Buddhist pilgrimage
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The most important places of pilgrimage in Buddhism are located the Gangetic plains of Northern India and Southern Nepal, in the area between New Delhi and Rajgir. This is the area where Gautama Buddha lived and taught, and the main sites connected to his life are now important places of pilgrimage for both Buddhists and Hindus. However, many countries that are or were predominantly Buddhist have shrines and places which can be visited as a pilgrimage.
Places where Buddha livedFour main pilgrimage sitesGautama Buddha is said to have said that the four sites most worthy of pilgrimage for his followers to visit, and producing a feeling of spiritual urgency, are:[1]
The Eight Great Places
In the later commentarial tradition, four other sites are also raised to a special status because Buddha had performed a certain miracle there. These four places, partly through the inclusion in this list of commentarial origin, became important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in ancient India, as the Attha-mahathanani (Pali for 'The Eight Great Places'). It is important to note, however, that some of these events do not occur in the Tipitaka and are thus purely commentarial. The first four of the Eight Great Places are identical to the places mentioned by Buddha: The last four are places where a certain miraculous event is reported to have occurred:
Other sitesSome other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected to the life of Gautama Buddha are: Pataliputta, Nalanda, Gaya, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, Varanasi, Kesariya, Devadaha, Pava and Mathura. All these places are located in the Gangetic plain. Famous pilgrimsA few influential historical Buddhist pilgrims are:
Other pilgrimage placesOther famous places for Buddhist pilgrimage in various countries include:
Notes
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