Kushinagar

Kushinagar is where the Buddha is said to have died and his body cremated, and where he entered "parinirvana," trancsending samsara, the cycle of rebirth and suffering. On a morning blanketed with heavy fog, we sat together with many Tibetan pilgrims inside the temple housing a golden statue of the Buddha in the reclining position, signifying his passing into parinirvana. For four days of our pilgrimage we hired a taxi with Geshe-la and three Tibetan friends, travelling long distances through vast rural areas of India, passing farming fields, large brick baking ovens, herds of goats and sheep, and poor villages with huts of straw and mud with people huddled together around open fires with their cows, goats, and stray dogs. It was no relaxing cruise control journey for our driver who was constantly alternating between slamming on the brakes and accelerating while honking (which in India means "Here I come!") as he dodged trucks, rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, children, dogs, goats, etc. with whom we shared the rutted, uneven, and narrow mud roads. This was a wonderful pilgrimage in which we were able to visit all the major holy sites of the Buddha, including the sites of his birth and passing, his enlightenment, and the locations of all Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. We also visited a myriad of other pilgrimage sites along the way which we will post later.