I just learned that the Buddha isn’t the only Buddha. Buddhas are born every 5,000 years. I learned that in Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini is where our current Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was born in 623 BC. It’s a holy site, and is becoming an important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists all over the world. Since Lumbini was identified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, Buddhist countries (plus France and Germany) have built beautiful temples and monasteries in a giant park near the Mahadevi Temple, the exact location of Buddha’s birth.
I loved visiting the park, which is about 3 square miles. I walked part of it but, in the autumn heat, it was nicer to ride in a tuk-tuk to get to the temples and monasteries.
Most of the temples at Lumbini are built to remind us of each country’s most famous Buddhist temple. China’s temple looks a lot like a small version of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Burma’s temple looks like a smaller version of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
At the Singapore temple, young monks played beautiful music with traditional instruments.
The park is still a work in progress and many temples are still under construction, but the site is peaceful and inspirational.
Even the buffalo have assumed a Buddhist attitude. Or maybe Buddha assumed the spirit of the buffalo.
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Lord Buddha
Camino Milagro 
I am only now catching up on your travels after an almost 3 week slooooow boat across the Pacfic to Japan. Once again, your travels inspire me!! Sorry to have missed you in SMA. Hopefully we overlap somewhere sometime soon. We’ll be in Thailand from November to January and then back to SMA for a month to get our permenant visas sorted. Any chance we’ll be in the same place(s) and the same time?
I’m eager to hear about your travels as always! I’ll be in SMA soon until Feb 1. Gone all of Feb and most of March and April. Hope to see you in January! xoxo
This post will lead me to many rabbit holes to investigate. I also didn’t know about there being more than one Buddha… nor how one becomes a/The Buddha. Visiting the holy site must have been quite an experience.
Thanks for keeping me busy!
Yah, travel is all about learning! xoxox
We visited Lumbini too, and were not prepared for how large it is. I think we were only able to visit about half of it, or maybe not even that much. Maggie
And they are building more temples! I think there is a plan to make it an important place of pilgrimage and retreat for Buddhists.
Howdy. In the final photo, I just noticed there’s a bird standing on the animal in the foreground. You don’t see that every day.
Yeah, it was very darling. Buffalo are very sweet, mellow animals.
Kim, This is news to me… Not just a one Buddha… Interesting! Lovely story and lovelier photos. I loved the dogs and the … is it a crane? Cheers!
Yes, I think that is a small crane on the buffalo. Lumbini has lots of both!