Beautification
According to the Mahaparinirvana Sutra (the sutra of the Great Demise), in the last discourse of the Buddha (6th BCE), the Blessed One spoke about the sacredness of certain places associated with his life. These were: (i) Lumbini: the place where he was born; (ii) Bodhgaya: the place where he attained Enlightenment; (iii) Sarnath: the place where he preached the first sermon and (iv) Kushinagara: the place where he attained Mahaparinirvana. Later four more sites were added to this list where miraculous events occurred: (v) Sankasya: where the Buddha descended from the heavens after his seventh vassa retreat; (vi) Rajgir: where the miracle of the elephant took place; (vii) Sravasti: the site of the miracle of the pairs and (viii) Vaishali: where monkeys offered the gift of honey.
The Buddha emphasized that devotees should visit and venerate these holy places as a way of purifying their thought, speech and action. In other words, pilgrimage to the holy places would energise the devotee to make progress on following the Buddha’s Eight Fold Path. It is widely believed today that pilgrimage to these holy places with the correct attitude can help devotees advance on the path of the Dharma.
