Pilgrimage Trip to India

I had previously always wondered what attracts Muslims to their pilgrimage trips (from News coverage on TV) until I made a pilgrimage trip to India 4 years ago. Ever since, I had been encouraging friends (even Christians) to embark on their pilgrimage trips.

Some old photos of the trip to share....

Bodhgaya in the night

The temple was still under renovation then.

The beautiful windmill-like items are actually offerings of candles

Chanced upon a ceremony where lots of Tibetan Monks gathering before the Bodhi Tree.

The Vajrasana or Diamond Throne under the Bodhi Tree, is the central place of worship as it is situated at where the Buddha is believed to have attained Enlightenment

This is the Bodhi Tree, under which the Buddha had attained Enlightenment.

It may not have been reflected on picture but the atmosphere at Bodhgaya is really very holy. We had the fantastic experience of arriving there early one morning after 4am for a short meditation. One will feel the whole place is so serene especially when they played the music of "Buddam Saranam Gacchami" (Three Refuge) for the morning prayers. Something that could not be described in words, I felt so touched and reinforced my faith in the existence of the Buddha.

Another very holy pilgrim place visited is Jetavana at Sravasti where the Buddha gave many Teachings. It is a place that you could somehow feel or was it just my imagination, the presence of Devas? I was very surprised at how hugh the park is as I had heard about the story of how the park was laid with gold pieces by the Elder, Anāthapindika, to purchase the place from Prince Jeta. (more info can be viewed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetavana)

By just sitting under the tree (as shown in picture below, But no, I wasn't in below picture:P) to pose a picture of "pretend meditation" under a tree, one could almost feel the immediate bliss of meditation. Just as I thought I wanted to find a good spot to meditate, it's time for us to move on. :-(

(However, that experience did motivate me to explore a couple of meditation centres & methods after back in Spore but to-date, sad to say, I could not have similar fantastic experience from meditation)

If only I knew of any Sutra being taught at Jetavana by the Buddha such as the "Amitabha Sutra" then, it could have turned out to be another great experience to recite in such a holy place. It's a pity I was there, just with a tourist mentality without any preparation for the trip.

The trip really reinforced my faith and started my re-exploration on Buddhism.

I wish in my next pilgrimage trip to India, I could spend more time in these 2 places.

*If you are going on any group tour to Buddhist pilgrimage places, one advice is to go with a Buddhist group preferably with Venerable, instead of normal tour packages off the market.

The experience can be quite different (comparing my previous trips with Buddhist groups and visiting Er Mei Shan & Le Shan in China early this year with just normal tour packages off the market).

May We All have good karma to go on more pilgrimage trips...

May All Be Well & Happy...