During the early springs of the year 1992, while studying as a foreign student in Delhi University of India, I was along with some scholars from the department of Buddhist studies of Delhi University had the fortune of embarking upon the footsteps of the Buddha on a tour to famous Buddhist shrines, mountains and temples of India. It was a really fruitful trip which left a great impression on me. Till date whenever I recalls about those memories, scenes of the past leap before my eyes.

Palace Ruins in the Twilight

On 23rd February afternoon, we the group of 18 people boarded train and left Delhi, we reached Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh at night and stayed at Bharata temple. Next day we started our journey to Lumbini on a rented jeep.

Lumbini is currently located in Nepal, distanced 20 kms from the Nepal-India border and it’s the birth place of Lord Buddha. According to the legend, queen Maha Maya, wife of King Suddhodana, got pregnant after seeing a white elephant in her dream, after that according to the local traditions she returned to her maternal house before delivery time. While passing through Lumbini garden, the queen decided to take rest in the garden. The garden had a variety of birds and dense trees. Queen Maha Maya suddenly started to feel uneasy, under the trees and without any problem she gave birth to Gautama who was later known as Buddha.

We reached the Nepal-India border in the evening. Nepal and India have mutual visa exemption, hence the Indian scholars could cross the border smoothly and go to Lumbini, but unfortunately we being foreigners (scholars from China, South Korea, Japan and Sri Lanka) couldn’t cross the boundary due to visa problem. We had to turn back and head towards Kapilavastu, as the dusk rolled out we could see the remains of the palace in the far distance.

The palace of Kapilavastu is the place where Gautama spent his childhood and youth days. Here he enjoyed a life of extravagance and pleasure, but his soul was time and again entangled by pain. In the end after being disillusioned with the mortal world, he left his wife and child, renounced his family and the world and embarked upon a journey to seek the true meaning of life.

The once prosperous and magnificent palace is now reduced to ruins under the moon and the breeze. Under the misty moonlight, one can vaguely see the grandeur of the palace that existed during its golden days. Facing these broken walls and ruins, imagining the scene of Siddharth Gautama renouncing his family on a star lit night, one can’t help but feel emotional. In the present world where people are giving more and more importance to material comforts, seeking personal fame and gains, how many can resist the temptations of the worldly customs?

The Place of the Buddha’s Nirvana— Kushinagar

On the early morning of 26th February we reached Kushinagar and stayed in a Sri Lankan temple. Kushinagar is the place where the Buddha attained nirvana and there are many temples built here. Back in the history, eminent monks from China such as Fa Xian and Xuan Zang have visited this place to pay homage. Presently there are numerous temples built by various countries in the city, each having its own unique style. There is also a Chinese Buddhist temple here but its abbot is a Vietnamese nun.

According to the legend, while the Buddha was travelling from Vaishali to Rajgir in order to preach there, on the way he got infected with a disease, at last he came to a dense forest of sal trees and peacefully attained nirvana. As far as the reason of infection is concerned, some say that he felt uncomfortable after eating the meat of wild boar which was presented by a hunter, some say that he ate rice porridge.

I asked an Indian monk present there, he also didn’t dare to jump to any conclusion. Although, the Buddha’s old age of 80 years, tiredness due to the journey and the fierce climate might all have led to him getting infected.

The vast sal tree forest of that time no more exists now, there are only a few tall sal trees standing there in the spring and a few residential houses nearby. A few kilometers away is the place where the funeral rites of the Buddha was carried out during that time, now it is a huge mounded stupa with cluster of weeds on the top.

About 1 kilometer from this stupa there is a nirvana temple, inside the hall of the temple there is a big gold plated statue of the sleeping Buddha, one can see different expressions of the Buddha through different angles.Looking from the front, the Buddha seems to be serene and tranquil, representing the quietness after he attained nirvana. Looking from the left side, both the eyebrows of the Buddha are slightly wrinkled, showing the condition of pain, as if he is feeling pity for all the living beings struggling in the sea of sorrow. Looking from the right side, Buddha is seen having a smiling face, representing the joy after attaining enlightenment.

Tourto Nalanda

On the evening of 27th February, we boarded a train and started our journey, at around 3 am in the early morning we reached a small town of Bihar, after taking a little rest at the station we started off for Vaishali on a medium sized bus that we had rented and reached after almost an hour.

The sky was still dark during that time, under the misty moonlight we could see the lion head pillar of King Ashok’s reigning time which still stood tall in the ruins. After spending a few minutes, we continued on our journey forward. There was wind entering inside the bus from all sides, a light sweater couldn’t stop the spring cold. I could feel my entire body shivering in the cold and I couldn’t sleep due to the bone chilling cold. While passing through a small town, we got off the bus and had two cups of hot milk tea which made us feel warm again. After getting back into the bus I soon fell asleep.

Suddenly, I was awaken by an uproar, the bus had stopped. There were two little kids who had climbed up to the top of the bus and were trying to steal our luggage but got caught by someone on the bus. Because all of us on the bus were scholars and we were in a hurry to reach our destination, also we wanted to maintain peace hence let go of those two small thieves.

We reached Nalanda in the afternoon. From a distance we could see a grand Chinese style architecture, we were informed by the Indian scholar that it is the Xuan Zang Memorial Hall which was financed and built by the Chinese government.

While we were talking, the bus had already stopped at the gate of Nalanda temple. Nalanda temple is India’s most famous Buddhist temple. It is said that King Shakraditya of the Gupta Empire built this temple after the nirvana of Buddha, it was a place where meritocratic people gathered together and also converging point for eminent monks from different parts of the world. Monks such as Nagarjuna, Deva, Asanga, Vasubandhu etc. all had studied and preached here.

Chinese monks such as Xuan Zang and Yi Jing had also come to study here. The scale of this temple is grand, Xuan Zang once described it in his book like this: “Precious terraces ranged like stars in the sky and jade storeyed pavilions spired like lofty peaks. The temples stood high in the mist, and the shrines hovered over the rosy clouds. Breeze and fog rose from the doors and windows, and the sun and moon shone alternately at the eaves of the buildings.”. This world famous temple was later destroyed by Muslim invaders. What remains today is only vast spread ruins of broken walls and structures of red color and a huge broken stupa which showcases the vicissitudes of life to the people. Within the broken stupa there is a huge stone pillar which had got engraved lifelike figurines of Buddha in different poses and different expressions. In front of the ruins there is a museum which has got exquisite figurines, bronze articles and seals on display which were excavated from this site.

Dr. Jiang Yili, 1990-1993, Doctor of Philosophy Department Delhi University. This article is excerpted from the book Fond Memories on the Campus: Stories of Chinese and Indian Exchange Students.