Sacred Gardens of the Buddha

Projects in 2010-11

To further develop and expand facilities for tourists and pilgrims, LBDFI-India plans to create Peace Gardens to surround the Great Peace Bells now installed in all the eight holy places of Pilgrimage in India and Nepal.

When the Buddha passed into Nirvana, he told his disciples that there were four great places that every Buddhist should aspire to visit: Lumbini, the place of his birth, Bodhgaya, the place of his enlightenment, Sarnath, the place where he turned the wheel of the Dharma and Kushinagar, the place of his parinirvana.  Another four sites were added to this list: Sankasya, the place where Buddha came down from Tushita heaven following the teachings given to his mother; Shravasti, the place where Buddha left for the Parinirvana; Vaishali, where he gave so many teachings and Rajgir, where the first monastery was established.

LBDFI- India has already installed World Peace bells at these sites as part of the ‘Sacred Places of the Buddha’ project.

We have just launched a  new project called 'Beautiful Bodhgaya' which can be found at www.beautifulbodhgaya.com.
Please do join us in making this place environmentally clean.

OPENING OF THE SUJATA GARDEN OF THE MAHABODHI MAHAVIHARA

On December 13th, 2010 the Sujata Garden of the Mahabodhi Mahavihara was officially opened. Work was completed to create an elevated terrace with steps leading down to a meditation pavilion suitable for walking meditation. The fountain will be extended to surround the Vietnamese rock garden. The entire garden will be open to visitors of the Temple when they walk around the Mucalinda lake to the south of the Mahavihara. The entire facility is planted with plants mentioned in the Pali canon.

For more details please go to the new Beautiful Bodhgaya website.

Until quite recently, the garden area to the south of the Mahabodhi Temple was in very poor condition. LBDFI- India undertook to clean up the area, removing 40 tractor loads of rubbish and adding over 1,000 tractor loads of topsoil to create a landscaped slope suitable for planting.

PLANTING A THOUSAND TREES IN THE VICINITY OF THE MAHABODHI MAHAVIHARA

In the time of the Lord Buddha, the entire Bodhgaya region was deeply forested, but heavy farming and low rainfall has led to extensive loss of tree cover. In the summer months of 2008, LBDFI- India approached all the temples and viharas in the vicinity of the Mahabodhi Temple and offered to sponsor the planting of over 1,000 trees to encourage the reforestation of the region. This project will continue in future years.