Scenes of Bodhgaya

*******For those of you who don't know the importance of the town Bodhgaya, it is the place where the historical Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment. The famous peepal, or "bodhi," tree that now grows in the spot actually grew from a trimming from the original tree which now grows in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, having been salvaged and shipped there after King Ashoka uprooted it before his own conversion to Buddhism. The tree grows next to the seat where the Buddha sat and realized his great truth. The tree and seat live within the Mahabodhi Temple complex in the center of town, now surrounded by temples from over fifteen countries, and vendors selling everything from pressed bodhi tree leaves, mala beads and CDs of Buddhist and Vedic chants.***************

Scenes of Bodhgaya

Mahabodhi Temple

AN exquisite, tranquil harbor amidst a corrupt capitalistic tourist market. The ancient temple like a stone, riveted pyramid acts like a paternal hush over the touts and hawkers. Stupas, palms and the ubiquitous orange flower trees surround the simple shrine and the tree itself, with its many trunks and even more branches and leaves the shape of fat raindrops. Everywhere else in India you will find crows and unruly lines but here there is order and patience and rest. The grass around the lotus pool where the Buddha is said to have bathed is full of young boys taking pictures with their cell phones. The temple and tree half of the complex is for the meditators and scholars. During evening prayers a recording of a Tibetan prayer plays over the loud speakers, monks and laypeople surround the tree at its base and on platforms amidst the stupas and groups of devotees circle the sacred ground in a kora counting mantras on their mala beads.

Life
Walking back from the Mahabodhi Temple through the fruit market, we heard the jingling of bells and quickly got out of the way for a bearded man swaddled in orange robes riding a great brown stallion against the traffic of rickshaws and horse-drawn carriages.

Orange clad sadhus seeking alms who repay in mudra.

Bristly pigs rifling through an open air trash dump near the exquisite Japanese temple. Big mama pig nearly attacking her baby for infringing on her stash.

Wiry cycle rickshaw drivers with sunken cheeks pedalling through the heat and dust in plaid sarongs and cotton headwraps.

Pretty lady lamas with shaved heads in white robes. The one, in particular, who meditated next to me at the bodhi tree who wore a washcloth over her face to keep the flies away.

Two goats resting back to back by the CD and mala vendors under a bit of shade.

Three young men riding a camel down Bodhgaya Road. Old men with scarf headwraps driving horse buggies of wrapped parcels. A city buss full inside and bearing thirty men on top.

A stray dog taking a bath in the black, dirty gutter alongside the road.

Little vendor boy throwing water on an old beggar man and laughing.

Boys of twelve and thirteen selling maps, postcards, CDs and, famously, the three young men who lavished us with compliments and smiles for over one hour only to lead us to their school and ask for a donation of three thousand rupees.

Walking back from meditation at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture after dark. The dirt road crossed by frogs, lizards, and dogs. And then, a blackout and we must feel our way to the light.