Peepal, Bo, Bodhi, Banyan, Coconut
They're all mentioned in the history of Buddhism. How do you keep track?
Sarnath is the site of the Supreme Siddarhatha Gautama Buddha's first sermon, after he achieved Enlightenment under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya not too far to the East. I drop in on the same day as the Dalai Lama's arrival and the place is brimming with excitement. There are busloads of Japanese tourists and ricksaw streams of backpackers.
I duck into a small Nepalese art shop where a few artisans painstakingly paint miniature Mandelas and scenes from the Sutras. There's a small permanent pilgrimage community here that represents every major country where the religion is active. Each country has a temple supporting a small community of monks.
In the early 20th C. a prominent Follower took a sapling from the Tree of Enlightenment and planted it in Sarnath. Today the sapling has grown into a magnificent gnarly trunk and lush canopy, with the Buddha's first sermon in various languages embossed in bronze plaques under the tree.
The actual site is a complex of ruins from the 4 - 6th C. AD. It reminds me of archaeological sites of Ancient Yerevan and the Babylonian ruins in North coastal Syria --- the remains of lots of walls and strange mounds, Stupas, that range from the knee-high Votive high to the towering 180-foot high Dharma Stupa.
Apparently H.G. Lovecraft wrote a horror story about the place called, "The Doom that Came to Sarnath."
The temple hands are all running around setting up for the Dalai Lama's visit. Here they're using the same floral product my mother uses in her shop to hold birds of paradise and other flowers next to a golden buddha... Never thought I'd see a box of Oasis in India!
