We are under the bodhi tree,ficus religiosa, where over 2,500 years ago Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment where today the Dalai Lama is giving a parting prayer. For the previous few days he had been giving teachings to thousands of Buddhists and participants from around the world, in a large field in Bodh Gaya India that has become the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the world.

The Mahabodhi temple complex is the heart of the village, and daily Tibetan monks and nuns and some westerners come to perform their hundreds of prostrations or meditate in the shrine filled gardens. Others merely sit to take in the energy or watch the graceful figures of women gardeners in colourful saris carrying baskets of earth on their heads. Groups of pilgrims from all the Buddhist countries, some wearing the white robes of pilgrimage, chant prayers, strew flowers and place gold leaf squares and attar of roses on the trunk of the sacred bodhi tree draped with saffron coloured cloth and sit on the stone floor in meditation.

This much revered tree, evokes myriad scenes. Inside a railed enclosure where the lower branches of the tree hang with prayer flags, a three year old Tibetan girl brings a lit candle to her young mother, who is carrying a green parakeet in a cage. The mother says a prayer and opens the cage but the bird moves reluctantly. Tentatively it climbs the golden railing until a young Tibetan monk reciting his prayers by its side, offers his hand encouraging it to fly. The bird lands on a branch of the bodhi tree, settles for a moment then with a shrill shriek flies skyward to freedom! Signs tell people 1. Do not to pick the Bo tree leaves, 2. Do not pick the soil around the Bo tree, 3. Kindly save the sacred Bo tree and 4. Do not ...... upon the Bo tree ground. I assume the missing word is spit, but conjure up all sorts of outrageous acts it could pertain to. Despite the warning only written in English and Pali, an errant monk throws his mala,prayer beads, onto a branch until it sticks there. Another monk throws his shoulder bag and breaks the branch. In the dusk I am the only witness and perhaps to keep me from informing, he presents me with two perfect long tendriled dark-green glossy heart-shaped bodhi leaves.

On another day when the Dalai Lama is visiting, a devout old Tibetan woman watches a bodhi leaf fall from the tree only to be picked up by an Indian security guard. She desperately wants it and holds out her hand while he tantalizes by offering it several times and then taking it back. Finally he tires of the game and gives it to her and she carefully places it in the front of her grimy robe, close to her heart.

At 5.30 p.m. sharp the Sri Lankan monks who caretake the temple begin their slightly discordant chanting for half an hour with a tannoy system that drowns out the chanting of the Tibetan monks who seem to take much of the available space in the grounds. In the early evening Tibetan pilgrims light thousands of candles in and around the stupas and walk the kora, a prayerful walk around the circular paths. From old accounts dating back to the 1800s the scene has not changed for hundreds of years, and E.M. Forster wrote in 1920 ³The floor of the temple looks like a lake of fire.²

Outside the Mahabodhi temple the newly built promenade has eliminated vehicle traffic making it another great place to people watch. Throughout the day people sit around such cafes as Lassie corner, where they drink curd shakes and endless cups of chai. It is even possible to sip a reasonable cappuccino made with an old hissing machine.

During the season from late November to March this normally quite little village starts to buzz. There are visiting high lamas who offer teachings and there are several places to learn Vipassana meditation. One of the most popular is given by Christopher Titmuss an ex-monk, who has been teaching at the Thai temple for 27 years. The Dalai Lama often gives teachings in December and that is when a huge influx of Tibetans and Himalayan folk from remote corners, along with such celebrities such as Richard Gere, the jet set and a large assortment of western travellers have begun to visit. Exotically clad Himalayan traders arrive to sell antiques, carpets, jewellery, coins, Buddhist books, prayer beads and bangles and the main street is lined with them from dawn to dusk. Huge pieces of turquoise now ceramically made sell for next to nothing.

Despite the fact that it is a spiritual place, people come for a day and end up staying for weeks. Tibetans build makeshift restaurants in a tent city and create wonderful culinary experiences and at the Om Cafe there is always apple, and lemon meringue pies and chocolate-banana cake for the foreign clientele. Every lunchtime and evening these establishments are packed with people from every walk of life discussing dharma and the drama of life.

Christmas is not forgotten in Bodh Gaya, and a vegetarian Christmas lunch is served on the rooftop of the Burmese Vihar, when many people stay. The Prajna Vihar an inter-faith school for very poor children started with donations from foreigners who have benefited from the dharma practice puts on a cultural event for visiting westerners and locals over this period.

Bodh Gaya has always had its intrigues and conflicts since the Buddha¹s enlightenment. Assaults by the Hindu priesthood resulted with the Mahabodhi temple being taken over by them for long periods of time. This and the invasions of Moslem conquerors drove Buddhism from the land of its birth and left Bodh Gaya neglected and desolate for centuries. It is only in the 20th century that it has been restored as a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Even so the present Hindu Mahant, or headman, of Bodh Gaya who lives in a dilapidated palace and once owned a beautiful elephant as a status symbol still holds some control over the place.

Several years ago The Maitreya Project an international organisation, had a grand scheme to build a 500 ft statue of the Maitreya, the Buddha to come, 3 kms out of town. It was to be the highest statue in the world with an estimated cost of over $150m U.S.Surrounding It would be a landscaped park with ponds and fountains - a kind of theme park. Bodh Gaya in Bihar is one of the poorest states in India, so local social workers, teachers and others working with the poorest of the poor were outraged Huge amounts of international money poured into the scheme but after much discussion and difficulties, it was decided to build it elsewhere. Not surprisingly, as during the season often Bodh Gaya has heavy morning mists and this statue would have spent considerable time with its head in the clouds.

The teachings are attracting more and more people to Bodh Gaya and more flashy so-called luxury hotels. Gautama Buddha gave up a life of princely opulence to live as a simply ascetic and wander in the ancient groves of Uruvilva, (present day Bodh Gaya.) He was reported as saying the only thing we can be sure of is change and this overcrowded little pilgrimage village is the living proof. the end

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