To steal a line from Patrick Kavanagh, the bicycles go by in threes and fours here in Lumbini. Well, in fact, they go by in all manner of multiples. Biking is THE way of getting around in these parts.
Yesterday I hired rickety bike of ancient Chinese origin for myself and went to see the spot where Buddha is said to have been born, at the Maya Devi Temple in the Sacred Garden. I sat for a long time listening to the chanting of some Tibetan monks and watched as pilgrims prostrated themselves towards the temple. Later, I visited some of the many Buddhist monasteries in the area, each one built by a Buddhist community from a different country. The Chinese monastery was particularly elegant.
This morning, in an effort to beat the 42 degree heat, I set off early and visited the Peace Pagoda and Crane Sanctuary. The cranes were in hiding, but the Pagoda, brilliant white and glinting gold under a clear blue sky, was imposing. I had seen a similar one in Pokhara. Both were built in the 1990s by the Japanese, at a cost of 1 million dollars each. Their purpose is to promote world peace and it is expected that in all, 100 of these Pagodas will be built all over the world.
It struck me both today and yesterday, that despite the Buddha’s rejection of divinity and materialism, this site has become a place of pilgrimage, where the local people rely on tourists for their livelihood, and where Buddha is worshipped as a deity. Having learned so much about the Buddha’s teachings on the Vipassana course last month, this materialism and worshipping of idols feels very out of synch. The idea also of spending over a million dollars on a white and gold structure set in the middle of a field, whose purpose is idealistic, but not an enhancement of the lives of the local community in any way (besides perhaps being a minor tourist attraction), especially in a country with such obvious poverty as Nepal, also gives me a sense of unease. Would that money not have been better spent providing better roads or sanitation or improving healthcare or education systems?
But there once again is the paradox which so frequently arises in developing countries. The huge disparity between those with wealth and therefore the power to decide how finances will be allocated in a country, and those who live hand to mouth and have little or no say. The Buddha may not wanted to be revered as a deity, and much of what is happening here in Lumbini as regards construction work especially, flies in the face of his original ‘dhamma’ or teachings, but it is not so different to other places of pilgrimage that I would be familiar with: Knock, Lourdes, Bethlehem.
And so I’ll rest my judgement hat there and maybe continue my bicycle visit now that a breeze has come up. Perhaps there’ll be some cranes fishing by the river, and all going well, there will be a train ticket to Delhi ready for me at the travel agent. Tomorrow I’m back on the road.
The Barby Bulletin 