Bodh Gaya ● What the Buddha realized
From Shilu Lin to Bodh Gaya, the bus took seven or eight hours. The distance is farther than he thought, and the Buddha traveled such a long way after his enlightenment, just so that the world can achieve inner enlightenment.
Entering the gate of Bodh Gaya, barefoot signifies inner devotion. This is the place where many high-ranking monks and great virtues have been flocking for more than 2,500 years.
Throwing the flower beard in my hand towards a Buddha statue in the doorway, visualizing the solemn offering like a rain of flowers, I was drunk...
Walking into the King Kong Pagoda, I saw the enlightened phase of the Venerable, and Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang" recorded the origin of this statue:
There was a Brahmin who believed in Lord Shiva, and in the midst of the snowy mountains, heard the god of heaven say to him, "All prayers are blessed and fruitful, but they are not prayed for by Ru, and I cannot do so." Those who plant good roots, seek victory in blessing fields, those who cultivate the Bodhi tree, and the fruit of Buddhahood. When the time is right, go to the Bodhi tree, build a large house, wear a large pool, and make offerings and make offerings. The Brahmins then gained faith and built a house in the Bodhi tree and recruited workers to shape the Buddha's image, when a Brahmin came and said that "if you can write a good picture like a wonderful picture, you only need incense clay to put in the fine house, and a lamp shines, and enter the house that has been closed, and after six months the door can be opened." Six months later, the public opened the door and saw the Buddha statue. Later, a Shamen saw a man in his sleep, claiming to be the Bodhisattva of the Ci clan, and said, "I was afraid that the workers would not know the holy face, so I personally came to draw the Buddha statue, and the hanging right hand was the appearance of the Buddha when he descended from the demon and touched the ground." The statue was later recognized as being sculpted by Maitreya.
There are three kinds of images of Shakyamuni Buddha: the prince phase, the enlightened phase, and the nirvana phase. This is the first recorded image of the Buddha in history, sculpted by Maitreya Bodhisattva. It is not easy for him to survive the fire of a thousand years of war and remain intact, and it is my blessing to be able to see it now. I stand in front of this statue and salute respectfully, and I don't know how many great monks have bowed before it like me, and it continues to testify to our growth from generation to generation. Only he knows best the hearts of us pilgrims.
The Bodhi tree in the back is the place where the Buddha attained, and later generations decorated it here, so I can hardly imagine the scene when the Buddha became enlightened here. If the Buddha's enlightenment is seen with the naked eye, it is nothing more than a practitioner who walks under this tree, sits for dozens of days, gets up, and says that he has become enlightened. The body is still that body, but why does he say that he has become enlightened, and what has he realized? Above that one, his heart had an extreme sublimation, and that heart was sublimated to the extreme. The cultivation of my generation today is nothing more than to make this heart reach an inner awakening!
The two Buddha footprints under the tree have been continuously worshiped and offered by people for two thousand years, and I see people in different monks and different languages under the tree issuing common prayers here. See figures from different countries, Chinese, Tibetan, Pali, Hindi, English... We recite the same verse in different voices. You can really feel it here: each with all the sound of the sea, and the endless wonderful words.
I turned the tower here for an unknown number of times, watching the endless stream of monks around me, as if I had traveled through time and space, and Xuanzang was next to me, he was also here, chanting around the tower.
I sat down quietly and sat on my knees, constantly reciting the name of the Buddha in my heart: "Rulai, Ying, Enlightenment, Enlightenment, Good Death, Worldly Understanding, Supreme Husband, Priest, Celestial Master, Buddha, Bhagavan." "Then some questions arise, why is his name Rulai? What is the right consciousness he has achieved? How does he interpret this world? How does he regulate sentient beings? ...... Around these questions, I was deeply immersed in the merits of the Buddha, and at this moment I had a strong Buddha thought.
Walking out of Bodhgaya and looking back at the Mahabodhi Pagoda, I think of His Holiness Atisha who was here to devote three debates to conquer the outer path and strive for the final glory of the declining Indian Dharma. For the first time I had such a profound experience of the debates in the history of Indian Buddhism, I would only listen to them as a story or admire the wisdom of the great masters. But now here, I suddenly feel that these debates are all about the great masters gambling with their own lives, either to subdue the outside world or to die. Each debate may be the last speech in their lives, but for the sake of Buddhism, they are willing to bear it with their lives...