Four Places of the Buddha’s Life

The four places of the Buddha’s life signify the geographical sites at which the four most important events that occurred during his lifetime took place. These four events and locations, situated in present-day Nepal and India, include the Buddha’s birth in Lumbini, his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, his first teaching in Sarnath, and his death in Kushinagari. Before his death, it is said that the Buddha distinguished these four sites as most deserving of pilgrimage by his followers. Since then, they have served as the most sacred destinations for Buddhist practitioners to visit, despite the fact that a pilgrimage is not explicitly prescribed by Buddhist doctrine. 

Lumbini

Located in the present-day Terai region of southern Nepal, Lumbini is the site of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth in 623 B.C. The first references to Lumbini as the Buddha’s birthplace come from a narrative poem in the Nalaka Sutta and in the Kathavatthu, while the first canonical accounts are found in Sanskrit scriptures, the Mahavastu and the Lalitavistara (Encyclopedia Brittanica). According to Buddhist tradition, Mayadevi, the Buddha’s mother, traveled to her garden in Lumbini, where she went into labor. As she stood between two sala trees and held onto a branch, she looked to the sky and yawned, and the Buddha was born from her right side without any pain. Upon birth, mother and child were showered with flowers and bathed from the sky by various gods. The Buddha is claimed to have taken seven steps, each causing the earth to rumble and a lotus flower to spring from the ground after him. He is said to have remarked in the following moments, “This is my final life, for I have transcended birth, aging, and death… I will be without equal among all living beings!” (Chogyel, 20). 

Today, Lumbini serves as a popular site of pilgrimage for Buddhist practitioners. There, one can find the sacred garden of the Buddha’s birth, a commemorative stone pillar erected by the Indian emperor Ashoka upon his pilgrimage to the site, the Maya Devi Temple, and remains of Buddhist monasteries and stupas. Lumbini was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997 due to the presence of archeological remains associated with the birth of the Buddha that make it a sacred center for Buddhist pilgrimage. 

Bodhgaya

Situated in the modern-day Gaya District of Bihar, India along the banks of the Niranjana River, Bodhgaya is recognized as the site at which the Buddha, previously identified as a Bodhisattva, attained enlightenment. Buddhist tradition claims that the Buddha, as Prince Gautama, came to Bodhgaya and sat under a pipal tree, commonly called the Bodhi tree, to begin his ultimate meditation. During this time, he overcame death at the hands of the army of the demon Mara and temptation by Mara’s daughters. Buddhist tradition narrates of the Buddha’s enlightenment, “…just before dawn, in an instant… the Bodhisattva understood. He understood the twelve links of dependent arising. He understood the four noble truths. And because of this instantaneous understanding he became truly enlightened” (Chogyel, 61). Not only is Bodhgaya important as the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, it is also where all buddhas of this world system have or will achieve the same, according to tradition. Additionally, Bodhgaya is said to be the location of seven sacred places, each a site where the Buddha stayed for a week in the seven weeks following his enlightenment. 

Since the Buddha’s death, Bodhgaya has served as the most significant place of pilgrimage for Buddhists. The area contains many monuments, most notably the Mahabodhi Temple, which stands at the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. A tree, known as the Bodhi tree, is situated to the west of the temple and is said to be a descendant of the exact tree under which the Buddha meditated. For these reasons, Bodhgaya is a frequently visited destination for followers of the Buddha.

Sarnath

Sarnath, a small village in northern India, is the location of Deer Park, where the Buddha first “turned the wheel of the dharma,” or delivered his first teaching. Having attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya, the god Indra implored the Buddha to “open the gate to [his] essential teaching” (Chogyel, 68), and inform others about what he had come to understand. The Buddha decided that he would first preach to five of his former ascetic companions, and traveled north to Varanasi. As the Buddha wondered where he would deliver his first sermon, one thousand thrones appeared at Deer Park, and millions of beings gathered there. Seated in the fourth throne, the Buddha preached the Four Noble Truths to all that were gathered, and all five of the former ascetics ultimately became arhats. 

Later, the emperor Ashoka ordered a stupa and other monuments erected at Deer Park. From the fifth until the seventh century, the site was a thriving religious center with two monasteries. Today, one can visit the Dhamek stupa, which is the major remaining architectural structure in Deer Park and is likely a restoration of one built during the Ashokan period. Sarnath is considered one of the holiest sites by Buddhists and has long been a significant place of pilgrimage. 

Kushinagari

The town of Kushinagari, located in the Uttar Pradesh region of India, is the site of the Buddha’s death, marking his entrance into final nirvana. The Buddha chose this site to be the place of his death, as “six previous wheel turning kings [had] passed away [there]” (Chogyel, 83). It is said that on the day of his passing, the Buddha instructed his disciple, Ananda, to construct him a cot hung between two sala trees as a deathbed. The Buddha laid on his right side, “like a lion” (Chogyel, 82), while awaiting his passing, as every plant in the entire world bowed to him. Before his death, the Buddha was visited by his son, Rahula, and an assembly of monks, to which he taught the reality of impermanence, as passing from suffering is inevitable for enlightened beings. While employing a meditative state, the Buddha went to sleep and eventually passed into nirvana at midnight. At his death, “the earth rumbled, meteors fell, the ten directions blazed, and the music of the gods sounded forth” (Chogyel, 90).  

Following the Buddha’s cremation and a seven-day ceremony, his relics were divided into eight parts and a stupa was built at the site of his death to hold the vessel that had previously held his remains. Relatively recently, the Mahaparinivana Stupa was excavated, and a fifth-century statue was unearthed, depicting the Buddha wrapped in gold leaf and a silk shroud upon his death bed. As the site of the Buddha’s passing, Kushinagari serves as a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims today. 

The four places of the Buddha’s life mark the locations of the most significant events that occurred during his time on earth. As the Buddha himself designated Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagari as the four most important places of pilgrimage for Buddhist practitioners upon his death, they are frequented today by pilgrims of many different countries and sects of Buddhism. 

References

Asher, Frederick M. Bodh Gaya. Oxford University Press, 2011. [Asher’s book provides information on the historical context of Bodhgaya as it relates to the Buddha and examines the monuments and sculptures associated with the area.]

Buswell, Robert E., et al. “Lumbini.” The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2013. [An introduction to the historical significance of Lumbini and as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Includes information about the modern-day site.]

Buswell, Robert E., et al. “Bodhgaya.” The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2013. [An introduction to the historical significance of Bodhgaya and as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Includes information about the modern-day site.]

Buswell, Robert E., et al. “Sarnath.” The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2013.[An introduction to the historical significance of Sarnath and as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Includes information about the modern-day site.]

Buswell, Robert E., et al. “Kushinagar.” The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2013. [An introduction to the historical significance of Kushinagar and as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Includes information about the modern-day site.]

Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, whc.unesco.org/en/list/666/. [Provides information about the modern-day archeological efforts being undertaken in Lumbini and the monuments of the area.]

Chögyel Tenzin, and Kurtis R. Schaeffer. The Life of the Buddha. Penguin Classics, 2015. [An introductory novel about the Buddha’s Life, which includes details about the events that occurred at the four places of the Buddha’s life.]

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Lumbini.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 19 June 2013, www.britannica.com/place/Lumbini. [Provides an overview of the significance of Lumbini as it relates to the Buddha’s birth and information about the site as it is today.]

External Links

For a photo essay with firsthand pictures of the sites of the Buddha’s life, taken by Chan Khoon San, a monk based in Selangor and recognized by the Nalanda Institute for his regular trips to Buddhist pilgrimage sites, click here.

For a video that depicts the four sites of the Buddha’s life in the modern day, click here. The video shows scenes of the ways in which Buddhist monks and lay-people interact with the sites in the present.

For a gallery of photos of various forms of art depicting the four most significant events of the Buddha’s life, click here.

Further Readings

Bandarage, Asoka. “Visiting the Four Sacred Sites.” Tricycle, 2016, tricycle.org/magazine/visiting-the-four-sacred-sites/ [This article describes in detail the history associated with the four sites of the Buddha’s life and provides information about what one will find at the sites of his life today, including monuments and archeological sites.]

Asher, Frederick. “From Place to Site: Locations of the Buddha’s Life.” Artibus Asiae 69.2 (2009): 233–245. [This article explores the monuments and texts associated with the places of the Buddha’s life and analyzes the changes over time in how they are symbolically understood.]

Huntington, John. “Sowing the Seeds of the Lotus: A Journey to the Great Pilgrimage sites of Buddhism, Part 1.” Orientations 16 (November 1986): 46–61. [This essay examines the four sites of Buddhist pilgrimage through texts and archeological sites and includes images of what they looked like 30 years ago.]