MIDDLE LAND MIDDLE WAY A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Buddha's India Bhante S. Dhammika First edition 1992 Second revised edition 1999 Third revised edition 2008 Forth revised Edition 2018 Copyright © Shravasti Dhammika 1992, 1999, 2008, 2018 First Indian edition published by CONTENTS A NOTE ON NAMES ....................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1 PILGRIMS ..............................................................................................10 ART AND ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................28 LUMBINI ...............................................................................................37 KAPILAVATTHU ..................................................................................44 BODH GAYA ..........................................................................................53 SARNATH ..............................................................................................89 GAYA ...................................................................................................105 RAJAGAHA ..........................................................................................109 NALANDA ............................................................................................132 PATNA .................................................................................................142 CAMPA ................................................................................................150 VESALI .................................................................................................157 KESARIYA ...........................................................................................164 KOSAMBI .............................................................................................166 MADHURA ..........................................................................................173 GURPA .................................................................................................176 LAURIYA NANDANGAR ....................................................................180 BARABAR, NAGARJUNI AND KAUADOL HILLS ..............................185 SAVATTHI ...........................................................................................191 KUSINARA ..........................................................................................207 DON ......................................................................................................214 HINTS FOR PILGRIMS ........................................................................217 ABBREVIATIONS ..........................................................................................222 NOTES ...........................................................................................................223 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................226 A NOTE ON NAMES In India a single place may be known by several different names and there may be a variety of ways of spelling a single name. Varanasi for example, is sometimes spelled Baranasi and is also known as Benares while the people who live there often call it Kasi. Throughout this book I have tried to be practical about place names. Where a modern name is similar to the ancient one, I have used the Pali spelling. In some cases a place name has changed completely but a Sanskritiziation of the ancient name is coming in to use again. Thus Besarth is now usually called Vaisali and here is spelled Vesali. In a few cases a contemporary name is so well-known that to use the ancient name would only cause confusion and therefore I have retained the former. To avoid giving this book the look of a scholarly treatise I have not used Pali diacritics for proper names or technical terms and phrases. For the transliteration of Chinese names I have used the Wade- Giles system instead of the new Hanyu Pinyin system. In accordance with recent changes I have used Kolkata and Mumbai instead of Calcutta and Bombay. INTRODUCTION Ananda, there are four places the sight of which will arouse strong emotion in those with faith. Which four places? ‘Here the Tathagata was born’ this is the first. ‘Here the Tathagata attained enlightenment’- this is the second. ‘Here the Tathagata set in motion the Wheel of the Dhamma’ - this is the third. ‘Here the Tathagata attained final Nirvana without remainder’ - this is the fourth. And the monk, the nun, the layman or the laywoman who has faith should visit these places. And anyone who dies while making a pilgrimage to these shrines with a devoted heart will, at the breaking up of the body at death, be reborn in heaven . (1) The land we today call India was known to the Buddha and his contemporaries as the Rose-apple Continent ( Jambudipa ). Speaking of this land in which he was born the Buddha said: ‘Few in number are pleasant parks, pleasant groves, pleasant stretches of land and lakes, while more numerous are the steep rugged places, unfordable rivers, dense thickets of scrub and thorns and inaccessible mountains.’ (2) But despite its dry climate and harsh environment, India, along with Egypt, China and Mesopotamia, was one of the great cradles of human civilization. It was in the central Ganges valley in particular, or what was called the Middle Land ( Majjhima Desa ), that many of Indian civilization's greatest ideas and innovations sprang up. The Buddha was born in the Middle Land and spent his whole life walking its dusty roads, meditating in its dry forests and teaching in its cities, towns and villages. He considered it a distinct advantage to be born in the Middle Land and it probably was at that time. (3) The Middle Land nurtured Buddhism during its first crucial centuries, and although the Dhamma soon spread all over India and eventually beyond its borders to distant parts of Asia, Buddhists have always looked to this land as the home of their religion. The extent of the Middle Land is very precisely defined in the ancient Buddhist scriptures. In the Vinaya we are told that it extended in the east to the town of Kajangata, in the south-east to the Salalavati River, in the south-west to the town of 2 MIDDLE L AND M IDDLE W AY Satakannika, in the west to the brahmin village of Thuna, and its northern borders were marked by the Usiraddhaja Mountains. (4) Most of these landmarks cannot be identified today, but the Middle Land of the ancient Buddhists corresponds roughly to the modern Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and the Tarai of Nepal. Politically, the India the Buddha knew was divided into 16 countries ( mahajanapada ), most of which he lived in or traveled through during his long and successful career. The most important of these countries was Magadha, which was ruled by King Bimbisara and later, during the last years of the Buddha's life, by his son Ajatasattu. Some years after the Buddha's final Nirvana, the capital of Magadha was moved from Rajagaha to Patna and the country embarked on a policy of expansion. By the 3rd century BCE, Magadha had conquered almost all of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. To the east of Magadha was Anga, a small state on the banks of the Ganges that was annexed to Magadha during King Bimbasara reign. The capital of Anga was Campa. Magadha's main rival to the north-west was Kosala with its capital at Savatthi and during the Buddha's life both countries went to war with each other several times. The Buddha spent most of the last 20 years of his life in Kosala and the king, Pasenadi, was one of his most devoted disciples. To the north of Magadha was Vajji, a confederacy of several clans, the most important of which were the Licchavis and the Videhas. By the Buddha's time the Licchavis had become the dominant clan and their chief city, Vesali, had become the de facto capital of the confederacy. In the last year of the Buddha's life the king of Magadha was already making plans to invade Vajji. (5) Wedged between Kosala and Vajji was the Sakyan country, the Buddha's homeland. Although nominally independent the Sakyans were under the influence of their larger and more powerful neighbor to the west and we read in the Tipitaka that ‘the Sakyans are vassals of the king of Kosala, they offer him humble service and salutation, do his bidding and pay him honor.’ (6) Just before the Buddha's final Nirvana the Sakyan country was conquered by Kosala after a swift and bloody campaign. Occasionally, the Buddha would visit Kasi which once held sway over much of the Middle Land but by his time had INTRODUCTION 3 become politically insignificant. However, despite its waning political fortunes Varanasi, the capital of Kasi, remained and continues to be even today an important center of religion, culture and trade. Before the Buddha renounced the world he used only perfume and silk brocade that came from Varanasi, two products that the city is still famous for. (7) Further west of Kasi and to the south of Kosala was Vamsa which was ruled by King Udena during much of the Buddha's lifetime. The capital Kosambi was on the Yamuna and was visited by the Buddha on several occasions. Being as it is the sacred land of Buddhism, the Middle Land has inspired pilgrims throughout the centuries to overcome enormous obstacles and to risk their lives to see the places associated with the Buddha. They have come from all the regions of India, from China, Korea, Sumatra, Burma and Sri Lanka.