Patna & Vaishali

From Patna I took a day trip to Vaishali, I think called Vesali in the suttas. Vaishali is a small, quiet town with few tourists and pilgrims. The museum has statues of the Buddha and some nice stone and terracotta carvings, some dating back to the 3rd century BC. Statues of the Buddha seem to all date from around the 3rd century BC through the 12th century AD and then from relatively recent times. Prior to the 3rd century BC, probably in keeping with the Buddha's wishes that he not be idolized, the Buddha was represented either by footprints or by a flat stone, or slab, referred to as the Diamond Throne. (Somewhere I read that the influence of the Greeks is thought to have started folks making statues of the Buddha.) Toward the end of the 12th century AD, Muslim invaders, apparently believing any religion other than their own should be purged, raided temples and monasteries, killed monastics, burned the buildings and destroyed or defaced statues. Many, perhaps most, statues including faces have the noses bashed away. Some have further damage and some have the faces completely obliterated or the head removed. Also in Vaishali are another Ashokan pillar (boy that guy was busy!) and ruins of a stupa and a monastery.

The stupa in Vaishali was found to contain the relics of the Buddha. Visiting the stupa proved a nice prelude to visiting the Patna Museum where the relics are now on reserved display. That room is locked and you pay extra to be admitted. Two museum attendants came and unlocked the room and escorted me inside. There I found a fine model of an ancient stupa enclosed in with an open side displaying the small, round ceramic cask which was discoved in the stupa at Vaishali, and which holds relics of the Buddha. There is also a picture of the opened cask, its contents (white ash), and the items that were found with the relics. The setting is very solemn and the attendants remained quiet at the back of the room while I viewed, pondered and knelt for what I felt an appropriate puja. I saw a news article that government officials have agreed to move the relics to the museum in Vaishali when they have prepared the appropriate, secure housing and display. No doubt hotels and modern temples will follow, making it possible for pilgrims to go directly to Vaishali for a stay and skip going to Patna.

Rajgir

Although a destination for Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Jain pilgrims, Rajgir (Rājagaha in the suttas) is fairly quiet and calm. First stop Veluvana, the Bamboo Grove, which was given by King Bimbasara to the Buddha as a quiet yet nearby place for the Buddha and his disciples to pause. Just inside the park a modest white temple houses a golden statue of the Buddha, making a peaceful introduction to what proves to be a wonderfully serene park. At the center of the park is a large man-made pond, or tank, circled by walking paths through lawns and various maintained plant life, and couple statues of the Buddha. There were a few small groups of locals using the park, but they just melted quietly into the background. It was wonderful to languish in the peace and even meditate a little. Toward evening, a group of about 35 Theravada monks showed up and performed a puja at one of the statues.

In Rajgir I was able to take a walk a bit out of town and through a couple neighboring villages and then make the rounds in a tonga, a horse-drawn cart, of some of the interesting sites. It being much slower in Rajgir (I only saw another westerner once while I was there) I also got to spend a little time with monks at the Thai and Bengal monasteries - another pleasant treat.

Rajgir is bounded by a number of hills which are dotted with temples from the various religions. My guide for the day, the tonga driver, took me to Grijjakuta on Vultures Peak, which is said to be a favored spot of the Buddha to sit and to teach. There is a cable car to the mountain top, but it was out of service. So, my friendly guide drug me up the foot path to the top of the mountain - huff and puff! But at the top there is a small open area with a great view over the surrounding areas and a small shrine to the Buddha - enough for a brief puja and then space to sit and gaze over a countryside that has probably not changed much since the Buddha sat at this very spot over 2500 years ago. The quiet wraps its arms around me and the outside world fades away while the view inspires me. Here the Buddha sat in still meditation. Here large groups of disciples listened in earnest to the words of the Buddha. More than Bodh Gaya and the Mahabodhi Temple or even the base of the Bodhi tree, here is real.

From Rajgir I also took a day trip to Nalanda to see the ruins of Nalanda University and the artifacts collected into the Archaeological Museum. The ruins were very interesting, but the ride through the countryside, an hour each way by tonga, was wonderfully peaceful. The very villagers and farmers area a natural part of the countryside, the cool breeze is free of the acrid smells of the city, the small villages seem cleaner and more natural, and the clop of horse hooves and joined only occasionally by bleats, moos or bird calls. This, I imagine, is the Buddha's India; before overpopulation polluted the waterways and permeated the air with foul smells of human and animal filth; before the inventions of paper, plastic, aluminum and rubber turned into a blanket of refuse; before honks and beeps and the din of bustle confused people into thinking they have somewhere to go; before our problems became so big and complex and multitudinous that the real problems - life, suffering, happiness, liberation - drifted into the background untended, unnoticed and were replaced by needs to go, to accomplish to acquire: to have and to experience. Experience quiet. Go ahead; I beseech you.