Deer Park/Plum Village Peepal Pilgrimage February 2025: In the Footsteps of the Buddha
Deer Park/Plum Village Peepal Pilgrimage (February 2025): In the Footsteps of the Buddha - A pilgrimage led by Monastics of Deer Park/Plum Village and Dharmacharya Shantum Seth
Sponsorship: For every 6 people who sign up for the pilgrimage, one monastic is sponsored free on the pilgrimage. You
are also welcome to independently sponsor a monastic to come on the pilgrimage.
February 9 – February 22, 2025
Shakyamuni Buddha discovered the truth of overcoming suffering and bringing happiness to the individual, family and society. Before he died, the Buddha suggested that it would be of great benefit to those who are interested in his teachings to make a pilgrimage to the places associated with his life.
This 14-day journey will begin at noon in Delhi on Thursday, February 9, 2025.
In Delhi, we will visit the place where Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India, lived and died. This is a wonderful place to begin the pilgrimage as Gandhiji reminds us of the Buddha in our time. He personified a unique way of living,
spirituality and politics where it became a practice of applied ethics.
The next day, we will fly to Varanasi. In Varanasi, the ‘City of Light’ we will visit the banks of the Ganges River where the Hindu faithful come to wash away their bad karma. We shall visit the Deer Park in Sarnath where the Buddha met his first five disciples and offered his teachings on the Four Noble Truths, the Eight-Fold Path and Non-Self, thereby ‘turning the wheel of the Dharma’, that continues to turn, 2,600 years later.
Thereafter we shall continue in our own private coach to Bodh Gaya where Siddhartha Gautama awakened to become the Buddha. We shall visit the Mahabodhi Temple, sit under the Bodhi Tree and visit the seven sites he visited after his enlightenment. We shall also walk across the countryside to the caves where the Buddha practiced austerities and to the village of Sujata, the young girl who offered him rice and milk when he was starving to death.
We shall journey on to Rajgir, the capital of the Magadha kingdom at the time of the Buddha. We will visit Jethian, where the Buddha met with King Bimbisara, walk to the Bamboo Grove, the first land donated to the sangha, climb to his favorite meditation place, Vulture Peak and walk to the Saptaparni Caves, where the first Buddhist council was held, via the Hot Springs that he bathed at. We shall visit Nalanda the site of the famous university from the 5th to 12th centuries CE where a lot of Mahayana teachings were developed, including being the source of the Manifestation school lineage of the Order of Inter-being.
We then travel across the Ganges to Vaishali, where the first nuns were ordained, and the Buddha spent his last rain retreat.
Next, we move to Kushinagar, where the Buddha passed away, and visit the stupas and temples to mark the spots of his last teachings, death and cremation. En-route, we pass Kesariya, where there was the largest stupa in the world and where it is thought the Buddha delivered the Kalama sutra.
We will then cross the border into Nepal to Lumbini, where the Buddha was born, then back across the border to the palace at Kapilavastu, where Siddhartha the Prince spent the first 29 years of his life. We continue to Sravasti, where the Buddha spent 24 of his rain retreats. We shall visit the famous Jeta Grove where the Buddha offered many teachings, including the Anapanasati Sutra, on the Full Awareness of Breathing, and the old city where he converted the dreaded terrorist, Angulimala to the path of peacefulness. These places are very moving and allow us to experience what the Buddha did and internalize his teachings.
We will go to Lucknow, the modern-day capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh. The next morning, Saturday February 22, 2025, we will fly back to Delhi, when the pilgrimage ends.
You should book your departure flight on the evening/night of February 22, 2025.
Some who want can opt for extension journeys to the Taj Mahal and the Ajanta/Ellora caves.
*Peepal is the tree under which the Buddha awakened.
For further information & registration please contact us at info@buddhapath.com
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