Walking on Buddha's Path
The Initiation of the Buddhist Pilgrimage
Responding to Venerable Ānanda’s concern that the monks would no longer be able to see the Buddha and pay their respects after His parinibbāna, Buddha advised His devoted disciples to visit four places, the sight of which will inspire faith (saddha) and religious urgency (saṁvega).
The Four Places of Pilgrimage:
1. Lumbinī (Kapilavatthu): The birthplace of the Bodhisatta.
2. Buddhagayā (Bodhgaya): Place of Enlightenment.
3. Varaṇasī (Isipatana, present Sārnath; In Pāḷi: Bārāṇasī): The turning of the Dhamma wheel.
4. Kusināra: Place of Parinibbāna.
Mahāparinibbāna Sutta DN16
“...and whosoever, Ānanda, should die on such a pilgrimage, with his heart established in faith, he at the breaking up of the body, after death, will be reborn in a realm of heavenly happiness.”
The Earliest Known Buddha’s Rupa
Later, King Asoka added four more holy places to commemorate the Buddha:
5. Sāvatthi (Uttar Pradesh)
6. Saṅkassa (Uttar Pradesh)
7. Rājagaha (Bihar)
8. Vesālī (Bihar)
Thus, the Buddhist pilgrimage is sometimes also referred to as The Eight Great Places of Buddhist Pilgrimage.
A Walk to the Path Journeyed by the Buddha
01. Kapilavatthu/ Kapilavastu (located at Nepal) -- The city where Prince Siddhattha was born.
02. Bodhgaya -- Place of Enlightenment and the beginning of Buddhasāsana.
03. Varaṇasī (Isipatana, present Sārnath) -- The turning of the Dhamma wheel. All the Buddhas preached their First Sermon at the Migadāya in Isipatana. It is one of the four avijahitatthānāni (unchanging spots). The others are:
i. The Bodhipallaṅka.
ii. The spot at the gate of Saṅkassa, where the Buddha first touches the earth on his return from Tāvatimsa.
iii. The site of the bed in the gandhakuṭi in Jetavana.
04. Rājagaha (present Rajgir, Indian state of Bihar) -- The capital of Magadha. The Buddha visited Rājagaha to fulfill his promise to King Bimbisāra. When He was still a Bodhisatta, He promised after His enlightenment that He will visit Rājagaha first. King Bimbisāra gifted Veluvana to the Order during this visit. The Buddha spent his coming vassa in Rājagaha. Rājagaha is also the place where the Buddha received Sāriputta and Moggallāna as His disciples. According to the Buddhavamsa Commentary, the Buddha spent the third, fourth, seventeenth and twentieth vassa in Rājagaha. After the twentieth year of His teaching, though the Buddha stayed in Sāvatthi, He frequently visited and stayed at Rājagaha. Rājagaha have thus become the scene of several important discourses, such as the Atānātiya, Udumbarika and Kassapasīhanāda, Jīvaka, Mahāsakuladāyī, and Sakkapañha Sutta. Buddha tamed the drunken elephant Nāḷāgiri in Rājagaha.
05. Sāvatthi (Uttar Pradesh) - Sāvatthi became one of the Buddha’s residences for the greater part of his life, where it served as a favourable “victory ground” for Him to save millions of men, devas and brahmas, from the slough of suffering. His first visit there was at the invitation of Anāthapiṇḍika when Jetavana monastery was offered by Anāthapiṇḍika. The Buddha spent 25 vassa (rainy seasons) in Sāvatthi; 19 of them in Jetavana and 6 in the Pubbārāma. Pubbārāma monastery was built by Lady Visākhā. Sāvatthi also contained the monastery of Rājakārāma, built by King Pasenadi, opposite of Jetavana. Sāvatthi is the place where each Buddha performed the greatest miracle of all, the Yamaka Pātihāriya (Twin Miracle). Gotama Buddha performed this miracle under the Gaṇḍamba tree. The main lay-disciples of the Buddha in Sāvatthi were Anāthapiṇḍika, Visākhā, Suppavāsā and King Pasenadi etc.
06. Saṅkassa - A city, thirty leagues from Sāvatthi. It was the place where the Buddha descended from heaven. After the performance of the Twin Miracle under the Gaṇḍamba tree (mango tree) at the gate of Sāvatthi, to silence the heretics, Buddha ascended to Tāvatimsa and expounded the Abhidhamma Piṭaka to the devas and brahmas throughout the three months of vassa. His mother, Mahāmāyādevī who had been reborn in Tusita as the deva Santusita, also went down to Tāvatimsa heaven and became sotāpanna, as did other numerous devas and brahmas.
07. Vesālī -- The capital of the Licchavis. The Buddha first visited it in the fifth year after the Enlightenment and spent vassa (rain season) there. Buddha preached Ratana Sutta (Ratana Paritta), the instruction of which was accepted by the deities in trillion (koṭisatasahassa) universes. As a result, the three dangers of disease, non-human beings and famine were cleansed from the city of Vesālī. Among important suttas preached at Vesāli are the Mahāli, Mahāsīhanāda, Cūla Saccaka, Mahā Saccaka, Tevijja, Vacchagotta, Sunakkhatta and Ratana Sutta. It is a place where the Buddha proclaimed about His Parinibbāna, and where a group of monkeys dug a pond to offer Buddha, and honey as well.
08. Kusināra -- Place of Parinibbāna