A Pilgrimage Special: Enlightened in Bodhgaya

Just before we entered Bodhgaya, the place of Buddhas enlightenment, our leader and fellow pilgrim had cautioned us: Beware of charlatans when you visit the Mahabodhi Temple. Seemingly holy men would approached you and take you to certain part of the premises to pray and pay too for this and that! It seemed that the last time our leader visited the historical temple, she saw a holy man taking out the donation box at night to count the daily takings. Well, how holy could that holy man be, she wondered and that made us wondered too. Mahabodhi Temple visibly ,is a Buddhist temple. Little Buddha statues adorned a 52 m high pyramidal tower and this Unesco heritage site,was excavated by Cunningham in 1872. The archaeologist suggested that there were three periods in its construction, beginning from the third century BC when King Asoka constructed the Bodhi Shrine. There is a colossal gilded image of Buddha from the 10th century AD in the main shrine and at one time, the statue was wasting away in the Mahant's compound. A mahant is a headman and in Hindi, it means the manager of a well-established temple. That the precious statue could be wasting away called for an explanation...
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Mahabodhi Temple...



Comments

Liudmila said…
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Liudmila said…
Footiam, could you tell me please as precise as possible what is that sort of stupa on the last photo? It's ery important for me.Thanks.
footiam said…
Most probably it has to do with miracles, a thousand manifestation of the Buddha? I have a post on types of stupas at http://dhammadelights.blogspot.com
Liudmila said…
Maybe you will laugh... Once, years and years ago, I had a strange dream. I was a monk and was on a path that finished near the building like the 3 photo here http://dhammadelights.blogspot.com/
It was in the night maybe. I saw this building similar on the bell and suddenly one part of that building began to collapse. And it was built from the bricks.

Later I began to study buddhismus and knew about stupas, but they were different as what I've seen in my dream. Now I think it was so as on theat photo. Ah, and the cloth I had on the right shoulder, I think -and this was not as tibetan buddhists have.

So a strange dream similar to the things I did not knew about in that period. And this was always interesting for me: where I took it from, this dream? :)))
footiam said…
No, Liudmila, I cannot laugh because I understand. The stupa is in Bodhgaya is a very ancient structure. In my post, it was mentioned that it was built over a three period starting from the third century by Asoka. Later, some other kings or influential figure improved on it but of course it didn't stay as it is today. It fell into ruins and at one time, mud covered it and it was excavated and rebuilt based on a miniature model found there. That temple is a very important site since Buddha became enlightened there and after enlightenment , he was now for a week or two, standing here, standing there at perhaps 8 different spots, meditating and the spots have been identified. Following that, I believe the place became a place of focus for Buddhist, monks too of course and at one time, the temple was even taken over by Hindu monks. I haven't done with the post on Bodhgaya yet but maybe I should send you some photos. Maybe, someday, if you visit that place, you'll recall more. Meanwhile, I think I ask a friend over to look over to see if she can further enlighten us on the stupa.
Liudmila said…
Thank you very much. I'm really very interested in understanding of this dream. Too strange for me -completely from different world and culture. And too real -at the end.
footiam said…
You are welcome, Liudmila. Bodhgaya has a long colourful history. Yours is an interesting story and today, I add one more.