Lumbini, Nepal
27° 29' N 83° 16' E
Sep 30, 2009 06:07
Distance 105km

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Lumbini - the birthplace of Lord Buddha

In the early morning Kirsten & I left Chitwan National Park, bidding a sad farewell to our happy group of travellers.  Very emotional, even George Scorch the Dragon was tearful :-(.  We set off with our last peak of the Himalayas in the distance to Lumbini - the birthplace of Prince Siddharta Gautama (or Lord Buddha - Apostle of Peace and the Light of Asia), founder of the Buddhist religion and a major International site for Buddhist Pilgrims.

Took us a while to get there as our mechanic from Khatmandu and Tenzing had been up all night, practically rebuilding our van from scratch and we needed to 'go slow to keep eye on radiator'.  There were some interesting sites along the way, along with the habitual goats and cows in the middle of the road - one included a group of people throwing a statue of Durga into the river as the end of the Danaish Festival.  So after a long hot sticky day we eventually arrived in Lumbini at 4pm (4 hours later than anticipated!).  Knowing we were to leave early the next morning for the border, I was starting to get very nervous about even getting to see the famous Lumbini site, but our hotel host had a handy cache of bicycles which we set off on pronto after stuffing down a banana pancakes.  Everything closed at 5pm and the sun was due to set about 6pm, so we had a whistle-stop tour sweating our guts out but enjoying the exercise.  The humidity was 100%!!!!  We thought Chitwan was bad... by golly goodness... felt like we were in a permanent sauna.  Some of the pics are a bit disgusting with sheens of sweat on our skin and sweaty patches on our clothes.  But ultimately it turned out to be great cycling around so late in the day and enjoying the sunset and cool of the evening, while also getting to experience the Buddha prayers.

For those interested, a bit about LUMBINI:  As mentioned above, this is the birthplace of Prince Dissharta Gautama - who at the age of 29 having lived a life of enclosed pleasure - decided to take the 'Middle Path' - denying all things material and preaching the way of enlightenment.  He continued to do this until he died at the age of 80 years!  Anyway, back in 623BC Lumbini was apparently a pleasure park.  Buddha's mother - Maya Devi - went to labour in the gardens so the story goes and there have been various archeologists etc that have managed to pinpoint the exact location of his birth from various enscriptions and sanskrit writings to Lumbini.  The area contains temple (monastery) complexes from all around the world - Japan, Thailand, China, Vietnam (the first one) and even Germany! and is an International Pilgrimage Destination for Buddhists - like Mecca for the Muslims or Jerusalem for Christians.

ASHOKA PILLAR:  This is next to the MAYA DEVI TEMPLE complex which marks the birthplace of Buddha by the presence of a Sal Tree and the Puskarni Sacred Pool - believed to be the same pool in which Maya Devi took a holy dip before giving brith to the Lord and where the infant had his first purification bath.  The Ashoka Pillar is apparently the first epigraphic evidence relating to the life history of Lord Buddha - Engraved in Brahmi script and erected by an Indian Emporer Ashok on a pilgrimage to Buddha post a war which led to his ascendancy to the throne, but severe concerns about his next re-incarnation owing to the number of people killed! 

THE MAYA DEVI is the temple pinpoints exact site of Buddha's birth based on a stone slab unveiled in British archeological diggings under 3 layers of monastery ruins.  Above the slab is the 'Nativity Sculpture' - a bas relief image of Maya Devi (mother of the lord buddha) seen supporting herself by holding to a sal tree brand with the right hand and the newly born Buddha upright on a lotus pedestal on an oval halo.  The Sal tree is very important in Buddhism as it is said that the bed Buddha died on at the age of 80yrs was made of Sal.

We stopped off outside the Lumbini Library which is the largest Buddha library in the world.  We also spotted some Saras Cranes which are apparently the largest flying birds in the world - always appearing with a mate, The Lumbini National Park has set up the Lumbini Crane Conservation Centre to ensure survival of this particular bird.

Finally we ended the day at the World Peace Pagoda, the largest of 70 of its type in the world - placed at the far end of the Lumbini monastery area opposite the Eternal flame.  We managed to catch a glimpse of the Buddhist monks in prayer and enjoy the setting sun over the stunning Lumbini landscape, enjoying the cool of the evening.  Apparently the World Peace Pagoda is a key destination for many buddhist monks and nuns and over November/December over 4,000 will come to pray for 'Peace' - not just world peace, but 'Peace in the Universe'.

The next morning we were up early (ish) to jump into our dodgy vehicle for a final 30min trip to the border town of Sonauli (between Nepal & India) where we said farewell to Tenzing and met our new Indian Tour Leader Abhey (or Aapji for short)... more about him in the next journals.

Photos / videos of "Lumbini - the birthplace of Lord Buddha":

We say goodbye to our group of happy travellers as we head on towards India - left to right back row: Peter, Garry, Jess, Womble, Kirsten, Kris  front: Christina and me!  Unfortuantely missing George Scorch the Dragon :-( View of Himalayas as we leave Chitwan for Lumbini (Lord Buddha birthplace) View of the Himalayas as we leave for Lumbini Thailand Buddha Royal Monastery at Lumbini Symbolising our 9 planets at the Thailand Buddha temple In front of the Thailand alter - note the sweaty trousers and face Tenzing in profile with view from Thailand Budda alter Kirsten and me outside Indian Buddha Temple Alter inside Indian Buddha Temple at Lumbini - depicting centre the birth of Buddha with Maya Devi leaning against the sal tree and far right Buddha's death Burma Buddha Temple at Lumbini Around the base of the Burmese Temple are statues of Buddha for the 8 days of the buddha week. People come and pray at the statue for the day of the week they were born. International Gautami Nun Temple at Lumbini Park Entrance to International Gautami Nun Temple at Lumbini Sri Lanka Buddha Temple at Lumbini in the background behind a Buddha statue The Eternal Flame at Lumbini with Peace Pagoda in the distance Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini pinpoints the exact location of Lord Buddha's birthplace with the Puskarni Sacred Pool believed to be the same pool that Maya Devi took a holy dip in before giving birth and where the infant had his first purification bath Prayer flags on the Sal Tree believed to be where Maya Devi supported herself during the birth of Lord Buddha Sal Tree and Puskarni sacred lake Ashoka Pillar with Maya Devi temple in background with the familiar 'Buddha Eye's and parasol Saras crane and its mate - the tallest flying bird in the world - within Lumbini a National Park area has been set aside as a Crane Conservation Centre Vietnamese Buddha Temple - the first international temple to be built at Lumbini Example of the number of international temples (monasteries) at Lumbini for Buddhist pilgrims Me and Kirsten on our bikes at Lumbini as the sunsets World Peace Pagoda at sunset - one of 70 in the world, this is the Largest Me in front of World Peace Pagoda Detail of Buddha Gold Statue on Peace Pagoda Stupa Buddha Pose on the statue meaning 'Do not praise me, there is a higher god to praise' - or similar One of the 4 statues on the Peace Pagoda at Lumbini showing the death of Buddha Buddha in Meditation with the moon in the background Lotus flowers at the entrance to the Peace Pagoda Temple MOVIE Evening Bhuddist prayers at the Peace Pagoda Temple Me and Tenzing saying goodbye at the Sonauli border Nepal gateway at Sonauli border crossing with beaming Kirsten Welcome to India gateway Queues of trucks line up on both sides of the Sonauli border - often waiting 3 to 4 days to cross
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