Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Buddha
As the Buddha was having his last conversation with his long-time companion and cousin, Ananda, he mentioned that there were four places that pilgrims should go and if they did, they would be more aware of the nature of impermanence and be more inclined to practice diligently. If one died while making a pilgrimage to the sites, then they would be reborn in the heavenly realm. Those four sites are Siddhartha Gautama Sakyamuni’s birthplace, Lumbini; where he attained enlightenment, Bodhi Gaya; where the Buddha first preached and started the Wheel of Dharma, Sarnath; and where he attained mahaparinirvana, Kusinagar. I visited Bodhi Gaya and Sarnath in 2008, but even with all my trips to Nepal, had never made it to Lumbini. As with Manakamana, this time I wanted to make sure I got here.
There are a couple of different sections to the World Heritage site. The first has the Maya Devi Temple, with the Marker Stone where the Buddha was born, the Sacred Pond where Maya Devi, Siddhartha Gautama’s mother, bathed before giving birth, the 3rd c BCE Asoka Pillar, and an archeological section with remnants of 3rd – 7th c CE stupas. According to tradition, in 623 BCE, (the date varies depending whose tradition one follows) a heavily pregnant Queen Maya was on her way to her parents’ town in Devadaha as it was common for women to give birth in their maternal homes. When she got to the garden in Lumbini she felt labor pains coming. She bathed in the Sakya Puskarini, Sacred Pool, in the middle of the garden, then walked twenty-five steps north, where there was a Sal/Ashoka tree that she held onto while she gave birth attended to by her sister, Prajapati. The legend also says that when the Buddha was born, out of her armpit or side, again the versions differ, he immediately stood up and walked seven steps with one hand raised and the other pointing to the earth, meaning the connection between the worlds. Maya Devi died seven days after the birth; Prajapati raised the future Buddha.The center of the sacred site focusses on the Marker Stone in the Maya Devi Temple.
For a long time, no one was sure where the Buddha was born. It was only after the discovery of the Ashoka Pillar in the 1890s that archeologists were able to tentatively identify the site. The Ashoka Pillar has an inscription in Brahmi alphabet in Pali language that was subject to much discussion. In the 1980s archeologists finally agreed that it referred to the Marker Stone as the definitive site of Buddha’s birth. In the meantime, however, the 3rd-7th c archeological remains of what appear to be an old monastery that surround the Marker Stone were excavated and a structure built around and over them for protection. This is now the Maya Devi Temple. One enters the building and there is a walkway around and slightly above the archeological site. The Marker Stone is in the middle and the line of pilgrims goes to it. The Stone itself is under a plexiglass cover and a little over a meter below the covering. It is on a platform of seven layers of bricks dating to the 3rd c BCE, which corresponds to the text on the Ashoka Pillar. As I looked at the stone and the site, they did seem to have something special about them. Next to the stone on the wall in the middle of the structure is a red sandstone sculpture, probably 4th c CE, of Queen Maya holding onto the tree giving birth attended to by Prajapati, as well as Indra, the god of lightning and Brahma, the god of creation in Hinduism. The baby stands below on a lotus blossom. The brick wall is covered with red pigments that people have placed on the bricks as a means of honoring the Buddha. Money is thrown into the archeological site as well, as if it were part of a regular temple offering. Photography is naturally not allowed inside the Temple.
Outside the temple, is the sacred pool that now has both fish and turtles to the amusement of the kids who were there with their parents and school groups. Under a large bodhi tree by the pond, were a number of Hinayana priests from either Vietnam or Thailand, I couldn’t tell which, along with a couple of orange clad sadhus many of whom were deep in meditation. The garden has the rest of the archeological site filled with remnants of old stupas. The area was used until about the 7th c, then it fell into oblivion, resurfacing briefly in the 13th-14th c, and then lost to the jungle until the 1890s. The area beyond the Maya Devi Temple site is still under construction.
From the Temple there is a long walkway to the Monastery area. The monasteries are divided into sections, on one side for those of the Hinayana, first turning of the wheel, and on the other for those of the Mahayana, second turning of the wheel, persuasions. At the entrance is the eternal flame, that was first put in place in the 1980s, and a long canal that stretches almost to the Japanese Peace Pagoda. There are boats that take tourists on a canal ride. Electric rikshaws take pilgrims around the monastery section, which is quite large, for RS 1050 for the full tour. At first, I thought I’d rather walk, but the guide insisted we take the vehicle and I’m glad he did. It was hot and dusty, and we wouldn’t have seen what we did per pedis.
The monasteries are organized by country, so they present a glimpse of cultural artistic differences which is fascinating. We started off at the Karma Samten Ling Monastery, which is aligned with Nepal, that had four beautifully painted murals on the outside, including a Wheel of Life. From there we went to the Manang Sewa Samiti, Stupa temple, that is also Nepalese, as well as the Dharmaodaya Sabha, which is a mini-Swayambhu Chaitya. As we walked through the gardens to the next set of sights, monarch butterflies were feeding off orange blossoms. After a couple more stops, we came to the Great Drigung Kagyud Lotus Stupa that Germany built. It is fabulous! Around the temple/stupa in kora fashion are sculptures telling the story of the Buddha’s life, almost like a large blow by blow nativity scene. On the sides of the temple are beautifully painted murals, including one with the main Mahayana teachers and one with the 21 Taras. On the back there is a mural with both Swayambhu and Boudinath below the Himalayas. Inside, where photography is allowed, the center throne has two floors, the seat for the lama, which has photos of the sect’s leaders and the upper with a statue of the earth touching Buddha. On either side are wood cabinets with small bronze sculptures. What is most impressive about the structure, however, is the ceiling and walls. The center of the ceiling is a mandala and surrounding it are images of the main heavenly figures of the religion moving outward as if spokes on a wheel, until on the sides are those that are interacting with people in this world. IF one only had time to see one monastery, this would be the one I would suggest. It tells the story of the Buddha on the outside and the religion’s history/mythology on the inside. It is an encyclopedic presentation of Mahayana Buddhism. The Great Lotus Stupa closed at 12pm for an hour, so we had to leave. We moved on to a new Nepalese temple that was built in typical Newari style, followed by a brief visit to the octagonal Singapore Temple, and then to the Ladakhi Drigung Kagyud Meditation Center, with its bright red painted panels and blue ceiling. The Buddha sits on a throne in the middle, and as this is a working mediation center, the bronze and green gongs hang on racks the sides of the center of the room. From there we took the rikshaw to the Japanese World Peace Pagoda. This impressive white structure has three levels with the stupa in the center. On each of the four sides is a gold-covered relief or sculpture relaying an aspect of the Buddha’s life.
After the Peace Temple, we headed to the Hinayana section and started with the all-white Thai Temple, which is far less ornate than anything in Thailand. From Thailand we moved on to Cambodia, and what was missing in Thailand from an artistic perspective was in abundance in the Cambodian building. Nagas and Kinnaras abounded outside and the floor to ceiling paintings inside were mesmerizing. From there we went to the golden Myanmar Lokamani Cula Pagoda that is a mini version of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. We finished the tour with the Nepali International Goutami Nuns Temple, a white stupa in Swayambhu style with golden sculptures of Maya Devi and Prajapati on the viewer’s right side of the center Buddha, with an Arhat and the baby Buddha on the viewer’s left. The walls showcase the sacred garden as paradise.
It was a very interesting day. It was fascinating to see all the different artistic cultural styles telling the same story in such a relatively small space. It was a microcosm of Buddhist world sacred art. As elsewhere in Nepal, there is a lot of construction going on, and the Master Plan for the site that was agreed upon in 1985 has yet to be completed. Patience and impermanence vie for attention in Lumbini. And Tik Tok is not allowed; signs against it were everywhere.
On the way back to Kathmandu, we stopped at Ramagrama, the only remaining stupa from the original eight that had relics from the Buddha. After his parinirvana there was a fight among the faithful rulers of the region as to who would get his ashes. Guru Drona made the smart choice to distribute them equally among the eight major contenders. Over time, the stupas were plundered and, according to legend, when Ashoka went to get the ashes from Ramagrama to distribute them among many other stupas, a Naga/serpent and some say an elephant, prevented him from accessing the sacred site, thereby preserving it. Today it looks like a hilly bump with a large tree, but there is something very peaceful about the site. There is a wooden boardwalk around the stupa (it isn’t allowed to be climbed) and the entire site sits in the middle of a wetlands. The neighboring ponds are filled with white lotus blossoms. While I was there a monk was deep in meditation below the prayer flagged tree. It was a perfect image of Buddhist contemplation.
