Call to revive Buddha’s path

The landscape of Bihar is dotted with places associated with im - portant events in the life of Buddha and those of his disciples.
For more than 1,500 years after the demise of the Buddha (6th BCE), devotees from China, Japan, Korea, south east and cen tral Asia travelled for up to thousand miles to reach the exact places where Buddha had set foot.

There is a need to revive the ancient walking trails and sacred places with the help of information from Buddhist literature and accounts of Buddhist monk scholars like Xuanzang (7th CE, Hie - un Tsang), so that devotees can once again undertake pilgrimages on these routes and offer homage at the sa - cred sites.One such walking pilgrimage route following a very significant event in the life of the Buddha can be 10-km-route from Bodh Gaya to Brahmayoni Hill (Gaya).
As mentioned in the Buddhist literature, two months after the enlightenment on the full-moon day of asalha (June-July), the Buddha preached the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (the first turning of the eheel) at Sarnath and then returned to Uruvela (now Bodh Gaya) with the objective to transform Uruvela Kassapa.
After the successful transformation of Kassapa brothers, the Buddha, along with the newly ordained jatila (matted hair) left Uruvela and reached Gayqsisa hill (Brahmayoni), about 10km north of Uruvela. Jatilas were fire worshipers and the Buddha used a metaphor of fire so that the teachings quickly pen - etrated the hearts of his audience. The Buddha referred to our existence as being filled with a type of ‘burn - ing,’ metaphorically linking craving to fire, spreading from one object to the next on an insatiable destructive path.
Kassapa along with a thousand jatilas listened as the Buddha explained the concept of consciousness and that for most humans caught up in their own needs and desires, constant - ly unaware of their sur - roundings, their senses and sensa - tions are on fire. As long as there is anger, greed, ignorance and lust fueling the fire, the cycle of birth and death along with despair and sorrow continue infinitely, he said.
The precious words of Buddha are recited today as the Aditta-Pariyaya Sutta (fire sermon). Upon hearing this sermon, thousands of jatilas practiced over time with the Buddha at Gayasisa hill and became arahats. Xuanzang saw a 100ft stupa on the top of the Hill built by King Ashoka to mark the historic event.
The new political climate at the turn of 1st millennia was not conducive for suste - nance of Buddhist monas - teries and Buddhist pilgrim - age. The Ashokan stupa on the Brahmayoni hill was prob - ably lost due to brick robbing and vandalization. The places related with the Buddha are very sacred. A stupa was recently inaugurated by Asian Buddhist Cultural Centre, Bodh Gaya to facilitate Bra - hamayoni hill becoming a living heritage as it used to be in ancient times.
True tribute to this very sacred site will be the revival of the 10km walking pilgrim - age trail from Bodh Gaya to Brahmayoni.
(The author is a Buddhist pilgrimage scholar and interpreter)