Why Bodhgaya Is So Important

Why Bodhgaya Is So Important

Date of Advice:
February 2014
Date Posted:
September 2016

Rinpoche gave this advice while staying at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, in February 2014.

Bodhgaya is not only the place where the Buddha showed the holy deed of achieving enlightenment under the bodhi tree but also where all the great pandits such as Nagarjuna and Asanga practiced and made so many prayers. Also many great enlightened beings and yogis from Tibet, China, Nepal and other countries came here and made many prayers to benefit us sentient beings so there would be unbelievable, unbelievable benefit for us to purify negative karma and accumulate merit as quickly as possible.

That is why it is so important to come to Bodhgaya to practice; to circumambulate and make prayers under the tree. Even if you don’t know much Dharma, try to circumambulate as much as possible. It makes your life very special, there is unbelievable purification and it collects so much merit to quickly be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and achieve enlightenment.

This stupa is so precious that if you don’t get to circumambulate it for even one day it's worse than losing skies filled with wish-granting jewels or billions of dollars.