THE FINAL DESTINATION OF BUDDHA- KUSHINARA

SRILANKAN PILGRIMS IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE

In 483 BC, Buddha chose Kushinara now called Kushinagar as the last place that he would live in. He announced at Vaishali that he was leaving Vaishali for ever, then at Kesaria he gave his begging bowl to the people of  Vaishali and asked them to go back to their own town and not grieve for him.

Kushinagar is in UP near the river Hiranyavati. The place is not far from the Nepal border and also Kapilvastu to which place Siddhartha belonged. Reaching it was quite a tough job. The distance from Kesariya was hardly 124 kms, yet it took us over five hours to reach as the road was in a very bad condition. In some places I did think that perhaps walking would have been a wiser option!

During the days of the Buddha,the Mallas were the rulers here, and this place was one of the sixteen Maha-jana-padas of 6th century BC.

THE TEMPLE

As one enters the small town, the first place one sees is the Parinirvana Temple. This is the exact place where Buddha died. As the story goes Ananda his disciple was not very happy and the Buddha told him "Don't grieve, Ananda!  The nature of things dictates that we must leave those dear to us. Everything born contains its own cessation. I too, Ananda, am grown old, and full of years, my journey is drawing to its close, I am turning 80 years of age, and just as a worn-out cart can only with much additional care be made to move along, so too the body of the Buddha can only be kept going with much additional care".

THE SERENE FACE

The present temple at the parinirvana spot was built by the Indian Government in 1956 as part of the commemoration of the 2,500th year of the Mahaparinivana or 2500 BE (Buddhist Era). Inside this temple, one can see the famous Reclining Buddha image lying on its right side with the head to the north, facing the west. The statue is 6.1 m long and is made of Chunar sandstone. This statue was made in the 5th Century AD.

THE RECLINING STATUE

On reaching Kushinara,I went inside the temple and sat in a corner.The thought that 2500 years ago the great Buddha lay down here to die was very over whelming.

On the next morning of our stay I again visited the temple early in the morning. A whole procession of Buddhists from Srilanka were circambulating the temple. They were holding lit candles and lotus flowers in their hands. It was a silent procession. Every one was wearing white. This was the same group that I had earlier seen at Bodhgaya. They were on a  pilgrimage to visit all the places connected with the life of the Buddha.

PILGRIMS FROM BENGAL

There was another group of devotees from Bengal. They were accompanied by their Bhikhu. The Devotees sat and listened to the discourse given by the Bhikhu. They too were traveling to all the places connected with the life of Buddha. 

THAI PILGRIMS

I spent a long time inside the temple and watched as the various groups of people brought in long cheevars(cloth) for the Buddha. They would keep the cheevar on the statue  and move on. These cheevars were in golden colour and were very beautifully decorated. There must have been at least 15 cheevars donated by the Srilankans. Once they had gone then came the Thai devotees. They were fewer in number, but they too offered the Cheevar and then sat down to pray.

RAMABHAR STUPA

After the death of Buddha, he was cremated at the bank of the river Hiranyavati. A stupa was built over the place It is now called the Ramabhar Stupa, earlier it was called Mukut-bandhana Chaitya.

The ashes were then collected and divided into eight portions. The claimants of the ashes were  Ajatshatru of Magadha, Licchavis of Vaishali, Shakyas of Kapilvastu to which clan Siddhartha belonged, Bulis of Allakappa, Kolis of Ramagama to which clan his mother Mahamaya belonged, Mallas of Kushinara, Mallas of Pava and the Vethadipa Brahman. All of them took the ashes and built stupas over the ashes. Later Asoka in the 3rd Century BC built 84000 stupas over the ashes removed from some of these eight Stupas and divided into smaller portions.

After visiting the Ramabhar Stupa we visited the Museum. The building is quite big but the stuff inside is just too little.

BURMESE TEMPLE

There are a number of temples built by  other countries in Kushinara. The temple made by the Burmese is located close to the Ramambhar Stupa and is quite beautiful.

OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE

The compassionate Buddha on his death bed told the assembled people not to blame Cunda who had served Buddha his last meal, after which he had fallen ill. He left us a message that compassion and forgiveness are great virtues.  Before his death he asked all the assembled Bhikhus if they had any doubts about the Dhamma or the Sangha. They were all invited to get their doubts cleared. Buddha asked them this question three times. When no one had any doubts, he said his last words, which were, "Listen, Bhikhus, I say this, all conditioned things are subject to decay, strive with diligence for your liberation".

That's me!

Leaving Kushinagar I thought about death. 
Death is only the culmination of the journey of this body. What lives on is the memory of what a person did during this journey. How many people did he /she reach out to. 
What legacy did he/she leave for humanity. What difference did he/she make to the world which he inhabited. Did his/her existence bring a smile on the face of  people whom he touched. 

Will people remember me  long after I am gone? 

Buddha the great teacher died at Kushinara about 2500 years ago, but his thoughts, philosophy, live on trying to make us all better human beings. In a world ridden with war, strife, disparity and discrimination his message of peace, compassion, kindness, equality are eternal solutions for all times to come.