We start out in New Delhi, a city built by the British, passing through Old Delhi, with its Muslim bazaars and the country's largest mosque, built in the 17th century.
Gaya
Travel in the old trains of India traversing fields of flowering mustard and villages, with the cinematographic Indian sunrise.
Bodhgaya
It was in Bodhgaya that Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree about 2500 years ago. Once awake, then the Buddha meditated there for a few more weeks, contemplating the experience.
Here we visit the Root Institute of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and receive teachings of H. H. the Dalai Lama on texts by Nagarjuna, Atisha and Longchen Rinpoche.
Rajgir
Buddha Sakyamuni and his Sangha spent many monsoon seasons in Rajgir. In this same area, we receive teachings on the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Bhagavati) on Vulture Peak. We also visit the Saptparni Cave, where there was the First Buddhist Council, and the Garden of Bamboos, another place where Buddha gave teachings to the Sangha.
Patna
We move on to the capital of one of the greatest empires in India. It was one of the Mauryan emperors, Ashoka (3rd century b.C.), who sent teachers of the Dharma of Buddha from India to Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. It was also here that there was the Third Buddhist Council.
On the way we visit the ruins of Nalanda University. Nalanda was an important center of Buddhist studies that attracted students from many parts of the world between the 5th and 7th centuries. There, about 10 thousand students and 2 thousand teachers used to live. Among the many masters of Nalanda, some of them were: Nagarjuna, Arya Deva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, Chandrakirti and Shantideva.
Vaishali
It was at Vaishali that the Buddha gave his last sermon (sutra) and announced his Paranirvana. We will visit the stupa that holds some of his relics.
Kusinara (Kushinagar)
Here we visit the stupa (4th century b.C.) that contains part of the ashes of Buddha and the temple built on the site of his Paranirvana.
Lumbini
We reach the border between India and Nepal, the place where Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Prince Siddhartha Gautama in 563 b.C.
Savatthi (Sravasti)
One of the eight major Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India. In Sravasti the Buddha lived most of his monastic life, taught the largest number of sutras (discourses), including the Diamond Sutra, and showed some miracles. The main monasteries there at the time were the Jetavana, where Buddha resided, and the Pubbarama.
Sankasia
With Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Rajgir, Vaishali, Sravasti, and Kushinagar complete the top eight places of Buddhist pilgrimage visited by pilgrims for millennia. It was in Sankasia that Buddha returned from his retreat in paradise called Tavatimsa and showed a few miracles. There existed some viharas (monasteries).
Agra
We can’t miss the Taj Mahal, built by the 4th great mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to his great love Mumtaz Mahal and the Red Fort, built in the 16th century by his grandfather and greater of all mughal emperors, Akbar.
Varanasi
Here we can experience one of the oldest cities in the world still alive.
Sarnath
Village where Buddha, after having become enlightened in Bodhgaya, walked to meet his five companions of practice. So it is the place where the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time to teach the Four Noble Truths and where the Sanga emerged. We visit the Deer Park with teachings and practices conducted by Bhante Nawang Tenphel (monk Gabriel). We also visit the Temple of the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka.
Kathmandu
On the flight from India we have a gorgeous view of the highest mountains in the world, the Himalayas.
Almost at the end of the journey, we walk through the valley of Kathmandu with about 1400m of altitude and a rich history. A mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism, Indian and Tibetan cultures and ethnics, forests, valleys and mountains. We go to the great stupa of Boudhanath, Swayambhunath stupa and the Pashupatinath temple.
We visit Guru Rinpoche's cave in Pharphing and the Durbar Squares of the cities of Patan and Bhaktapur.
Dhulikhel
Our last stop is in a small town located in the highest mountains in the valley, where we walk up to Namo Buddha. In another life, the Prince Siddhartha Gautama offered his body at this place to a tigress that was too weak to hunt and had starving cubs to feed.
The route of the Yatra Project is directly linked to the itinerary of the Dharma Yatra. Information on the locations listed here were provided by Dharma Yatri.
