Jundo's India Diary: A Month of Travels & Pilgrimage

[RichardH]

jazzy,


Gassho
Daizan
Sat today

....Hoping you'll stream live from the Bodhi tree.

[Mp]

Very cool Jundo ... Thanks for sharing. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

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[Risho]

Thank you for sharing! Holy cow your trip sounds incredible

Gassho

Risho
-sattoday

[Jundo]

Train 4 hours late for Bodgaya, plus stlll a bus trip. Of course, Buddha is not some destination.

But if we don't get there soon, might have some pretty angry Buddhists here (just kidding).

I just read a diary about a 7th century monk who walked from China, through Afghanistan to Bodgaya and back again. He suffered bandits, high mountains and drowned elephants along the way. So, nothing to complain.

Gassho J

SatToday (a lot since the train is late)

[Joyo]

Thank you for sharing, Jundo. I hope your train is there soon.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Jundo]

Sat at Bodhgaya, just under the Bodhi Tree.

Just Sitting.

Just the same as sitting anywhere.

Just everywhere.

Just at home.

Gassho, J


BodgayaZazen.jpg

[Seishin]

Deep bows. Just one tree of numberless trees

[Kyonin]

Jundo,

Thank you for sitting under the Bodhi Tree. For some reason I feel humbled.

Deep bows.

Kyonin
#SatToday

[RichardH]

Thank you for sitting under the Bodhi Tree, everyday, with all of us. May the train schedules be kind today.

Gassho
Daizan

sat today under the Bodhi Tree.

[Jundo]

It is quite some place ... Buddhists of every flavor, and from so many places ... some chanting, some meditating, some prostrating or twirling prayer wheels or simply taking it all in.

But truly Buddha is found here or there as much as right where you sit.

(Again, not my photo as camera phones are not allowed in the premises. Under the Tree is actually a very intimate and comfortable, welcoming space) ...





Incense is not allowed, but I was able to light some in my heart for all of you, and some folks to whom I made a special promise. I did find a leaf from the Bodhi Tree on the ground, and will bring it home to place on Treeleaf's altar in the Zendo. (The present tree, by the way, is something of a second cousin twice removed of the original tree, which was several times cut down over the millenia by desecrators of various kinds, then replanted using various related trees. But that does not matter).

We also visited the spot where, legend says (nobody truly knows if and where), Sujata offered ricemilk to the emaciated and weak aescetic Gautama, just setting him on the Middle Way of moderation.

A girl called Sujata,eldest daughter of the chief herdsman Nanda,was passing by.She saw weak Buddha and offered him rice pudding.The Buddha looked at Sujata with gratitude and ate all the contents of the bowl offered to him.As Buddha had the rice pudding his body refreshed.Later as Buddha regained his strength he realised that severe austerities and making body suffer was not the way to attain enlightenment.Buddha left the place as he understood that torturing body will not take him to truth.

Tomorrow ... to Vulture Peak!

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jakuden]

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Sekishi]

Thank you for sharing with all of us Jundo.

I find it deeply moving to see pictures (even if they are not "yours") and know you are there at the Bodhi tree - a real thing in a real place. I know that sounds stupid, of course they are real (as much as anything is "real"), and yet the heart-mind is moved.

Thank you.

Nine bows,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Tai Shi]

I would be just plain excited about seeing Bodgaya AND to be there, eating the food, listening to the sounds of people who do not understand, yet perhaps excited themselves about having also made a pilgrimage--yes I am excited for you. Nameste! and Gassho.
std
Tai Shi

[Shokai]

Thank you Jundo. Totally awesome, I am glad you tookus with you

gassho

satToday

[Mp]

I have to say that is amazing to be in the same place where the Buddha found enlightenment ... wonderful! =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Shugen]

Thank you Jundo for taking us with you!

Gassho,

Shugen


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[Myosha]

I have to say that is amazing to be in the same place where the Buddha found enlightenment ... wonderful!

s@today

Hello,

FINDING enlightenment! Good one.


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[michaeljc]

Had the Delhi Belly yet Jundo?

Wishing you well

m

Sitting soon

[Jundo]

Dear All,

Sat with you all yesterday on Vulture Peak, the place where the Buddha is said to have taught the Lotus Sutra, Perfection of Wisdom and others. Folks there from Tibet, Thailand, China, so many flavors of Buddhism.

PHOTO COMING

Still, it is such a small space really. I wonder how all the folks below fit in?

Lotus Sutra Chapter 1

Thus have I heard. Once upon a time the Lord was staying at Râgagriha, on the Gridhrakuta [Vulture Peak] mountain, with a numerous assemblage of monks, twelve hundred monks, all of them Arhats, stainless, free from depravity, self-controlled, thoroughly emancipated in thought and knowledge, of noble breed, (like unto) great elephants, having done their task, done their duty, acquitted their charge, reached the goal; in whom the ties which bound them to existence were wholly destroyed, whose minds were thoroughly emancipated by perfect knowledge, who had reached the utmost perfection in subduing all their thoughts; who were possessed of the transcendent faculties; eminent disciples, such as the venerable Agñâta-Kaundinya, the venerable Asvagit, the venerable Vâshpa, the venerable Mahânâman, the venerable Bhadrikal, the venerable Mahâ-Kâsyapa, the venerable Kâsyapa of Uruvilvâ, the venerable Kâsyapa of Nadi, the venerable Kâsyapa of Gayâ, the venerable Sâriputra, the venerable Mahâ-Maudgalyâyana, the venerable Mahâ-Kâtyâyana, the venerable Aniruddha, the venerable Revata, the venerable Kapphina, the venerable Gavâmpati, the venerable Pilindavatsa, the venerable Vakula, the venerable Bhâradvâga, the venerable Mahâ-Kaushthila, the venerable Nanda (alias Mahânanda), the venerable Upananda, the venerable Sundara-Nanda, the venerable Pûrna Maitrâyanîputra, the venerable Subhûti, the venerable Râhula; with them yet other great disciples, as the venerable Ananda, still under training, and two thousand other monks, some of whom still under training, the others masters; with six thousand nuns having at their head Mahâpragâpatî, and the nun Yasodharâ, the mother of Râhula, along with her train; (further) with eighty thousand Bodhisattvas, all unable to slide back, endowed with the spells of supreme, perfect enlightenment, firmly standing in wisdom; who moved onward the never deviating wheel of the law; who had propitiated many hundred thousands of Buddhas; who under many hundred thousands of Buddhas had planted the roots of goodness, had been intimate with many hundred thousands of Buddhas, were in body and mind fully penetrated with the feeling of charity; able in communicating the wisdom of the Tathâgatas; very wise, having reached the perfection of wisdom; renowned in many hundred thousands of worlds; having saved many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of beings; such as the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Mañgusrî, as prince royal; the Bodhisattvas Mahâsattvas Avalokitesvara, Mahâsthâmaprâpta, Sarvarthanâman, Nityodyukta, Anikshiptadhura, Ratnakandra, Bhaishagyarâga, Pradânasûra, Ratnakandra, Ratnaprabha, Pûrnakandra, Mahivikrâmin, Trailokavikrâmin, Anantavikrâmin, Mahâpratibhâna, Satatasamitâbhiyukta, Dharanîdhara, Akshayamati, Padmasrî, Nakshatrarâga, the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya, the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Simha.

With them were also the sixteen virtuous men to begin with Bhadrapâla, to wit, Bhadrapâla, Ratnikara, Susârthavâha, Naradatta, Guhagupta, Varunadatta, Indradatta, Uttaramati, Viseshamati, Vardhamânamati, Amoghadarsin, Susamsthita, Suvikrântavikrâmin, Anupamamati, Sûryagarbha, and Dharanidhara; besides eighty thousand Bodhisattvas, among whom the fore-mentioned were the chiefs; further Sakra, the ruler of the celestials, with twenty thousand gods, his followers, such as the god Kandra (the Moon), the god Sûrya (the Sun), the god Samantagandha (the Wind), the god Ratnaprabha, the god Avabhâsaprabha, and others; further, the four great rulers of the cardinal points with thirty thousand gods in their train, viz. the great ruler Virûdhaka, the great ruler Virûpâksha, the great ruler Dhritarâshtra, and the great ruler Vaisravana; the god Îsvara and the god Mahesvara, each followed by thirty thousand gods; further, Brahma Sahdmpati and his twelve thousand followers, the BrahmakAyika gods, amongst whom Brahma Sikhin and Brahma Gyotishprabha, with the other twelve thousand Brahmakdyika gods; together with the eight Nâga kings and many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Nigas in their train, viz. the Nâga king Nanda, the Nâga king Upananda, Sâgara, Vâsuki, Takshaka, Manasvin, Anavatapta, and Utpalaka; further, the four Kinnara kings with many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of followers, viz. the Kinnara king Druma, the Kinnara king Mahâdharma, the Kinnara king Sudharma, and the Kinnara king Dharmadhara; besides, the four divine beings (called) Gandharvakâyikas with many hundred thousand Gandharvas in their suite, viz. the Gandharva Manogña, the Gandharva Manogñasvara, the Gandharva Madhura, and the Gandharva Madhurasvara; further, the four chiefs of the demons followed by many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of demons, viz. the chief of the demons Bali, Kharaskandha, Vemakitri, and Râhu; along with the four Garuda chiefs followed by many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Garudas, viz. the Garuda chiefs Mahâtegas, Mahâkâya, Mahâpûrna, and Mahârddhiprâpta, and with Agâtasatru, king of Magadha, the son of Vaidehi.

Gassho, Jundo (SatToday in Sarnath, the Deer Park)

In the meantime, me on a camel with friend since we were kids, John ...

camels small.jpg

[Sekishi]

Dear All,
PHOTO COMING

Still, it is such a small space really. I wonder how all the folks below fit in?

There are some photos on the Wikipedia page. It is a smaller space than one might expect...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulture_Peak

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Jundo]

Zazen On Vulture Peak ....


vulturecrop.jpg

Gassho, Jundo

SatToday (On a bus for Lumbini in Nepal)

[RichardH]

What a lovely, special, picture. Thank you Jundo. Looking forward to seeing Lumbini.

Deep Bows
Daizan

sat today

[Kyotai]

It is quite a world we live in.

Thank you for bringing us along Jundo.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

[Mp]

Zazen On Vulture Peak ....



Gassho, Jundo

SatToday (On a bus for Lumbini in Nepal)

What an amazing photo Jundo ... a true Bodhisattva. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Sekishi]

Hey, I know that Bodhisattva!

Thank you for sharing with us Jundo. Just awesome.

Deep bows,
Sekishi

#sattoday

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[Jakuden]

WAY cool Jundo!!!

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday




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[Jundo]

A small taste of the atmosphere on Vulture Peak. Buddhist folks from many places, mostly in Asia.



Gassho Jundo (waiting at India Nepal Buddha Crossing)

SatToday

[Taiyo]

Lovely picture, Jundo!! Thank you for sharing it with us

Gassho,
Andoitz.

SatToday.

[Seishin]

Thanks for sharing both the picture and video.

[Sekishi]

I believe that vertical video violates some precept...

In all seriousness, thank you so much for sharing this trip with us Jundo. Very cool.

Deep bows,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Rich]

Thank you for sharing your trip. Enjoy!

Sat today

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[Kyonin]

What a beautiful picture. Thank you Jundo

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Jyukatsu]

Awesome picture Jundo !
Gassho,
Marina
sat today

[Tairin]

Thank you for bringing us along on your trip. Neat to see and read about that part of the world

Gassho
Warren
Sat today

[Getchi]

Thankyou

Geoff

SatToday

[Gokai]

Hello Jundo

Thank you for the update. I wish you Safe travels.

It must be great to know a place so different from our reality.

Gassho, David

Sattoday

[Mp]

Lovely Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

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[Doshin]

Thank you for sharing your journey.

Gassho
Doshin
Sattoday

[Onkai]

I just found this thread. Thank you Jundo, for sharing your trip with us. It's totally amazing and magnificent.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Kotei]

Thank you for taking us with you.
Gassho,
Kotei just sat.

[Jundo]

Dear All,

Heading home today. The last week, I have been mostly in places with bumpy dirt roads, cows and monkeys wandering free in the streets, no running water, women with baskets of straw on their heads, farmers in the fields with water buffalo ...

The internet was surprisingly still available even then (what an age we live in, wifi in Buddhaland, auspicious for an online Sangha), but I decided to stay silent for much of the pilgrimage. I will post more later. All I can say is that India is very different from home (yet people just people). I have visited some places very sacred and important in Buddhist history, yet found nothing there that is not right where any of us find ourselves. Wherever we sit is sacred ... whether under the Bodhi Tree at Bodgaya or in the corner of our garage next to the washer ... each and all where the Buddha sits.

A few of the places I have visited the last few days have been really far out and far away, so sometimes requiring getting up at 4am to get in a van and bump along dirt roads for hours, crossing international borders (some of the places are in Nepal), all to see a little stone or broken pillar of King Asoka marking where the Buddha was born or some cherished place or where some other legendary event happened so long ago. Here are a couple (my thanks to a friend on the trip from Thailand, and a couple of reporters from French TV covering the trip, who liked to shoot my sitting) ...

In the Deer Park near Varanasi, where the Buddha offered his first Teaching, thus setting in motion the wheel of the Dharma ... sitting amid the ruins of two thousand years of monasteries and stupas ... Yes, there are still a few deer there.

deerpar.jpg

Thus have I heard:

On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers) near Varanasi (Benares). Then he addressed the group of five monks (bhikkhus):

"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.

"Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (The Perfect One)[1] has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata...? It is the Noble Eightfold path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. This is the Middle Path realized by the Tathagata which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment, and to Nibbana.

"The Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha), monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering — in brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth

Where the Buddha is said to have died (in a visible sense anyway), in Kushinagara ...

Kushinagara1.jpg

1. Then the Blessed One addressed the Venerable Ananda, saying: "Come, Ananda, let us cross to the farther bank of the Hiraññavati, and go to the Mallas' Sala Grove, in the vicinity of Kusinara."

"So be it, Lord."

2. And the Blessed One, together with a large company of bhikkhus, went to the further bank of the river Hiraññavati, to the Sala Grove of the Mallas, in the vicinity of Kusinara. And there he spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying:

3. "Please, Ananda, prepare for me a couch between the twin sala trees, with the head to the north. I am weary, Ananda, and want to lie down."

...

Then the Blessed One spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying: "Enough, Ananda! Do not grieve, do not lament! For have I not taught from the very beginning that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change, separation, and severance? Of that which is born, come into being, compounded, and subject to decay, how can one say: 'May it not come to dissolution!'? There can be no such state of things.

...

Now the Blessed One spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying: "It may be, Ananda, that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Master; we have a Master no longer.' But it should not, Ananda, be so considered. For that which I have proclaimed and made known as the Dhamma and the Discipline, that shall be your Master when I am gone.

Mahaparinirvana Sutta

The stone (and I met the archeologist who found it just a few years ago) marking the spot where Buddha was born (although, in fact, I learned that about 200 years after the Buddha, the great Emperor Asoka visited the spot with a psychic who "felt" where the spot was ... so can't be sure that it is the actual spot. Nonetheless, the place was about there, and the Buddha is born everyplace ... including right here there and everywhere.)

... and much more. Anyway, they are about to call my flight.

Gassho, J

SatToday here there and everywhere

[Byokan]

Safe travels, Jundo. Thank you so much for sharing the trip with us! There's nothing to find but here and now... and yet, wow! What an experience.

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

[Getchi]

I grew up in a time when Guatama Buddha was considered mythological, these last few years have certainly disproved that notion. I really dont know how to express how amazing it is to learn all this!

I feel grateful to be shown these very real places, thankyou Jundo


Geoff

SatToday

[Myosha]

Dear Teacher,

Welcome home, from home, within home . . . .


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[Kyonin]

Welcome home Jundo!

Thank you for sharing the voyage with us.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Mp]

Safe travels and Welcome home Jundo to a home you never left! =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Kyotai]

Thank you Jundo, safe flight home.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

[Tairin]

Fascinating. On top of the interest inherent in my practise in Zen and Buddhism I am also keen on history especially the "Old World". Thank you so much for posting during your trip.

Safe travels

Gassho
Warren
Sat today here but also with you there where ever there is

[Jyukatsu]

Welcome home Jundo, it was wonderful to read your posts and see the pictures : Thank you
Gassho,
Marina
sat today

[Toun]

Have a safe trip home Jundo and thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

Gassho
Mike
Sat2day