Chapter 90 Bodhi tree and cave

When we arrived in Varanasi, it was very convenient to turn north to Nepal.But in Sarnath, I had a wish. I really wanted to travel more than 200 kilometers to the east to see the Bodhi tree.The location of the Bodhi tree is called Bodhgaya, and of course it is also a holy city. Of course I know that the Bodhi tree that I can see now is not the one that was more than 2,500 years ago, but the location should be good. More importantly, I want to walk the path that Sakyamuni took to the forum after he became enlightened.More than two hundred kilometers, how long has he walked?The grass, trees, fields and grains have already changed, but the hills and boulders will not change greatly, and it is estimated that there will be some special feelings.

From Varanasi to Bodhgaya, first take a road in the southeast direction, and then turn east when approaching Bodhgaya.I asked the local driver before departure and said that it would take eleven hours to drive.Eleven hours for more than two hundred kilometers?What kind of road will this be? It wasn't until I drove out that I realized that it was an extremely difficult journey.The narrow road is full of potholes, and the car bumps wildly when it moves, but there are very few chances of getting bumps, because the front, rear, left, and right are all blocked by severely overloaded trucks of various colors.

After finally climbing to a slightly empty place, a large number of beggars immediately appeared and knocked on our car window fiercely.The deserted village is desolate and the sky is full of yellow dust. In a blink of an eye, a few naked men are speeding along the roadside with expressionless faces. They are believers of another local religion. It has been like this for hundreds of years, and it is not a fashionable game.Fortunately, when we turned eastward and approached Bodh Gaya, everything became better because we were separated from the main traffic road.The road is like a road, the trees are like trees, and the fields are like fields. We relaxed for a while and went straight.

Bodhgaya is very lively, with pilgrims from all over the world thronging each other.The streets are full of stalls selling Buddhist cultural relics, most of which are more valuable from Tibet.Many European and American people are wearing cassocks, bald heads, and holding Buddhist beads, shaking in the street, which looks very interesting. Wait a moment and look around, go to the Great Bodhi Temple first. There is still a distance from the place where you take off your shoes to the gate of the temple, and you need to walk through a section of the road. Most people take off their shoes and put on socks, and a few people are completely barefoot. I think it is better to be barefoot here, so I took off my shoes and socks and walked towards the gate of the temple. go.

There are steps up to the gate of the temple, and the main building of the Dabodhi Temple is facing you.The building is now completely gray.The straight line is inclined, and the carving is exquisite, like a sturdy and straight cylindrical square platform.Above the portal, there is a row of simple and unsophisticated Buddha statues, and when entering the inner hall, there is a golden Buddha. I kowtowed to Ruyi in front of the golden Buddha, then went out and walked around the temple, and saw the bodhi tree behind. The Bodhi tree is huge and lush. The diameter of the tree cover is nearly 20 meters. There are gold ornaments on the trunk. There are two layers of fences under the tree. The inside and outside are full of pious people.

There are elegant stone pillars in the inner layer, and only about 20 people can sit inside.Buddhism is quiet in nature, and there is no competition here.Ms. Li Hui and I looked at the entrance of the stone fence, and there happened to be two vacant seats, so we went in and sat down. I closed my eyes and recalled the essential truths that the Buddha had comprehended here, and my heart immediately became pure. Standing up and coming out, the director Zhang Li and Fan Qingyuan asked me to say a few words to the camera.I said: The world is flat and unbiased, but the launch of intelligence is not uniform.Often only a few pieces, or even a few small dots, determine the thinking of many people in the world.Here, under our feet, is such a point.

Although this bodhi tree is only a few hundred years old, it is directly related to the one where Sakyamuni became enlightened.At that time, monks had left tree species and transplanted them from generation to generation, and there were also pedigrees. This tree species came from Sri Lanka.I haven't seen reliable information on this, so I can't be sure.I think, as long as it is this place, such a bodhi tree is enough. All of the above was yesterday. When I left the Great Bodhi Temple last night, I went to the temple office to submit an application, hoping to meet the abbot.The monastery office asked about the situation of our party, and immediately agreed, and made a schedule for this morning, so I rushed to the Great Bodhi Temple very early today.

The abbot is still young, his name is Parayasier, he is a great lama with a higher education.When asked why he converted to Buddhism in the first place, he said that when he read Buddhist scriptures, he felt that every sentence could be contained in his heart. Unlike another religion he had come into contact with before, people with a higher level of education could not read its scriptures. He said that the re-prosperity of Buddhism in India these years is inevitable, because Buddhism itself did not make any mistakes, and its decline was caused by others. When talking about why he received us so quickly, he said that of course it was because of Faxian and Xuanzang.They trekked here more than a thousand years ago, and their descriptions of this place are truthful, which has become the basis for us to review the grand occasion of Bodh Gaya.In short, China is too important to Buddhism, he said.

After bidding farewell to the abbot, we continued to trace the spiritual journey of Sakyamuni, looking for the place where he practiced penance for many years before he became enlightened.According to Buddhist historical records, there seems to be a forest there, and it is also said to be a hillside.Fortunately, there were locals leading the way, and our convoy drove crookedly into a forest composed of dense layers of reed grass and trees.This kind of reed grass is very similar to the one beside the Yangmingshan Highway in Taiwan, but there is no road here, only a vague passage that people step on from the reed grass.After driving for a long time, we were a little scared, and finally we drove to an open place, with a cliff in front of us, and there was a mountain road to go up.

I led the climb, only to find some black bodies crawling on the side of the mountain road. A closer look turned out to be a large number of disabled beggars. Only their bony eyes showed that they still preserved their lives. When misery forms a road, it becomes terror, so we have to close our eyes and listen, and move forward quickly. At a place where there was no way to go, I saw a small cave.Bending down to enter, I saw only four Buddha statues, one of which was seen elsewhere, and it was the statue of the skinny Sakyamuni during his ascetic practice here.The Buddha statue lights a lamp and is guarded by four lamas.

Drilling out of the cave, there is a vast expanse of land in front of you.I think that Sakyamuni must have stared at this land every day, and then supported these rocks down the mountain.At the foot of the mountain, under the bodhi tree, a spiritual fruit that is about to ripen is waiting for him. I turned around and asked Li Hui to go down the mountain together. A lama who guarded the cave chased him out and said to Li Hui: "After going down the mountain, get out of here quickly, there are many bandits with guns nearby!" I was surprised when I heard this, but it was not because I was afraid. I just thought that the cause of religion may be a direct response to the suffering around me, but once it arises, it will be vast and will no longer be restricted by a time and a place, so I cannot specifically explain it. Remediation at one time and one place.You see, for more than 2,500 years, how much progress has been made in this road that the Buddha has been thinking about? On December 22, 1999, Bodh Gaya, India, stayed overnight at the Asoka Hotel