I was in life (the three electrical break downs I had on the way until I could find some fuses did their best to prevent my plan, but I soldiered on).
I pulled into Bodhgaya in the pitch black of night wondering whether or not I had just past a field where Buddha had walked on his way to finding a good tree to sit under. I’d had to disconnect all my electrics as I didn’t have the time to find out what was shorting out if I wanted to make it here in one day, so shouting over the roar of my bike to make sure anyone in front of got out of the way I managed to sight the glimmering lights of the hotel region and was relieved when I was finally riding under the cover of dimmed amber road lights. I pulled into the driveway of the least glamorous looking hotel I’d spied so far and rushed to my clean room as fast as humanly possible.
I managed to pass out before my food arrived so I tucked into a bowl of cold chicken fried rice and an extremely flat bottle of thumbs up (Indian Coke) for breakfast the next morning knowing full well that after my experience today I might be shaving my head donning scarlet robes and eating steamed rice for the rest of my life.
I stepped out took a deep breath and smiled at where I’d found myself. Thought about a cigarette and even though I wasn’t so close to the places of respect decided even just for myself it was inappropriate, then took a stroll through the streets. Bodhgaya is the most holy of holy places for Buddhists and as such every Buddhist contingent has an embassy of sorts here. From the minimalist temple the Japanese Buddhist have set up, to the rather impoverished looking building the Korean’s had built to the extravagant three story gold topped masterpiece the Thai Buddhists had founded. The architecture itself was something to marvel at but for me the best was that as opposed to looking at these buildings elsewhere with men in $6000 suits would have been walking out doors to the chauffeur driven cars instead it was humble monks and lamas whimsically casting there robes over there shoulders holding the doors open for gawking tourists as they made there way to morning prayers.
I carried on towards the Bodhi tree complex as it has unfortunately become, as I made my way through the concrete walkway, 50 metres long and 10 metres wide canopied by bountiful foliage, (any of which for me would have been a more than comfortable space to sit and think about life) a young Indian bloke rode his bike next to me, and we both revelled in each others conversation knowing it was leading no where but both happy to chat for a while. I waited as he parked his bike and Sutya introduced himself and asked if he could join me. I didn’t think anything could take away the pleasure I was feeling even he was a tout trying to sell me something so I was more than happy for him to tag along with my pilgrimage. I paid my tourist ticket entry and Sutya told me to give him my shoes as Indians don’t need to pay storage (well thank you kindly sir). He had actually lived in Bodhgaya years ago and had "apparently" just come back here with his English girlfriend to show her where he lived, she’d just taken off back to Kolkatta and he was heading there tomorrow so he knew everything I needed to know, which prevented me from buying a guide book to the ample grounds and many temples that now sit around the Bodhi tree. I was to find out that it is not the original tree, years ago under one of India’s great rulers the tree was cut down and sent to Sri Lanka where it was preserved for quite some time, fortunately years later the wife of another prominent Indian went down to Sri Lanka and cut a sapling from the original tree and planted it in the exact place where the last one grew (that’s the story anyway). The place had been marked before the tree was removed so scepticism of whether or not it is the place of Buddha’s enlightenment is almost non existent.
The tree itself stretches about 25 metres high and it thick straggly arms reach out in all directions like it is trying to send a message to all reaches of earth. Bunches of luminescent luscious green leaves cling lovingly from the trunk all the way out to the far ends of each branch like the life force of the tree is magnetically keeping them there. This year Bodhgaya has seen little to no rain, a strange feat for this area of India, where the pastures remain a consistent shade of green almost the entire year and it is believed that your are lucky to walk through the temple grounds when it’s raining. Without one word of a lie, the moment I had walked past my third of fourth temple a stood before this amazingly respected tree torrential rain started to pound my head, I stood in amazement as my new friend ran for cover under a near by tree and all bar three monks stopped their chanting and took cover where ever they could. The three remaining monks finished the mantra they had been chanting and found cover with there colleagues until it was only I, minutes after it had started, as wet as if I had jumped in river bathing in the rain in front of Bodhi tree. I don’t know why but I couldn’t stop smiling and for the first time in my life I felt like meditating. I know it sounds extremely corny but I closed my eyes while I stood there and instead of seeing the usual darkness that closing your eyes provides I saw nothing but white, I can’t describe it as a spiritual moment, but it was something I had never experienced before I can recall it point by point even now 2 months and a million experiences later.
For about 15 minutes I stood there enjoying my new found fun then decided it was time to see what else was on offer. I stood at the place where Buddha sat for enlightenment and then roamed the rest of the concreted grounds marvelling at how a field with a tree had been turned into such a “commercial” product. Sutya agreed to come and pick me up later that day from my hotel and sure enough he did, changed into dry clothes and still smiling intensely from my morning experience I jumped on the back of his bike to pick up some parts I needed then we went to his Grandma’s place for a beautiful dinner of Tibetan food, Veg Thukpa (veg soup with noodles), Momos (dumplings) and some sweet Tibetan bread of which I haven’t tasted the likes of before or after.
His grandmother hardly spoke a lick of English but her smile was contagious and I don’t know if it was the morning I’d had the friend I’d made the food I’d eaten or the pleasantness of all of it but I sat there in complete silence the whole meal try it hard to break my smile even to eat my food.
Sutya dropped me home and I fell asleep feeling like I’d had one of the best days of my life, wasn’t until the next morning that I realised I hadn’t smoked one cigarette the day before.
Next I try and make it to Darjeeling get lost end up near Nepal, think about going to Kathmandu get lost again, end up near Kathmandu, think about going back to Darjeeling, get lost again and end up in Nepal.
Lots of love everyone, hopefully in the next couple of days I’ll have all the entries upto date and we can start chatting about what’s happening now.
By the way…GO TO BODHGAYA
