KUSHINAGAR
We started out for Kushinagar at 6am and arrived at around 4pm. It was over 400 kilometers. Kushinagar is situated in a quiet and peaceful village called Kasia in the Deoria district of the state of Uttar Predesh. It is 230km south of Lumbini and 250km east of Sravasti. It is not as hectic as many other towns and cities on this trip. This is the town where Buddha died. I noticed that there were more horse and carriages then in other parts of the country. The horses are small and they trot along while the drivers whip them. I saw alot of banana trees along the way in certain places on the way to Kushinagar. Everywhere you looked there was something interesting to look at; people in the fields, temples, mosques, richshaws. There are different kinds of grasses growing in every field.
When I walked in the hotel I was greeted with a cold towel to wipe my forehead and hands with and a glass of cola. After I got my room I was met in the lobby by a monk. He was going to take me on the tour of the all the Buddhist sites of this town.
The first place he took me to was the place where Buddha was creamated after he died. It is a massive stupa of bricks. We got out of the car and started circumambulating around it in a clockwise direction, of course. While we were walking the monk pointed over at the river nearby and told me that was where Buddha drank some water. His English was not good so I had a hard time understanding what he was saying. There are many stories connected with this stupa. After his body was creamated the relics were divided into eight equal portions by a Braham priest and distributed to eight clans. These clans returned to their homes and raised stupas over the relics. The ashes were further divided up through the centuries and spread all over the Buddhist world in temples and shrines all over Asia.
The story of his death goes like this: Three months before the Buddha reached the age of 80years old he renounced his will to live while in the town of Versali. When he went places he had to travel in stages because of his age. One day while he was on his way to a town called Pava he ate his last meal. A smith by the name of Cudu offered him a meal of mushrooms. After eating this Buddha became sick. The distance between Pava and Kushinagar was about 10 kilometers. Buddha had to stop twenty-five times before they got there. He was traveling with several of his faithful companions as he always did. Ananda being one of them.
The last place he stopped to rest is now a shrine called Martha Kuwara. It was built in 1927. It is beside a tank. The shrine houses an image of Buddha 3.5 meters tall and is carved out of one block of blue stone and it about a thousand years old. He is in the earth touching position. While Buddha and his companions were resting at this place Buddha asked Ananda three times to get him some water from the nearby river. Ananda did not go immediately because many carts had been crossing the it at the time and Ananda was waiting for the water to settle down a little so it wouldn't be so muddy and unfit to drink. After the third request Ananda got the water for Buddha to drink after he filtered it.
After resting there for a little while he continued on to his final resting place at the sal grove of the Mallas by the banks of the Hirannavati River in Kushinagar. On reaching there Buddha realized his end was quickly approaching. He had Ananda prepare a bed for him between two sal trees. He was laying on his right side with his face turned north when he took his last breath and passed into Mahapanirvana. The year was 543BC. His last final words were to a traveling ascetic who was his last convert. They were; "Indeed Bhikkus, I declare to you, it is the nature of all conditioned things to perish. Accomplish all your duties with mindfullness".
His body was laid out for six days as was the custom in those days and then taken to town to the shrine of the Mulles called Makulabandhana where he was creamated.
After this the monk and I went over to the Martha Kuwara shrine where Buddha first rested when he came into the area. You are not able to go inside the shrine but you can look through the window and see the statue of Buddha. When I was there the tank was overflowing with water. It was still the monsoon season in the part of India.
From there we went to the the Mahapanivana Temple. Inside there is a massive statue of the reclining Buddha. It is in the exact position that he died, facing north and laying on his right side.
Temple and Stupa at Kushinagar
The monk spent some time explaining everything he could about the statue. I think it was found buried in the place where Buddha was creamated. They took it out and cleaned it up and put it in this temple. The statue was carved out of red sandstone and is in two pieces. The reclining Buddha rests on a 7.3 meter long stone couch. There are three sculptures on the front side of the stone couch. They are; Ananda near his feet, Subhadda, his last convert in the middle and Dabba Mall near his head. The statue bares 32 marks on the Buddha's body.
Just before we were to leave the monk invited me to kneel down before the large Buddha. He knelt down and I knelt down. He started worshipping the stone. I guess that was my cue to do the same. I never bowed down to a stone in my life and I wasn't going to start then. I really respect Buddha. I think he was a wise man, even a prophet but he was a man and I don't worship any man. I might worship a God/man like Jesus Christ but that is it.
Anyway while this monk was worshipping the statue of Buddha I was fiddling with my camera and getting it ready for the next picture. I don't know what the monk thought about that but he gave me a confused look and shortly after that we left. I guess most of the travelers coming through there are Buddhist devotees.
Reclining Buddha
Back at the hotel I had dinner and then went to bed early because the next day we would be on our way to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and it would be another long drive on this never ending quest to find the real Buddha.
We started out for Kushinagar at 6am and arrived at around 4pm. It was over 400 kilometers. Kushinagar is situated in a quiet and peaceful village called Kasia in the Deoria district of the state of Uttar Predesh. It is 230km south of Lumbini and 250km east of Sravasti. It is not as hectic as many other towns and cities on this trip. This is the town where Buddha died. I noticed that there were more horse and carriages then in other parts of the country. The horses are small and they trot along while the drivers whip them. I saw alot of banana trees along the way in certain places on the way to Kushinagar. Everywhere you looked there was something interesting to look at; people in the fields, temples, mosques, richshaws. There are different kinds of grasses growing in every field.
When I walked in the hotel I was greeted with a cold towel to wipe my forehead and hands with and a glass of cola. After I got my room I was met in the lobby by a monk. He was going to take me on the tour of the all the Buddhist sites of this town.
The first place he took me to was the place where Buddha was creamated after he died. It is a massive stupa of bricks. We got out of the car and started circumambulating around it in a clockwise direction, of course. While we were walking the monk pointed over at the river nearby and told me that was where Buddha drank some water. His English was not good so I had a hard time understanding what he was saying. There are many stories connected with this stupa. After his body was creamated the relics were divided into eight equal portions by a Braham priest and distributed to eight clans. These clans returned to their homes and raised stupas over the relics. The ashes were further divided up through the centuries and spread all over the Buddhist world in temples and shrines all over Asia.
The story of his death goes like this: Three months before the Buddha reached the age of 80years old he renounced his will to live while in the town of Versali. When he went places he had to travel in stages because of his age. One day while he was on his way to a town called Pava he ate his last meal. A smith by the name of Cudu offered him a meal of mushrooms. After eating this Buddha became sick. The distance between Pava and Kushinagar was about 10 kilometers. Buddha had to stop twenty-five times before they got there. He was traveling with several of his faithful companions as he always did. Ananda being one of them.
The last place he stopped to rest is now a shrine called Martha Kuwara. It was built in 1927. It is beside a tank. The shrine houses an image of Buddha 3.5 meters tall and is carved out of one block of blue stone and it about a thousand years old. He is in the earth touching position. While Buddha and his companions were resting at this place Buddha asked Ananda three times to get him some water from the nearby river. Ananda did not go immediately because many carts had been crossing the it at the time and Ananda was waiting for the water to settle down a little so it wouldn't be so muddy and unfit to drink. After the third request Ananda got the water for Buddha to drink after he filtered it.
After resting there for a little while he continued on to his final resting place at the sal grove of the Mallas by the banks of the Hirannavati River in Kushinagar. On reaching there Buddha realized his end was quickly approaching. He had Ananda prepare a bed for him between two sal trees. He was laying on his right side with his face turned north when he took his last breath and passed into Mahapanirvana. The year was 543BC. His last final words were to a traveling ascetic who was his last convert. They were; "Indeed Bhikkus, I declare to you, it is the nature of all conditioned things to perish. Accomplish all your duties with mindfullness".
His body was laid out for six days as was the custom in those days and then taken to town to the shrine of the Mulles called Makulabandhana where he was creamated.
After this the monk and I went over to the Martha Kuwara shrine where Buddha first rested when he came into the area. You are not able to go inside the shrine but you can look through the window and see the statue of Buddha. When I was there the tank was overflowing with water. It was still the monsoon season in the part of India.
From there we went to the the Mahapanivana Temple. Inside there is a massive statue of the reclining Buddha. It is in the exact position that he died, facing north and laying on his right side.
Temple and Stupa at Kushinagar
The monk spent some time explaining everything he could about the statue. I think it was found buried in the place where Buddha was creamated. They took it out and cleaned it up and put it in this temple. The statue was carved out of red sandstone and is in two pieces. The reclining Buddha rests on a 7.3 meter long stone couch. There are three sculptures on the front side of the stone couch. They are; Ananda near his feet, Subhadda, his last convert in the middle and Dabba Mall near his head. The statue bares 32 marks on the Buddha's body.
Just before we were to leave the monk invited me to kneel down before the large Buddha. He knelt down and I knelt down. He started worshipping the stone. I guess that was my cue to do the same. I never bowed down to a stone in my life and I wasn't going to start then. I really respect Buddha. I think he was a wise man, even a prophet but he was a man and I don't worship any man. I might worship a God/man like Jesus Christ but that is it.
Anyway while this monk was worshipping the statue of Buddha I was fiddling with my camera and getting it ready for the next picture. I don't know what the monk thought about that but he gave me a confused look and shortly after that we left. I guess most of the travelers coming through there are Buddhist devotees.
Reclining Buddha
Back at the hotel I had dinner and then went to bed early because the next day we would be on our way to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and it would be another long drive on this never ending quest to find the real Buddha.
posted by THE REAL MIKE BAILEY at 5:51 PM
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