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Bodhi tree
24°41′45.29″N 84°59′29.29″E / 24.6959139°N 84.9914694°E
The Bodhi Tree (Sanskrit and Pāli: Bodhi meaning "awakening" or "enlightenment") is the specific Bo tree (from the Sinhala bo, derived from bodhi)—a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa)—located within the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. According to Buddhist tradition, it was under a Bo tree located at this site that Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who later became known as Gautama Buddha, or simply the Buddha, attained enlightenment, or Buddhahood, around the 5th century BCE. In Buddhist art and iconography, the Bodhi Tree is commonly depicted with its characteristic heart-shaped leaves, a feature of Ficus religiosa that has come to symbolize wisdom and spiritual awakening.
The original tree no longer survives, but its descendants have been venerated for more than two millennia. Over the centuries, the tree and its successors have undergone many episodes of destruction and renewal. Notable recorded incidents include its felling during the reign of Emperor Aśoka (c. 268–232 BCE), its destruction by Queen Tissarakkhā around 254 BCE, its damage or destruction during the persecution of Buddhism under King Puṣyamitra Śuṅga in the 2nd century BCE, and its later cutting down by King Śaśāṅka of Gauda around 600 CE. Yet each time, it was replanted from surviving saplings.
A sapling from the original Bodhi Tree was sent to Sri Lanka by Emperor Aśoka, with his daughter Sanghamittā Therī, in 288 BCE, and planted at Anuradhapura, where it survives today as the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi—regarded as the oldest living human-planted tree with a known date. The current Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, planted in 1881 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham from a cutting of the Sri Lankan tree, continues to be one of the most revered pilgrimage sites in Buddhism.
The Bodhi Tree at the Mahabodhi Temple—revered as the Sri Maha Bodhi—marks the sacred site where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating beneath its branches. According to Buddhist texts, around 528 BCE, Gautama seated himself beneath a Ficus religiosa at Uruvela (present-day Bodh Gaya, India). Resolving not to rise until he had realized the ultimate truth, he entered a state of profound meditation. After that night, he attained Sambodhi (full enlightenment), thereby becoming the Buddha—the "Awakened One".
The spot was used as a shrine even during the Buddha's lifetime. Emperor Ashoka, a devoted patron of Buddhism, visited Bodh Gaya about two centuries later and built a stone balustrade and temple complex around the sacred tree, establishing the Mahabodhi Temple that stands there today. His queen, Tissarakkhā, was jealous of the tree, and three years after she became queen (in the nineteenth year of Ashoka's reign), she ordered it to be killed. Every time the tree was destroyed, however, a new one was planted in the same place, and a monastery was constructed at the Enlightenment Throne of the Buddha. The monastery was called Bodhimanda Vihara (bodhimaṇḍa refers to a "seat of awakening", while vihāra is a Buddhist temple).
In 1862, the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham wrote of the site as the first entry in the first volume published by the Archaeological Survey of India:
The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is very much decayed; one large stem, with three branches to the westward, is still green, but the other branches are barkless and rotten. The green branch perhaps belongs to some younger tree, as there are numerous stems of apparently different trees clustered together. The tree must have been renewed frequently, as the present Pipal is standing on a terrace at least 30 feet above the level of the surrounding country. It was in full vigour in 1811, when seen by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton), who describes it as in all probability not exceeding 100 years of age.
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Bodhi tree
24°41′45.29″N 84°59′29.29″E / 24.6959139°N 84.9914694°E
The Bodhi Tree (Sanskrit and Pāli: Bodhi meaning "awakening" or "enlightenment") is the specific Bo tree (from the Sinhala bo, derived from bodhi)—a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa)—located within the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. According to Buddhist tradition, it was under a Bo tree located at this site that Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who later became known as Gautama Buddha, or simply the Buddha, attained enlightenment, or Buddhahood, around the 5th century BCE. In Buddhist art and iconography, the Bodhi Tree is commonly depicted with its characteristic heart-shaped leaves, a feature of Ficus religiosa that has come to symbolize wisdom and spiritual awakening.
The original tree no longer survives, but its descendants have been venerated for more than two millennia. Over the centuries, the tree and its successors have undergone many episodes of destruction and renewal. Notable recorded incidents include its felling during the reign of Emperor Aśoka (c. 268–232 BCE), its destruction by Queen Tissarakkhā around 254 BCE, its damage or destruction during the persecution of Buddhism under King Puṣyamitra Śuṅga in the 2nd century BCE, and its later cutting down by King Śaśāṅka of Gauda around 600 CE. Yet each time, it was replanted from surviving saplings.
A sapling from the original Bodhi Tree was sent to Sri Lanka by Emperor Aśoka, with his daughter Sanghamittā Therī, in 288 BCE, and planted at Anuradhapura, where it survives today as the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi—regarded as the oldest living human-planted tree with a known date. The current Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, planted in 1881 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham from a cutting of the Sri Lankan tree, continues to be one of the most revered pilgrimage sites in Buddhism.
The Bodhi Tree at the Mahabodhi Temple—revered as the Sri Maha Bodhi—marks the sacred site where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating beneath its branches. According to Buddhist texts, around 528 BCE, Gautama seated himself beneath a Ficus religiosa at Uruvela (present-day Bodh Gaya, India). Resolving not to rise until he had realized the ultimate truth, he entered a state of profound meditation. After that night, he attained Sambodhi (full enlightenment), thereby becoming the Buddha—the "Awakened One".
The spot was used as a shrine even during the Buddha's lifetime. Emperor Ashoka, a devoted patron of Buddhism, visited Bodh Gaya about two centuries later and built a stone balustrade and temple complex around the sacred tree, establishing the Mahabodhi Temple that stands there today. His queen, Tissarakkhā, was jealous of the tree, and three years after she became queen (in the nineteenth year of Ashoka's reign), she ordered it to be killed. Every time the tree was destroyed, however, a new one was planted in the same place, and a monastery was constructed at the Enlightenment Throne of the Buddha. The monastery was called Bodhimanda Vihara (bodhimaṇḍa refers to a "seat of awakening", while vihāra is a Buddhist temple).
In 1862, the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham wrote of the site as the first entry in the first volume published by the Archaeological Survey of India:
The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is very much decayed; one large stem, with three branches to the westward, is still green, but the other branches are barkless and rotten. The green branch perhaps belongs to some younger tree, as there are numerous stems of apparently different trees clustered together. The tree must have been renewed frequently, as the present Pipal is standing on a terrace at least 30 feet above the level of the surrounding country. It was in full vigour in 1811, when seen by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton), who describes it as in all probability not exceeding 100 years of age.
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