Walking with Buddha

Walking with Buddha 
 

Trip at a Glance
Trip duration          : 13 days tour
Grade                      : Moderate
Activities                : Sightseeing
Accommodations: Hotel 11 Nights/ Train 1 Nights
 
Journey Highlights
  • Train journey from Varanasi to Delhi
  • Fly from Delhi to Lucknow
  • Private own transport during the tour
  • Buddha, different event sights
  • Bodhgaya; where Buddha enlightenment
  • Nalanda; the ancient Buddhist learning centre
 
Tour Inclusions
  • Sharing accommodation
  • Private own transport jeep
  • Mention monuments entries
 
Tour Exclusions
  • Travel insurance
  • Single accommodation (available on request)
Tipping

Meals: B= Breakfast


Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive in Delhi 
On arrival in Delhi you will be transfer to the hotel.
 
Day 2 In Delhi
New Delhi is the political capital of Indian, built by British. We visit National Museum; were we see the precious relics of Buddha Sakyamuni. Today if we have enough time visits 16th century Moghul Empire Humayun tomb. According to history from this monument, the Moghul Empire Shah Jahan gets inspiration to build the Taj Mahal in Agra. 
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 3 Fly Delhi to Lucknow & drive to Sravasti
The most convenient way to reach Sravasti is via Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which is well connected by air and rail route to all parts of India. Sravasti the capital of Kosala Mahajanapanda was the biggest town in the Gangetic plains during the Buddhas lifetime. Sarvasti was host to the Master for 25 years during the annual rain retreat, when the Sangha congregated at one place, situated in Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh. During the time of Sakyamuni, Sudatta, a rich & pious merchants offer a land to him and the park is known as Jetavana Vihara. It was also in Sravasti that the lord performed the only miracle of his life in response to a challenge from six non-believers.   
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 4 Drives to Kushinagar
Kushinagar is the place that the Buddha closes for his Mahaparinirvana, or final exit from the earth. In 543 BC on full moon night of magh (Jan-Feb), the master lecture to the Sangha near Vaishali, on the impermanence of all living things, and said that his own life on earth was soon to end.  In Pava, a humble metal smith Chunda, offer a meal, after Buddha sick and pass away near by the Hiranyavati River in Kushinagar. King and commoner, villager and townsman, from far and near, flocked to pay obeisance to the earthy remains of the lord for the next six days. The revered bhikshu, Mahakashyapa, lit the funeral pyre at Mukutabandha Vihara (Rambhar Stupa) in Kushinagar.        
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 5 Drive to Patna via Vaishali
We drive to Patna the capital of Bihar, via visit Vaishali. Five years after the Enlightenment in Bodhi Gaya, Lord Buddha came to Vaishali, the capital of one of the first republican sates in the world.  The Buddha preached the Ratna Sutra to the assembled and eighty four thousand people embrace the new faith. In Vaishali for the first time women were ordained into the Sangha. The Buddhas foster mother, Mahaparjapati Gautama, along with 500 Sakya women made a pilgrimage by foot from Kapilavastu to Vaishali, seeking to join the order. It was also at Vaishali that Amrapali, the famous courtesan, earned the respect of the Sangha and a place in history, with her generous donations. A hundred year after the Mahaparinirvana, the second Buddhist Council was held in Vaishali.           
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 6 Drives to Bodh Gaya via Nalanda and Rajgir
Nalanda silence reigns supreme, gradually the early morning sun lifts the mantle of darkness. In its golden light, the scores of ruined red brick buildings set amongst lush green lawns appears almost ethereal. There is no sign of life today except for few curious visitors. But once the place throbbed with life, its corridors reverberated with eager voices engrossed in the pursuit of knowledge. This is Nalanda, the most renowned university in ancient India.
 
The Buddha came to Nalanda often and stayed at Setthi Pavarikas mango grove. Two of Sakyamuni chief disciples, Sariputra and Mudgalyana, came from the vicinity of Nalanda. Emperor Ashoka came to Nalanda to worship at the chaityas of Sariputra. Fa Hien 5th Century, Hiuen Tsang 6th century and Hwui Li 7th century are among the disciple or student of Nalanda University. In Nalanda institution the art of debate, public speaking, mathematics and medicine were taught here. Among renowned Indian scholar trained at Nalanda were Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, and Asanga. Santarakshita and thereafter Padmasambhava went to Tibet from Nalanda to spread the teaching of Sakyamuni. Its final nemesis came with the Muslim invader Bakhityar Khalji who brutally wiped it off the map.              
 
During the lifetime of Buddha Rajgir (ancient Rajagriha) was the capital of the powerful Magadha kingdom, ruled by the virtuous king Bimbisara. Later we drive to Bodh Gaya.  
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 7 Drives to Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya, is located in Bihar 115km from Patna. The land is rich and fertile, dotted with green fields, watered by river Phalgu (ancient Nairanjana). Here more than 2500 years ago came Siddhartha, a young ascetic, having renounced royal heritage. He was looking for quiet retreat, where he could meditate upon the causes for human suffering. He had faced many trials and tribulations in his search for Truth. As he gazed across the river Phalgu upon the serene landscape of Uruvela village (modern Bodh Gaya) he knew his quest had ended.
Standard Hotel (B)
     
Day 8 In Bodh Gaya
Siddhartha spread Kusha grass beneath the Bodhi or Bo tree (Pipal tree, botanical name, ficus religiosia) and sat cross legged facing the east with a vow to get up only if he attained supreme knowledge. For 49 days Mara, the temptor, assaulted him with his weapons of flood, fire, thunder and lightning. He entered deeper states of contemplation. His quest finally ended at dawn on Vaisakha Poornima, the full moon day in April-May. He had attained Samma Sambodhi, the Enlightenment that he had been seeking for so long.
 
As the place of the Buddha Enlightenment, Bodh Gaya is the spiritual home of Buddhists. It attracts tens of thousands of believers from all over world. Shaven heads, billowing ochre and maroon robes, monks and nuns, a strings of beads in hand, rub shoulders with sari and jeans clad locals and tourists from across the globe.
 
Mahabodhi Mahavihara: Set among verdant lawns, the magnificent 52 meter high sandstone Mahabodhi Temple soars towards the blue skies. The Bodhi tree on the left is surrounded by small beautifully carved votive stupa and chaityas and numerous images of the Buddha. Prayer flags flutter in the sky, spreading the message of the master.   
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 9 Drives to Varanasi (Sarnath)
The presence of the Great Teacher permeates the quiet ruins of Sarnath. The still air carries the fragrance of incense and flowers and the chants of the monks. Sarnath is only 10km from Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus along the Ganga River.
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 10 In Varanasi (Sarnath)
After Sakyamuni gained Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree on the banks of Nirranjana River, he walked from Bodhgaya to Varanasi searching for his five companions who had abandoned him at Rajgir. The Buddha found the five ascetics at a deer park in the outskirt of the city Sarnath.           
 
The blessed one meets his old companions who were the first to hear him unfold his path to Enlightenment, the four noble truths, the eight-fold path and middle way. This first sermon is call Dharmachakrapravartana, or Turning of the Wheel of Law. At Sarnath the Buddha founded the Sangha with his five old companions as his first disciples. After a Muslim King Qutbuddin Aibak attack in 1194, the thriving monastery in Sarnath lay in ruins, and few monks who survived, fled.    
Standard Hotel (B)
     
Day 11 By train to Delhi
Varanasi is exists next to the river Ganges, where the entire Hindu believer performed daily rituals or prayers along the Ganges River. In the evening we catch over night train journey to Delhi.     
Standard Hotel (B)
 
Day 12 In Delhi
On arrival in Delhi you have time to explore your own or rest in the hotel. Later we transfer to International airport to catch the flight. (trip conclude)
Standard Hotel (B)
 
About Buddha:
Once upon a time, over twenty-five centuries ago, Kapilavastu, the capital of the Sakya was in festive mood. Mahamaya, the chief queen of King Suddhodana, had a dream in which a magnificent white elephant with a lotus in his trunk appeared and entered her side. The sixty-four Brahman soothsayers who were invited to interpret the queen dream prophesied that she would give birth to an illustrious son who would either be a world conqueror or world denouncer.
 
On the auspicious full moon day in 566 BC in Lumbini grove, just outside Kapilavastu, the young prince was born and he was name Siddhartha Gautama. Prince Siddhartha was trained in all the art and skill expected of warrior prince and he married with Yashodhara. Siddhartha nevertheless came face to face with human pain and suffering. His father could not keep his son away from his glorious destiny. While on an outing in the royal parks with his charioteer, Channa, the prince saw three different sights that were to change him and the future of mankind forever. The first sight was of an old man; the second of a diseased man; and third, of a corpse being followed by weeping mourners. Like the lull after the storm, there was a fourth sight, that of a saint, calm and peaceful.