A trip to India

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Troubled Minds in India

From this trip, I know that Buddha left his palace intending to find a solution to the suffering of all human/sentient beings, and not to build a religion called “Buddhism.”

In order to understand Buddhism, one must realize suffering. Without going through and realizing suffering, one does not feel the urgency to seek the path of Enlightenment - the Buddha's way. After all, enlightenment - the Buddha's way, is the cessation of all suffering.

With the awareness and desire to seek relieve from suffering, 28 people from Singapore, Malaysia and United Kingdom/Cambodia, departed from various parts of the world to come to New Delhi to begin a 15 days Buddhist Pilgrimage to visit places in relation to the path that the Buddha took before his death 2500 years ago.

Some were serious Buddhists, hoping to experience enlightenment in this trip; some were "Buddhists" followers (in contrast to Buddha's followers) hoping to gain extra "merits" for better life, better luck or whatever reasons which they are not sure themselves; some were tourists hoping to see a new destination and do some shopping and sightseeing; some were students of "Buddhism" hoping to find an image to associate with the sutta that they chant daily; while others are mere aimless followers, going through the process as "monkey see, monkey do".

Not being impolite, all of them are "trouble minds" like you and me, seeking a way out of samsara and hopeful realizing that we need to seek help to get out of suffering and reach enlightenment in this lifetime. After all, if someone is so comfortable with whatever he is suffering and not wanting to change, why should he even bother to know Buddhism?

With these various frames of minds, we visited:

7/11/09 - Sankasia (place of Buddha's descent from heaven),

8/11/09 - Sravasti (where Buddha spent 22 rains residence in Jetavana monastery),

9/11/09 - Lumbini (birthplace of the Buddha),

11/11/09 - Kushinagar (site of the Buddha's Mahaparinibbana),

12/11/09 - Pava (where the Buddha had his last meal),

12/11/09 - Vaishali (where a band of monkeys offered honey to the Buddha),

13/11/09 - Hajipur (where Ven. Ananda's ashes are buried),

13/11/09 - Nalanda (where ruins of Nalanda Mahavihara are located),

14/11/09 - Rajagaha (where the Buddha tamed the drunken elephant & site of 1st Buddhist Council),

15/11/09 - Buddhagaya (place of Supreme Enlightenment),

15/11/09 - Gayasisa (where Buddha taught the Fire Sermon to 1000 ascetics who then became Arahants),

18/11/09 - Sarnath (where Buddha preached the First Sermon to the Five Ascetics).

So what is the purpose of such a pilgrimage? Is it praying to these broken stupas or shrines or collecting merits or purifying oneself or increase one’s luck or energy or whatever tangible or intangibles aggregates? How is a Buddhist pilgrimage differs from that of a Muslim’s Hajj or Hindu’s pilgrimage or a Christian’s trip to the Holy land.

In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of many major religions participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

For Buddhist, what is the significance of doing such a trip? I kept asking myself throughout the journey as I look into the various behaviors of my 27 fellow pilgrims.

Although Buddhism and Hinduism are two great religions which originated from India, the profound difference would be the belief of an all encompassing creator or God, an absolute self and the caste system. Sharing the same practice would be the Law of Karma, rebirth, infinity of the universe and the beings. Buddhism emphasize strongly that the cause of suffering and happiness, lies in the mind of sentient beings, while the external causes serve only as “conditions” and not the actual cause itself. Let me give you an example which we learned from the trip, if one cannot achieve enlightened states in the comfort of their home, meditating under the same Bodhi tree that the Buddha did 2500 years ago would have no special advantage.

If there is any important “gain” from this trip, it would be the realization of impermanence, that even such a “great” religion will collapse in its country of origin and that one should view the worldly forms as empty of its own nature, thus neither pleasant and unpleasant, with no attachment and with full understanding that all phenomenon of this life, whether good or bad, will one day end when we reach Nibbana.