Buddhist Pilgrimages

Photo Credit:  Himaland Adventure Treks 

The title photo shows a group of monks who are on a Buddhist pilgrimage circuit around Nepal and India.

Buddhism was started by the Buddha Shakyamuni who lived from 560 to 480 BCE. His birth name was Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha lived a rich and luxurious childhood. When he was 29 years old, he saw an old man, a sick man, and then a dead man. This made him aware of the stages of life. This prompted Siddhartha to leave his wealth and become a monk where he preached the Middle Path which balanced self-denial and self-indulgence with pleasure. When he was 35 years old, he was meditating under the Bodhi Tree where he obtained enlightenment and then became the Buddha which means the Enlightened or Awakened One. (1) It is important to note that Buddhism emphasizes that profound meditative absorption and spiritual insight can offer advanced adept access to realms of existence. (2) In many ways, Buddha was preaching a living pilgrimage one that is a lived religion perhaps.

1. Martin Baummann, Religions of the World, 420.
2. Robert E Buswell, Korean Buddhist Journeys to Lands Worldly and Otherworldly, (Cambridge,The Journal of Asian Studies, 2009). 1058-1060.

After Siddhartha became enlightened and transformed into the Buddha, he embarked on a journey throughout Asia preaching his middle path message. At Sarnath, Buddha delivered his first teaching. The Buddha preached that belief was not the same as personal experience and that direct knowing was the only way to secure liberation. He made it clear that his teaching was a practice to obtain direct knowledge and not a system of beliefs. (3) When the Buddha traveled, he wore simple cloth clothes and walking sticks. He taught and traveled for almost 45 years starting from his enlightenment till his death. Four major Buddhist pilgrimage sites apply to all Buddhists. These are Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar. (4) These pilgrimage sites compose of the core pilgrimage sites for Buddhism.

3. Mark W Muesse, In Four Wise Men: The Lives and Teachings of Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, (Cambridge, Lutterworth Press, 2017). 70-75.

4. Sister Vajira, Mahaparinibbana Sutta, 4:43

Most of the early Buddhist pilgrims were Buddhist monks following the footsteps of the early Buddha and how he was a traveling teacher. Pilgrims today travel in simple clothes similar to the Buddha. Monks still wear the same cloth gown and travel with a walking stick similar to the images that commonly depict the Buddha's travels.

Some other characteristics of pilgrimage worship are that pilgrims will offer incense and prayers to the Buddha. Also, many pilgrims will participate in chants and prayers along their walk or visit to the shrines. (5) Finally, as with the Buddhist tradition of solidarity and private spiritual thought, Buddhist pilgrim will engage in silent meditation. This form of silent meditation in many ways is its separate form of pilgrimage because it completely removes the pilgrim from existence. (6)

5. Bruce Filer, “Sacred Journeys: Shikoku,” PBS video, 18:23, October 17, 2019, https:// www.pbs.org/video/sacred-journeys-shikoku/

6. Baummann, Religions of the World, 422

The above photo shows Buddhist monks embarking on a pilgrimage in Nepal in traditional outfits. Notice the simple robes and sandals that they are using to reach their final destination. You can imagine that this outfit is not very comfortable to walk in. This discomfort is important for pilgrims to experience in their journey to strive for enlightenment.

Now it is time to here what our pilgrims say of their pilgrimage to Lumbini. "So much here, so much in theory, so much in practice"(7) the monk remarked when traveling to Lumbini. Pilgrims travel to Lumbini in order to live and experience the world like the Buddha did. Reading and theorizing about the events of the Buddha's life is not enough for the faithful pilgrims. Lumbini is isolated and faces extreme poverty while being home to an important religious landmark, the birth of the Buddha. This contradiction motivates pilgrims to witness “the world about the Buddhist path to peace, not in the absence of conflict, but in its resolution” (8) .

Pilgrims are drawn to the pilgrimage because it challenges how they witness the balance of peace and suffering which is an important Buddhist concept. As noted in the above passage, Lumbini is a site of poverty and riches. Materialistically, Lumbini is poor. However, it is spiritually rich and the residents who live there are happy because of their spiritual wealth. In the next passage, we will see another pilgrim observe how poverty produces a byproduct of peace for Lumbini.

This photo shows an outdoor school educating the children of Lumbini. Many children in Lumbini don't have access to an education.

7. Castleman, Pilgrims, Peace, and Politics: Lumbini, Birthplace of Gautama Buddha, Tricycle

8. Ibid

“Lumbini awakens at 5:00 a.m. The sounds of drums, bells, and chanting in Pali, Tibetan, and Japanese carry across the canal, and soon after, a sangha of dogs and wild jackals joins in”(9) Castle remarks. He notes that Lumbani is a rural place despite its importance and UNESCO heritage identification. Often times, pilgrims embark on pilgrimages and find that they lose the sense of time. Lumbani makes sure that time is lost because “clocks are set fifteen minutes off the rest of the time zone, as if to officially sanction a culture outside the world’s hectic routine”(10) . There is a lot of poverty scattered around Lumbini. The average person makes 80 cents a day which shows how “the Buddha’s teachings of dukkha (suffering) apply as much to this holy site as to one’s own mind” (11) . Despite being poor, Lumbini is rich with spiritual treasures.

9. Ibid

10. Ibid

11. Ibid

12. Bruce Filer, “Sacred Journeys: Shikoku,” PBS video, 18:23, October 17, 2019, https:// www.pbs.org/video/sacred-journeys-shikoku/

13. Castleman, Pilgrims, Peace, and Politics: Lumbini, Birthplace of Gautama Buddha, Tricycle

One of the major focuses of Buddhism is the aspect of giving. Giving is important in every Buddhist pilgrimage. When Buddhist pilgrims visit shrines and monasteries that are a part of their pilgrimage, they give gifts to the monks who reside there but also they leave gifts and offerings to the Buddha. Giving gifts builds karma which helps obtain enlightenment. The aspect of giving applies to both laypeople and the Buddhist clergy.

The above photo shows a line of monks carrying bowls to collect food offerings or gifts. The monks don't have any money. They rely completely on the faithful to support them. If they do not receive food, they go hungry and do not eat.

In turn, the Buddhist “monk’s responsibility is to share with lay Buddhists through their example and teaching”(14) . Giving serves as a form of communication for pilgrims. It is a way to show respect, care, and love for all the people they meet on pilgrimage. By giving gifts, the pilgrim says they are more important and bigger than themselves. Giving gifts is a way of communicating respect, love, and care for the greater common good.

14. BBC, Venerating the Buddha, Pilgrimage and Ordination

All in all, giving and walking are core components of Buddhism. When we embark on a pilgrimage, we are connecting our spiritual and physical lives together. The first thing we learn how to do after we are born is to walk, and everything we receive when we are children are gifts. The aspects of a Buddhist pilgrim are within all of us since birth.

The most human thing to do is to embark on a pilgrimage. We have been practicing for it since our birth. Pilgrimage makes the day to day actions of life more powerful like walking and giving. It makes walking and giving more powerful because it focuses on these two aspects. Pilgrimage allows pilgrims to reflect on these two things that are often caught up and redefined in our bustling world. The Buddhist pilgrims show us how pilgrimage forms a powerful connection to humanity.

Baumann, Martin. Religions of the World, Second ed., s.v “Buddhism.” Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010. 

Buswell, Robert E. "Korean Buddhist Journeys to Lands Worldly and Otherworldly." The Journal of Asian Studies 68, no. 4 (2009): 1055-075. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20619861.

Brown, Robert L. "The Śrāvastī Miracles in the Art of India and Dvāravatī." Archives of Asian Art 37 (1984): 79-95. www.jstor.org/stable/20111145.

Bruce Filer, “Sacred Journeys: Shikoku,” PBS video, 18:23, October 17, 2019,  https://www.pbs.org/video/sacred-journeys-shikoku/ 

Castleman, Seth. “Pilgrims, Peace, and Politics: Lumbini, Birthplace of Gautama Buddha.” Tricycle. Accessed October 8, 2019. https://tricycle.org/magazine/pilgrims-peace-and-politics-lumbini-birthplace-gautama-buddha/.

Falcone, Jessica Marie. Battling the Buddha of Love: A Cultural Biography of the Greatest Statue Never Built. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 2018. www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt21h4x1j.

Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum. "The First Sermon." East and West 45, no. 1/4 (1995): 127-47. www.jstor.org/stable/29757209.

Keyes, Charles F. "Buddhist Pilgrimage Centers and the Twelve-Year Cycle: Northern Thai Moral Orders in Space and Time." History of Religions 15, no. 1 (1975): 71-89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1061855.

Muesse, Mark W. "THE BUDDHA." In Four Wise Men: The Lives and Teachings of Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, 68-133. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2017. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvhrd1rs.7.

“Religions - Buddhism: Venerating the Buddha, Pilgrimage and Ordination.” BBC. BBC, November 23, 2009. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/customs/customs.shtml.