Day 8 – 16/11/2012 Friday Sunny – Rajgir

Wake up call was at 4:30am and we woke up at 4:00am. We had breakfast at 5:00am and left for the day at 6am.

We first went to Amrabali house. Today this place has become a school for the children.

Amrapali was a beautiful prostitute who was visited by people of the higher strata like kings, generals and statesmen at Buddha’s time. Following the Buddha's teachings she became an arahant. She is mentioned in conjunction with the Buddha staying at her mango grove, Ambapali vana which she later donated to his order, and wherein he preached the famous Ambapalika Sutta.

Amrabali house

We then went to Vimalakirti house. We walked into a village to find Vimalakirti’s house. It was on a little hill and had a huge Bodhi tree.  Vimalakirti delivered a great sutra in Mahayanist – Vimalakirti sutra. 

Vimalakirti house

We went to the Buddhist second council at Balukaram - Vaishali. It is now left with a huge Bodhi tree and an abandoned well. This place is now a Hindu temple. King Kalashoka is known chiefly for the meeting of the second Buddhist council.

The Second Buddhist Council

I had my first Chai at a petrol station. MK bought two cups of Chai for me – one for Thay TH and one for myself. Ahhhhh…. the chai tasted so good!

We had lunch at the hotel. After lunch we went to the Tapodarama hot springs where Co Xuyen had water blessing from a Hindu priest. We walked pass the Pippala Stone House before we arrived at the Saptaparni Cave where the First Council was held at Rajagriha. Rajagriha was the capital of Magadha, which was one of the four great kingdoms (in addtition to Kosala, Vansa, and Avanti) in ancient India. It was quite a climb. Co Tu Minh and some other women were very tired. MK found some Nim trees. I took few leaves from MK.

First Buddhist Council

Our last destination for the day was Bamboo Grove.

Bamboo Grove

Thay TC told the group about Bimbisara’s third wife. He said:

Bimbisara’s third wife was a beautiful woman but died early. King Bimbisara wanted to build a stupa for her and it would cost a lot of people’s tax. People disagreed with the King. So they requested Buddha to solve this problem. Buddha suggested to the King to do three things:

1)         Offer Dana to the sangha/the needed one

2)         Offer her dead body to Vultures

3)         Use own cultivation and dedicate merits to the dead

That was how Vulture Peak came to Buddha’s story.

The internet version of Bimbisara’s third wife is totally different from Thay TC’s version. http://www.indianetzone.com/34/kshema_queen_king_bimbisara.htm

Kshema

Kshema was a beautiful queen of King Bimbisara. Although he had often urged her to meet the Buddha, she had always refused. Knowing that she was attracted to beautiful things, the king arranged for poets to compose poems about the beauty of the Bamboo Grove where the Buddha was staying, and had performers in the court sing these compositions.

Fascinated by the poems, she decided to go to the Bamboo Grove and see its beauty for herself. While admiring the scenery there, she caught sight of an especially beautiful maiden, standing beside the Buddha and fanning Him. Kshema observed that the maiden was more beautiful than she and, drawn to look closer, she moved nearer and nearer to the Buddha.

Actually, the beautiful maiden was just a vision created by the Buddha with His supernatural powers. While Kshema was gazing at it, the maiden was transformed into an old woman with broken teeth, grey hair and wrinkled skin. She appeared to grow weaker and weaker and finally collapsed and died. Kshema was startled.
Then, the Buddha said, "Kshema, beauty is impermanent." Then and there, Kshema realised this fact of life.

The Buddha added, "Those who are slaves to desires are like spiders entangled in the webs they have made for themselves. Those who are free and have destroyed attachment to desire, do not delight in the pleasures of the senses."

On hearing these words, Kshema became an Arhat and with the king's consent, entered the Order of Nuns. Later, she became the chief woman disciple of the Buddha. Well known for her wisdom, she often helped the Buddha in instructing the nuns.

Vulture Peak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griddhraj_Parvat)

Before we reach the top, there is a cavern in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) having assumed the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and stroked Ananda's shoulder, so that his fear immediately died. The footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha's) hand are still there, and hence comes the name of "The Hill of the Vulture Cavern."