Day 13 - Limbini
Tips
- We had half a day which was enough; but an unhurried full day would be nice.
- It was difficult to get a sense of scale and where you are, especially by car. Get a good map and read up prior.
- Shoes off in the temples, so flipflops or sandals.
- It is HOT. 40° hot. Start early, walk slowly and drink lots of water.
- Only Buddha's birthplace charges admission. Gate entry is fine. So we could have explored a bit the night before.
- World Peace Pagoda (Japan)
- Chinese Monastery
- Swiss/Austrian Monastery
- Great Drigung Kagyud Lotus Stupa (German Tara Foundation)
- Canal, Eternal Flame; Boy Buddha
- Maya Devi Temple (Buddha's birthplace)
The morning saw us up early and ready to go. With a 2pm flight to catch, we wanted to make the most of every hour. Expansion had organised us a little Suzuki van with driver to avoid us having to walk in the baking heat. So off we set.
Built post war. One of several around the world. Traditional stupa, blindingly white, with marble and gold leaf. This stupa is isolated, surrounded by fields.
Stunningly different to the Peace Pagoda (and other stupa we'd seen). Felt very Chinese. Amazing statues inside, huge and projecting emotion through every gesture and expression.
Neat, precise, Greek columns meet two stupas - one completely gilt, the other cool silver. Inside, friezes of Buddha's life - my first inkling into this. I need to read more about both Limbini and Buddha.
Built by the German Tara Foundation - how many German Buddhists are there? Where did all the money come from? So many questions.
This temple felt more organic with gardens, little diorama models showing Buddhist's life just like I'd just seen at the last monastery, and amazing murals inside and out.
Finally we were dropped at the main part of the site. We walked to the Eternal Flame, symbolising the undying effort to create peace and harmony in the world and created in the year of peace, 1986. The vista from here is stunning. A canal leads off to the Peace Pagoda, far in the distance; behind us, a wide pathway with Buddha as a boy in the foreground, as a statue covered in gold leaf, and his birthplace, Maya Devi Temple, as the destination.
We strolled down in the now baking sun, paid our entrance fee, left our shoes behind and entered the temple grounds.
The birthplace site is more archaeology than temple. There is a white structure that appears in photos to be a shrine or temple but is actually a big protective cover over the site itself.
It is surrounded by ancient foundations, that date to the 3rd century AD.
The foundations of the excavated shrine itself are explored on a boardwalk inside the protective building. Buddha's birthplace, marked by a stone discovered just where written about during the archaeological excavation, is in the centre of the site under bulletproof glass.
We sat for a while beside a large pond watching turtles swim about and beach themselves on a small shelf to lie in the sun. Then moved to the shade of a sprawling Bodhi tree decorated with prayer flags. We chatted to a young mother playing with her little son for a while. Unbeknownst to us, Expansion saved us leaves from this tree and gave them to us as leaving presents. (New Zealand Biosecurity were very comfortable with us bringing them in, to our surprise).
First stop - World Peace Pagoda (Japan)
Built post war. One of several around the world. Traditional stupa, blindingly white, with marble and gold leaf. This stupa is isolated, surrounded by fields.
Second stop - Chinese Temple
Stunningly different to the Peace Pagoda (and other stupa we'd seen). Felt very Chinese. Amazing statues inside, huge and projecting emotion through every gesture and expression.
Third Stop - Swiss/Austrian Monastery
Neat, precise, Greek columns meet two stupas - one completely gilt, the other cool silver. Inside, friezes of Buddha's life - my first inkling into this. I need to read more about both Limbini and Buddha.
Fourth Stop - Great Drigung Kagyud Lotus Temple
Built by the German Tara Foundation - how many German Buddhists are there? Where did all the money come from? So many questions.
This temple felt more organic with gardens, little diorama models showing Buddhist's life just like I'd just seen at the last monastery, and amazing murals inside and out.
 |
| Buddha teaches his followers |
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| Thanka on the ceiling |
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| Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) and Boudhanath Stupa |
Canal and Eternal Flame
Finally we were dropped at the main part of the site. We walked to the Eternal Flame, symbolising the undying effort to create peace and harmony in the world and created in the year of peace, 1986. The vista from here is stunning. A canal leads off to the Peace Pagoda, far in the distance; behind us, a wide pathway with Buddha as a boy in the foreground, as a statue covered in gold leaf, and his birthplace, Maya Devi Temple, as the destination.
We strolled down in the now baking sun, paid our entrance fee, left our shoes behind and entered the temple grounds.
Maya Devi Temple
The birthplace site is more archaeology than temple. There is a white structure that appears in photos to be a shrine or temple but is actually a big protective cover over the site itself.
It is surrounded by ancient foundations, that date to the 3rd century AD.
The foundations of the excavated shrine itself are explored on a boardwalk inside the protective building. Buddha's birthplace, marked by a stone discovered just where written about during the archaeological excavation, is in the centre of the site under bulletproof glass.
We sat for a while beside a large pond watching turtles swim about and beach themselves on a small shelf to lie in the sun. Then moved to the shade of a sprawling Bodhi tree decorated with prayer flags. We chatted to a young mother playing with her little son for a while. Unbeknownst to us, Expansion saved us leaves from this tree and gave them to us as leaving presents. (New Zealand Biosecurity were very comfortable with us bringing them in, to our surprise).
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