This priest walks in the foot­steps of his fore­fath­ers. This is
Sarnath, home to the deer park where the newly enlightened Buddha came
to give his first teach­ings. How amaz­ing that morn­ing must have been,
and I won­der what the priest thinks as he con­siders the ruins of
former Buddhist temples. The great Indian king, Asoka, built temples
and stu­pas to Buddha here to hon­our the great man’s achieve­ments. Just
out of shot are the first carvings of Buddhist law writ­ten down
any­where, and indeed one of the first ever attempts by a gov­ern­ment to
influ­ence the think­ing of its people. It failed to con­vince and after
the king passed Buddhism was mar­gan­al­ised by the ever eclipsing power
of Indian Hinduism. This deer park is one of the few things left of
that faith. But not all is lost, the four lion headed statue of
Asoka’s state is even now the sym­bol of the Indian gov­ern­ment. A
test­a­ment to a great king. As for Buddha him­self, he needs no statues,
no temples, as he said, “Buddhism is the boat across the river, once
on the other bank you don’t need it”.

Related Posts

• No Related Posts