Bodhgaya

 In February this year I went to Bodgaya to connect again with my Buddhist roots. In the 80ties I have been here several times do do long silent retreats. The Tree where Buddha used to sit must be every Buddhist favorite Tree in the world.
Bodhgaya in north India was the place where Buddhism started in 554 before Christ. After printing my book in Thailand I felt the strong urge to go back to the roots.

 Every Buddhist school and country has build a temple here. It attracts pilgrims from all the Asian countries as well as some new 'White' Buddhist.

The majority of visitors are Indian tourist who are not Buddhist.

At the left is a picture of The Tree', it is a sapling of the original tree. Monks from sri Lanka have planted it after the original tree died. It is only since the English rediscovered Bodhgaya and excavated the place that is has become a popular pilgrims destination.

At the right is the Tree and the tall Stupa. All of it was covered by river sand for hundreds of years.

In bodhgaya I went around with my book and sold a good number of book to the pilgrims and one bookshop bought many to sell.

By way of Varanasi, Saranath and gokarna I traveled back to my beloved Tiruvannamalai in south India.