Hotel Tokyo Vihar Bodh Gaya

... a Bhodi tree until he achieved enlightenment. It was also under that tree that, according to Buddhist belief, he became the Buddha. The descendent of that tree is standing just behind an enormous Buddhist temple that was erected in honor of that moment. Needless to say, Bodhgaya is a pretty important place for Buddhists the world over. And as a result the town is jam packed with beautiful Buddhist temples from all over the world and makes for a ...

... ornate. We take off our shoes and enter the temple to see the brightly colored scenes from the history of the Buddha. We see a painting of Buddha seated under the Bodi tree where he first became enlightened after 49 days of meditation. We see scenes of his prior attempts at enlightenment where he starved himself and lived as an ascetic for 6 years. There are also scenes where the daughters of Mara, the evil God, tried to tempt the Buddha and divert ...

... cheese balls which I would turn my nose up at home, but was really delicious, with a selection of naans of course! and some ice cream! After dinner had a bit of a wander and we were apprehended by a kid about 10yrs old who spoke perfect English and was asking about England, football, cricket etc then of course broke into his pitch for "donations for his study". The lonely planet warned us that the place was full of such scam artists that are actually ...

... for some reason couldn't find them, when the day before it seemed like they were everywhere. We got so frustrated and hot that we just wanted to sit down. But being in India there is never anywhere to sit down unless its in a pile of cow ****. We finally just sat down in front of someones house and the guy who lived there came out to talk to us. We told him that we were just resting and wanted to just sit down and maybe have a Lassi somewhere. As soon as we said Lassi he was like "oh ...

... tea before bed), as well as talks, instruction, and inquiry, and there was always the option of choosing your own modifications to the schedule (my favourite was to do yoga for one of the morning sessions).<br><br> <br><br> in the end it wasn't nearly as hard as i might have thought, or as enlightening as i might have hoped. at least, not in the way i expected. but that is the essence of the theme emerging for me from the retreat, and this whole trip. i am learning ...

... in Varanasi was spent roaming around the steps of the Ganges, getting a DVD of my photos burned, and visiting a nearby temple, which locals refer to as the Monkey Temple because of all the monkeys around. Its an Hindu temple which Catherine recommended for being so culturally old. You can see that the building itself and the deities represented are somehow 'older' - maybe its that the look less 'polished' and 'commercialized' (can deities look commercialized? That's a ...

... gardens, statutes, yoga and meditation space, clean delicious meals and quiet quiet quiet. AND we got this special room normally reserved for VIPs because we're only passing through for a few days. So we are happy happy campers and will be well rested and ready for the remainder of our travels. Today the sun came out also!! We are onto the Taj Mahal in Agra and then the Pink city of Jaipur for a kite festival and some shopping! xoxo

... to offer me for just over 2 days. On the third day I decided to head out for a similar town about 100 kms away, called Rajgir, but when I got to the train station, I found out that the schedual had changed and my train wasnt going to arrive on the same day. After a little thought and no hesitation, the ticket to Patna, the capital of Bihar was purchased and I was on my way within the hour.

... India. We were approaching Bodh Gaya, the site where the Buddha had attained enlightenment, and during the five-hour ride we discussed the Buddha making this same trip on foot. We arrived at the Gaya station a little past 10 pm and as we were leaving the platform we unexpectedly saw Andrew, who we had last seen the previous day in Sarnath. He was about to catch a train for Calcutta and had only great words for Bodh Gaya. We wished him ...

... queen became jealous and secretly had it destroyed once more. Again Ashoka revived it and built a protective enclosing wall, as had previously been done by King Prasenajit of Koshala within the Buddha's lifetime. Later, Nagarjuna is said to have built an enclosure to protect the tree from damage by elephants and, when in time this became less effective, placed a statue of Mahakala upon each pillar. Records of the third destruction of the tree are given by Hsuan ...