Buddhist Pilgrimage Tourism

Introduction:
Buddhism, one of the three important and most prevalent religions in the world. It is a 2,500 years old world religion which is completely different from other systems of religion. Set on the teachings of Lord Buddha, Buddhism preaches the path of peace, practice and spiritual development that leads an insight into the truth of life.

Advent Of Buddhism:
With the birth of Lord Buddha as Siddhartha Gautam in 623BCE at Lumbini (Nepal), a distinct and organized religion has emerged on this earth. It is completely set on the principles or philosophy based on the teachings of Lord Buddha. The main objective of this holy religion is to end the suffering of cyclic existence that is the cycle of life and death. It awakes a being to the realization of the truth and the achievement of liberation. Buddhism also says that if a person wants to reach the destination of reality than one has to purify and train the heart and mind and have to act as per the laws of Karma to purify the soul.

Lord Buddha has attained enlightenment sitting under Bodhi tree, a huge pipal tree in Bodh Gaya. From then onward, Lord Buddha was called as “The Perfectly Self-Awakened one”, the Samyaksambuddha.

The Buddhist Religion:
Buddhism is an ancient religion which does not supports any given system of ritual and worship or entreaty of deities or Gods. It mainly emphasize on moral discipline or 'sila', meditation or 'samadhi' and wisdom or 'gyana' instead of idol-worship. The basic teachings of Buddhism are straightforward,
practical and states that nothing is fixed or permanent in this world. Nothing is static and change is possible in every aspect of life. Last but not the least, every action has some consequences. So, take your steps very carefully

According to Buddhism, anybody can attain enlightenment. If person strictly follows certain code and conducts such as Five Preceptions, Eightfold path and Four Noble Truths, he could easily attain enlightenment.

Buddhist Pilgrimage Destination In India:
Buddhism is a world religion which has its presence in every part of world. It starts from ancient Magadha (modern Bihar) in India and spreads to remotest corners of world. Some of the nations where Buddhism has a strong hold are India, Nepal, Cambodia, China, Hongkong, Tibet, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Phillippines and Laos.

Among all the countries, India is dotted with all several significant places related to Lord Budha as because Lord Buddha has taken birth and enlightenment in India only. Some of the Buddhist pilgrimage destinations of India are

Lumbini: The sacred land of Lumbini is the birth place of Lord Buddha. It is located 306 km from Kathmandu in Nepal. It is a World Heritage Site and has some famous places such as Sacred Garden, Maya Devi Temple, Puskani Pond, Ashokan Pillar, Nepal Buddha Temple.

Bodhgaya: Located 13 km from Gaya in Bihar, It is the place where prince Siddhartha has attained enlightenment under a pipal tree after a long quest of truth and knowledge. After this he was known as Lord Buddha. It is a highly revered place of Buddhist pilgrims. Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya is a World Heritage Site.

Sarnath: It is located just 10 km away from holy city of Varanasi. It is the place where Lord Buddha has shortly reached after attaining enlightenment in Bodhgaya. He delivered his first sermon at the deer park in Sarnath. Emperor Ashoka has constructed a stupa in Sarnath when he visited the place in 234 A.D. Some famous places of Sarnath are Chaukhandi Stupa, Dhamek Stupa, Mulgandha Kuti Vihar, Sarnath Museum which are built in between 3rd century BC and 11th century BC.

Kushinagar: Kushinagar is another significant place of Buddhist religion. It is the place where Lord Buddha has attained the state of Mahaparinirvana or permanent bliss at the age of 80. Main attractive place of Kushinagar are Mahaparinirvana Temple, Nirvana Chaitya, Ramabhar Stupa, Matha Kuar Shrine. Tourists as well as followers of Buddhism visit this place to pay homage to Lord Buddha.

Apart from there are some more important Buddhist pilgrimage destinations in India are Sankasya, Rajgir, Vaishali, and Sravasti