Celebrating the Buddha: 10 places of historical significance for Buddhists

STAR2.COM
By Margjorie Chiew

The huge Reclining Buddha statue in Parinirvana Temple in Kushinagar marks the place where Gautama Buddha achieved parinirvana at the age of 80.

There are four places in the world that followers of the Buddha’s teachings consider significant: Lumbini in Nepal is the birthplace of the son of a king who became Gautama Buddha; Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India, is where the Buddha attained enlightenment, sitting under a sheltering tree; Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, India, is where he delivered his first teaching; and Kushinagar, also in Uttar Pradesh, is where he died and attained Parinirvana (ie, though he had attained enlightenment earlier, at this stage, he achieved freedom from physical existence). Benoy K. Behl has not only photographed these four places but also most other sites in the world touched by Buddhism. [More]