PILGRIMAGE

Pilgrimage (cetiyacārikā or vandanacārikā) is the act of travelling to a place of religious significance for specifically religious reasons. In Buddhism, pilgrimage is neither an obligation as in Islam nor a penance as in Christianity, although it has long been and remains even today a popular practice. The Buddha recommended that his disciples visit at least once in their lives the places where the four most important events in his life took place - Lumbinī where he was born, Bodh Gayā where he was enlightened, Sārnāth where he first proclaimed the Dhamma and Kusinārā where he passed away (D.II,141). However, while going on pilgrimage is good, being virtuous is far more important. The Jātakamālā says: 'More beautiful than any garland, sweeter than any taste, truthfulness generates great good and is less arduous than practising austerity or pilgrimage to far-off shrines.' The first person we know of to have gone on pilgrimage was King Aśoka who went to Bodh Gayā in about 260 BCE and to Lumbinī some ten years later.

The most famous travel book of all time and one that has been continually in print for 14 centuries was written by the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang. This Buddhist monk spent 16 years on pilgrimage in India and later wrote an account of his journey which is filled with such detailed and accurate information that it continues to be studied by historians, geographers and travellers in India even today.