THE VOICE Slamming into expression Q&A with slam poet Kealoha ‘‘Friends’Friends’ fforever?orever? Features 3 HHowow ttechnologyechnology cchangeshanges ssocializingocializing ʼBows hope to make racket against HPU A Senior Kobuch’s fi nal serve on Saturday K LEEOO Sports 12 OOpinionspinions 7 Serving the students of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa since 1922 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010 www.kaleo.org Volume 104 Issue 95 BBoo ttreeree oonn ccampusampus ccarriesarries uuniquenique hhistoryistory KIMBERLY YUEN He met Foster, who donated large sums for Staff Reporter the reconstruction of the temple. “She was so taken with who he was,” The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Masters said. campus is home to over 500 species of Foster’s other charitable acts also in- plants and trees, but the roots to one spe- clude the creation of the Foster-Robinson cifi c tree trace all the way to Bodh Gaya, Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka; the fi- India, where Buddha is believed to have nancing of Honpa Hongwanji Mission (the achieved enlightenment. first Buddhist temple in Hawai‘i); and the The Bo tree on campus (also known as sponsoring of Hawaiian children to attend Ficus religiosa, peepul tree, Sacred Fig or Kamehameha School. Bodhi tree) is located to the left of Queen “In India, in the town of Bodh Gaya, Lili‘uokalani Center for Student Services they honor her every year,” Masters said. (QLCSS) and to the right of Saunders Hall. “But in Hawai‘i, no one knows who she is.” Bo trees are recognizable by their heart- Upon Dharmapala’s second visit to shaped leaves, long tails and thin veins. Hawai‘i, he brought with him a cutting of A sacred tree of Buddhism, the Bo tree the original tree as a gift to Foster. Foster on campus is allegedly a descendant of the had the tree planted in her garden, which original Bo tree in India that Siddhartha she later handed over to the city in 1930. It Gautama (563-483 B.C.) sat under for sev- is now known as Foster Botanical Garden, en weeks and achieved enlightenment to and the tree still stands there. later become Buddha. The history of the tree, according to “The tree does not stand alone,” said Masters, begins around 270 B.C., when Patricia Masters, an academic program of- King Asoka, the King of India (reigned fi cer at UH West O‘ahu. 269-232 B.C.) encouraged the spread of She said that a lot of credit goes to the Buddhism and sponsored missionaries to late Mary Elizabeth Mikihala Robinson travel all over India. He sent his son and Foster. Masters said Foster (1844-1930) daughter southward to Anaradhapura, Sri was a spiritualist from Hawai‘i with a keen Lanka, to teach people about the religion interest in Buddhism and played a vital role and gave a cutting from the Bodh Gaya in bringing the religion to the Islands. tree to bring with them. “There’s very little that’s been done on The original Bodh Gaya tree no longer her,” Masters said. exists. Asoka’s wife, who became extremely She has been writing a biography of jealous of Asoka’s passion to Buddhism, cut Foster for nine years and aims to have it down the tree, according to Masters. completed by the end of this year. The tree in Anaradhapura is said to Masters instructed a Buddhist stud- have propagated from the cutting that was ies program in northern India for Antioch brought by Asoka’s son and daughter on University. One day she visited the city of their mission, which still stands there today. Benares (Varanasi) and located nearby In the book “In Gardens of Hawai‘i,” Ma- was a sacred temple of Buddhism. She saw rie C. Neal said that the tree in Sri Lanka is a brass plaque on the door that read: “This the oldest living human-planted tree in the temple was built because of the generosity ALEXANDER DANIELS / KA LEO O HAWAI‘I world with a known planting date of 288 B.C. of Mary Foster from Honolulu.” “All the cuttings from that tree in Sri Graduate student Mashuri Waite suggested the removal of the Bo tree to prevent its threat to native She explained that the plaque was the cat- Lanka go back to the original tree in Bodh alyst for her desire to learn more about Foster, plants, which could harm ecosystems across the state in time. Gaya,” Masters explained. since “I didn’t know anything about her.” She said that the tree cutting that was Masters told the monk at the temple her,” Masters said. “It’s very interesting.” was a keynote speaker for the Parliament given to Foster from Dharmapala was from that she was from Hawai‘i and had no idea The story, according to Masters, is of the World’s Religion, a meeting to cre- the Sri Lanka tree, making it a direct de- who Foster was. that in 1893 Foster met a Buddhist monk ate a global dialogue of faith. He came to scendant from Buddha’s tree. The campus “He took me to the back and talked to me named Anagarika Dharmapala from Cey- Hawai‘i to raise money to restore the Ma- about her story and told me what he knew about lon (present-day Sri Lanka). Dharmapala habodhi Temple, a holy site of Buddhism. See Bo tree, page 2 K CO-EDITOR JUNGHEE LEE A L Wednesday, April 21, 2010 CO-EDITOR LYNN NAKAGAWA EO 2 [email protected] CO-EDITOR MARY RENEE REUTER NEWS tation on campus, played a role in The wasp capable of fertil- its planting; however, no known izing the Bo tree, Blastophaga Bo tree records of this exist. quadriceps, recently found its from front page Another Bo tree is on the cor- way to the Islands, which botany ner of East-West Road and Maile graduate student Mashuri Waite Bo tree is said to be from a cut- Way, which was planted in June says may not be a good thing. ting of the tree in the Foster Bo- of 1969 in honor of philosopher “Now, the flowers set seed tanical Garden. Gregg M. Sinclair. Criley also and you see a lot of Bo tree seed- “The belief is that the tree says that this tree “may have lings,” Waite said. “It is probably that was given to Foster was cut been propagated from the one by only a matter of time before it and the cutting was given to this QLSSC,” but there are also no re- starts to invade forest areas and botanist at UH Mānoa and he had cords of this. threaten native species.” it planted,” Masters said. “Until recently, when the Fi- Waite suggests that removing The plaque on the campus cus religiosa trees in Hawai‘i be- Bo trees in Hawai‘i before the in- tree reads: “Planted May 12, 1912 gan to set seed and plants started vasion becomes a bigger problem By First Graduating Class.” Hor- coming up from seed distributed is one solution, but he acknowl- ticulture professor Richard Cri- by birds,” he said, “almost all Bo edges the impact it would have. ley says that it is very likely Jo- trees could claim heritage go- “It is very hard to convince ALEXANDER DANIELS / KA LEO O HAWAI‘I seph F. Rock, a former UH botany ing back to the original one un- people to cut down beautiful trees, professor (1911-1920) who is also der which enlightenment was especially ones with religious sig- The Bo tree is is the sacred tree of Buddhism, and is said to be a descendant of a tree responsible for most of the vege- achieved by Buddha.” nifi cance,” he said. that Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath for seven weeks to achieve enlightenment. 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