On a Trip...: Lumbini

October 3, 2011

“A Symbol of Unity in Diversity: the Foundation of World Peace”

Lumbini’s tag line captures almost perfectly what makes Lumbini such a special place. Lumbini is another World Heritage Site, the birthplace of Buddha. It’s a huge preservation area that houses three sections: (1) The Maya Devi Temple, (2) The Buddhist Monasteries and (3) The World Peace Pagoda. In the middle of the preservation area is a long reflecting pool that would put the one in DC to shame. At one end is the Pagoda and at the other end is the Temple and all along the sides are the Buddhist Monestaries. I have a few thoughts about each place that I’d like to share:

(1) The Maya Devi Temple marks the exact site of the birth of Buddha. In addition, the area houses the Ashokan Pillar commemorating the spot from the Indian government and the Sacred Pond and Sacred Garden, around which lots of folks were meditating.

· Buddha’s birthplace was really different than I expected. I guess for some reason I thought it would just be like, a really old Bodhi tree with a plaque or something. But of course, this is a popular religious pilgrimage site, so a few iterations of temples have been build on/around the spot. The Maya Devi Temple is actual the ruins of a temple that was built at least 2,210 years ago! Inside the temple there is a stone on the exact spot of Buddha’s birth and a brick pavilion now protects the temple.

· I was again deeply moved by the peaceful coexistance and mutual respect between Hindus and Buddists. I definitely did not expect to see Hindus taking tikas at the marker stone of Buddha’s birth. Right now I’m about 400 pages into reading the Bible (I’m on 2 Kings), and it’s such an interesting contrast: So much of the history books of the Bible are about the Isrealites being persuaded to worship Baal or other idols and God punishing them for it. Yet Buddha is a Hindu god, the ninth incarceration of Vishnu. As Buddha, Vishnu convinced the demons to abandon the Vedas (Hindu scripture), and that’s how the gods were ultimately able to defeat the demons. This strange role (helping the gods defeat the demons… but by convincing the demons to renounce Hindu scripture) kind of shows how uneasy the Hindu priests were about the rise of Buddhism at the time, but in modern days, Buddha is worshiped regularly by Nepali Hindus just like the other incarcerations of Vishnu. I guess the ability to make that inclusion is a big difference between polytheism and monotheism.

· There is a big different between spots with true and deep religious significance and those just dolled up for tourism. I’ve noticed this before, and all my favorite spots are those that are truly religiously significant, but it was really driven home by watching the monks mediating under a tree just across from an everyday family meditating under a tree. The Maya Devi Temple is nothing special to look at, but the place just has such a powerful feeling.

Variety of religious pilgrims

(1) The Buddhist Monasteries that line the reflecting pool are divided into the west zone for the Mahayana school and the east zone for the Hinayana school. The difference between the two schools is that Hinayana Buddhists (or “Followers of the Lesser Way”) seek to attain Nirvana for the individual’s sake whereas Mahayana Buddhists (or “Followers of the Bodhisattva”) seek Nirvana for the sake all sentient beings, but a lot of times a monk will move from being a Hinayana Buddhist to a Mahayana Buddhist and there is a lot of overlap between the scriptures for the two. I hired a rickshaw to take me around to all the monasteries because they are quite spread out.

· I love seeing how many different forms places of spiritual significance can take. I didn’t take many pictures of the monasteries, because there were monks all over the place and I already felt like I was intruding enough, so I will try to describe it. Every country that has an active Buddhist population can build a temple in this area. There are countries you would expect, like China and Thailand, and countries you would not, like France and Austria. And all of the monasteries are so different. The biggest contrast for me was between the Chinese monastery and the Korean monastery (both Mahayana). The Chinese monastery was this ornately decorated building with lots of colors and beautifully painted sculptures (Buddha idols mostly, but others too) and murals and the rectangular building surrounded a grassy courtyard with nice flowers and a little pond. Directly across the pathway is the Korean monastery, a gigantic building made entirely (inside and out) of cement. The only decoration was a small golden Buddha and some hanging lotus flowers. I love that they have such different physical manifestations, yet both serve as spiritual sanctuaries for so many.

(2) The World Peace Pagoda. Oh my goodness. Seeing this alone was worth the rickshaw hire because I would not have made it all the way there by foot. The World Peace Pagoda is this fabulous white stupa made of $1 million worth of white marble. It is beautiful. I’m sure it helps that it is surrounded by a crane sanctuary and that I was there at sunset. I didn’t want to leave; I just kept walking around the different levels in my clockwise circles. Then I got dizzy. At the base of the stupa is the grave of a Japanese monk killed by anti-Buddhist extremists during the monument’s construction. I found this both sad and shocking. I had never heard of an anti-Buddhist extremist before.