Sites of The Buddha

The Buddha

Bodhgaya: The famous Mahabodhi Temple where the Buddha attained enlightenment. The site also recalls many incidents in the Buddha's thought process after enlightenment.

Nalanda (Sanskrit: Nālandā /naːlən̪d̪aː/) was an acclaimed Mahāvihāra, a large Buddhist monastery in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India. The site is located about 95 kilometres southeast of Patna near the town of Bihar Sharif, and was a centre of learning from the fifth century CE to c. 1200 CE.Historians often characterize Nalanda as a university. Amartya Sen has called it the oldest university in the world which "had been providing higher education to thousands of students from Asian countries for more than six hundred years...

Kushinagar is the site of the Buddha Shakyamuni's death. It is located next to Kasia, a rural town in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 52 km from Gorakhpur, in northern India.
Kushinagar is one of the four major pilgrimage destinations said to have been authorized by the Buddha himself. The other three sites are: Lumbini (birth); Bodh Gaya (enlightenment); and Sarnath (first teaching).

Rajgir is a prominent Buddhist site in India. History, myths and legends still linger in the tourist attractions in Rajgir. The place where Lord Buddha had resided for long and preached many sermons.
Griddhakuta or Vulture's Peak: Another major tourist attractions in Rajgir, this is the site where Lord Buddha preached many inspiring sermons here and also set in motion his second wheel of Law and for three months every year during the rainy season. Today Buddha Sangha of Japan have constructed a massive modern stupa, the Shanti Stupa (Peace Pagoda), at the top of the hill.

Sravasti, capital of an ancient kingdom by the same name, is sacred to the Buddhists because it was here that Lord Buddha confounded his critics with a million fold manifestation of himself, seated on a thousand-petalled lotus, as fire and water emanated from his body. The nearest airport is in Lucknow (151 kms) and the railhead is in Balrampur (19 kms).

Vaishali is well known for its close association with the Buddha. After leaving Kapilavastu for renunciation, he came to Vaishali first and had his spiritual training from Ramaputra Udraka and Alara Kalama. After the Enlightenment the Buddha frequently visited Vaishali. He organized his Bhikshu Sangha on the pattern of Vaishalian democracy. It was here that he established the Bhikshuni Sangha, initiating his maternal aunt Maha Prajavati Gautami into the order. His last Varshavasa (rainy season resort) was here and he announced his approaching Mahaparinirvana (the final departure from the world) just three months in advance.

Sarnath, located just 12 km from the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, is the site of the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma after his enlightenment. Sarnath has previously been known as Mrigadava, "deer park," and Isipatana, meaning the place where holy men (Pali: isi) fell to earth.
The current name Sarnath, from Saranganath, means "Lord of the Deer" and relates to another old Buddhist story in which the Bodhisattva is a deer and offers his life to a king instead of the doe he is planning to kill. The king is so moved that he creates the park as a sanctuary for deer.