New Post (127) : The inner journey to Lumbini.
1. Lumbini is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas in modern Nepal.
Lumbini is the place where the Buddha, known as the Tathagata* [one who has found the truth] was born.
It is the place which should be visited and seen by a person of devotion and which should cause awareness and apprehension of the nature of impermanence.'
One of the four holy places of Buddhism.
It is said in the Parinibbana Sutta that Buddha himself identified "4" places of future pilgrimage. The sites of his :
-birth,
-enlightenment,
-first discourse,
and -death.
All of these events happened outside in nature under trees.
While there is not any particular significance in this, other than it perhaps explains why Buddhists have always respected the environment and natural law.
In the Buddha's time, Lumbini was a beautiful garden full of green and shady Sal trees (Shorea).
The garden and its tranquil environs were owned by both the Shakyas and Kolias clans.
King Suddhodana, father of Gautama Buddha was of the Shakya dynasty belonging to the Kshatriya or the warrior caste.
Maya Devi, his mother, gave birth to the child on her way to her parent's home in Devadaha while taking rest in Lumbini under a sal tree in the month of May in the year 642 B.C.
The beauty of Lumbini is described in Pali and Sanskrit literature.
Maya Devi it is said was spellbound to see the natural grandeur of Lumbini. While she was standing, she felt labor pains and catching hold of a drooping branch of a Sal tree, the baby, the future Buddha, was born.
2. Make the journey to Lumbini.
Sanskrit version:
बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि।
धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि।
संघं शरणं गच्छामि।
Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
Dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
Saṃghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
I take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the Dharma.
I take refuge in the Sangha.
It may well inspire “The inner journey”.
Charlie Brown
