Siddhartha Gautama Was Born Into an Impoverished Family.
On the Trail Of the Buddha
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March 8, 1987
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Tracking the path of the peripatetic Buddha over the plains and mountains of Nepal can be an enlightening journey, just it tin can also be a bewildering maze for those trying to distinguish history from legend.
The 2 have go inseparably fused over the 2,500 or so years since the Buddha began his own wanderings. It is best, therefore, non to effort too hard to seek exact dates for events in the Buddha's life or to try to discern which tales may actually have occurred and which may be merely embellishments.
Where history has failed to record the facts, fable has filled in the gaps, and over time the legends have themselves been revised. So today a visitor to this Himalayan kingdom volition be faced with several versions of the aforementioned events in the Buddha's life and tin choose to believe whatsoever or none at all.
What remains is peradventure what the Buddha nigh eagerly sought - not an adherence to the physical details of doctrine or the concrete globe, just an abstruse or meditative arroyo to life. It was this approach that he believed could ultimately release mankind from the bonds of the ''Wheel of Existence,'' or what Buddhists believe is the process of existence born, dying and beingness born over again.
All the same, there remain scores of physical reminders - stone, gold and bronze images of the Buddha and temples scattered across Nepal where many of the world'south Buddhists come to worship during their spiritual journey toward the attainment of nirvana, or the elimination of ''self'' and the finish of the bicycle of rebirths.
Only eight percent of the 16 million people living in Nepal are Buddhists, and most of those are of Tibetan descent. But thousands of Buddhists from Burma, Red china, Japan, South Korea and Thailand make pilgrimages each year to Lumbini, the identify 155 miles w of Katmandu in the southern Terai region near Republic of india that the scriptures say was Buddha's birthplace, and to temples in the Katmandu Valley and monasteries in the mountains to the north. Nigh pilgrimages are made in late September through December, after the rainy season, only the familiar orangish or red garb of Buddhist monks tin be seen at temples throughout the year.
Those who make the pilgrimage today will traverse a country that in some ways may not exist greatly changed since most 540 B.C., when a prince named Siddhartha Gautama was born into luxury. According to legend, the prince ventured outside the palace gates for the first time when he was 29 years one-time and was so afflicted by the poverty and suffering he encountered that he renounced his lavish way of life, left his family unit and, for five years, wandered through Nepal and into India, where he finally attained enlightenment. At that bespeak he was given the proper noun Buddha, a Sanskrit word significant enlightened one.
Poverty nonetheless grips Nepal - the average annual per capita income is $160 - and the impoverished conditions in and around Lumbini may discourage all but the nigh devout or the most adventurous. The Nepalese Government and the United Nations have worked out plans for developing the area to attract more than tourists by building new temples and hotels. In the meantime visitors may desire to make a quick cease in Nepal on their fashion to or from India, only a few miles away.
Those who make the trip volition be rewarded at Lumbini by the sight of a massive rock pillar erected in 250 B.C. by the Indian emperor Ashoka. It is astonishing how much detail of the carvings on the pillar can still be read, despite annual washings by monsoon rains. Nearby is a sacred pool, the foundation of a monastery, a modern temple with a big gold Buddha figure in the traditional meditative position and a shrine depicting the Buddha'due south birth.
According to legend, Siddhartha Gautama'south mother walked into her garden in Lumbini, rested her arm against a tree and the Buddha was delivered from her side. The child was said to take announced that this would exist his last incarnation earlier he reached enlightenment.
For the truly audacious, and but the truly adventurous, the best and most exciting ride to Lumbini is atop ane of the regularly scheduled buses that leaves each morning from Katmandu and Pokhara and arrives past evening in the hamlet of Bhairwa, almost 10 miles from Lumbini. Motorbus drivers are often hesitant to let passengers on the wooden baggage rack on the bus top, simply a little persistence can be richly rewarded with unobstructed views of snow-covered peaks, mountain slopes neatly terraced by rice paddies, and frothing rivers that carve through the valleys on their long journeying earlier they join up with the Ganges River in India. I had the adept fortune to travel with Peggy Piaskoski, a Peace Corps volunteer who during her two-yr tour had mastered Nepali. We quickly gained passage to the top of the motorbus and spent the next 7 hours feeling as though we were aboard an endless roller coaster. The fare was nigh $2.l. The abrupt zigzag roads were a test of our faith in brake pads as the aging bus rumbled down steep descents. I besides noticed that the driver had an unnerving tendency to oversteer to the left side, which placed united states of america precariously at the edge of a sheer drop each time a hairpin plough veered to the right.
Oncoming traffic on the narrow roads was another constant danger that the commuter tried to avert by giving quick blasts of his horn as he negotiated curves.
At some bespeak the idyllic view, a gentle cakewalk and a warm sun overcame my fears, and the remainder of the trip was similar riding atop an elephant.
The risk aside, the trip as well provided a good opportunity to taste a Nepalese dish called dhal bhaat - a mixture of lentils poured over rice, spiced with hot peppers and sometimes cabbage. There are no restaurants along the road, simply when the driver gets hungry he stops in a boondocks and passengers or-der something to eat at ane of the homes.
Later on passing acre upon acre of rice paddies, it seemed fitting to sit down to a plate of rice with all the trimmings, served for near l cents. The Nepalese seemed to bask watching Westerners trying to eat in the traditional style - right hand used equally a spoon, cupping the dhal bhaat in a ball and using the thumb to push it into the mouth. They will gladly provide cutlery if yous ask.
If time is a consideration, you lot might want to fly from Bhairwa to Katmandu. Flying as well permits you lot to spend more fourth dimension in the Katmandu Valley, where the Buddhist culture, in all its Eastern variations, is actively proficient.
The seemingly ubiquitous ''Buddha eyes'' painted on temples across the Katmandu Valley give you an uneasy sense of existence under the constant gaze of ''the aware ane.'' At the Swayambunath temple, on a hill overlooking the capital letter, the blue eyes painted on gold expect out in iv directions, with a squiggle that looks like a question marker forming the nose. The symbol is the Nepalese number one and represents unity. Across the valley lies Bodnath, which is the largest stupa, or temple shrine, in Nepal. It is topped past iv more than pairs of eyes watching over the city.
The Buddha, on his wanderings, is believed to have ventured as far north as Katmandu, where legend says he preached from the Swayambunath hill. Ashoka, who spread Buddhism throughout India, built a temple on the loma in the tertiary century B.C. That was afterwards destroyed and the present temple, which has a white dome-shaped base and a protruding tower topped with the eyes, was built in the 17th century.
In a daily scene best described past the Nepali phrase rungee chungee -or burst of colors - Buddhist monks wrapped in vivid orange and ruddy robes, with shaved heads and the right shoulder bared, brand clockwise tours effectually the temples, embroidered prayer flags streaming overhead. Some of the monks bear prayer wheels or rosary beads and silently recite scriptures. Clouds of burning incense part before them as they make their rounds. The quiet chanting of mantras is the only sound and is a peaceful counterpoint to the noise that rises from the bustling majuscule.
Hundreds of wild monkeys inhabit the hillside below Swayambunath, besides known as the ''monkey temple.'' Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, is represented in statues and in legend in the part of protector. Visitors climbing the 300 steps to the temple must pass by ranks of the chattering animals that roam wild and occasionally catch at tourists for food.
The scene at Swayambunath is an example of the peaceful commingling of Hinduism and Buddhism and of the various sects that have sprouted from each. Today the many sects are securely intertwined in Katmandu. Many Hindus visit the Buddhist relics and temples; co-ordinate to some Hindu teachings the Buddha is considered to be one of several incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Some Buddhist temples are likewise used by Hindus to administer tikka, a ruby powder mixed with grains of rice, to the brow - a symbol of the divine presence. Sacrifices of goats and chickens are made at some temples during Hindu festivals. The ii religions share many behavior, including the belief that through a series of reincarnations a person tin pass to higher states of being.
Still other influences have shaped Buddhism in Nepal, including Tibetan Lamaism; photographs of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' spiritual leader, are often seen in homes and shops in Katmandu. Each new organized religion, every bit it spread through Nepal, borrowed from the others, and trying to sort out the many variations of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, equally well as the Tantric faiths found in Nepal that are based on a conventionalities in ancient mystical writings, tin can tax the brain.
In ''Kim'' by Rudyard Kipling a horse trader asserts that religions are like horses, each having merit in its own country. Religions thriving today in many Eastern countries tin can be traced to their roots in Nepal, where the beliefs are now intermeshed, but where the distinct faiths continue to exist side by side. TRACKING THE BUDDHA GETTING THERE
There are daily flights to Bhairwa on Royal Nepal Airlines from Katmandu and Pokhara. The flights take less than an hour and cost about $20.
Buses run from Bhairwa every few hours to Lumbini. The fare is less than a dollar and because of the many stops along the way, the 10-mile trip can take 30 minutes. A more than comfortable ride is in a rickshaw pedaled by youths who are willing to negotiate. WHERE TO STAY
Accommodations in Lumbini are Spartan and sparse. but two fairly comfortable hotels are just downwards the road from the spot revered as Buddha'southward birthplace. The Lumbini Hotel has 30 beds and daily rates of $5 for a single and $7 for a double. It has no telephone or telex number, only reservations tin can be made past writing care of the hotel, Lumbini, Nepal. The Pashupati Lodge has 50 beds and is well-nigh $20 for a single and $25 for a double. Reserve a room by writing care of the hotel, Siddharthnagar, Nepal. WHAT You lot NEED
A visa is required to visit Nepal and one practiced for seven days tin exist obtained at the drome on arrival. A three-month visa costing $10 tin can be obtained at the Nepal Consulate, 820 2d Avenue, Room 1200, New York, Due north.Y. 10017 (212-370-4188), or the Nepal Embassy, 2131 Leroy Place N.W., Washington D.C. 20008 (202-667-4550). - K.J.Westward.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/08/travel/on-the-trail-of-the-buddha.html
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