At peace with the Buddha

It took a Thai woman to discover Shravasti, now among the most popular places on the Buddhist circuit

Centuries after Lord Buddha spent 24 years of his life meditating at Shravasti, this district in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh is slowly discovering its Buddhist roots.

At a three-hour drive from state capital Lucknow, on the Bahraich-Balrampur highway, Shravasti now tops India8217;s Buddhist circuit among foreign tourists. According to the UP tourism department8217;s figures, more than 44,000 foreign tourists visited the place last year as against 35,000 domestic tourists.

Merely 10 years old 8212; the district came into existence only in 1997 8211; Shravasti boasts of one of the most impressive meditation centres, the International Non-Formal Learning and Meditation Center.

On entering Shravasti district, as one moves beyond Sahet towards Angulimaal cave, a giant statue of a meditating Buddha rises above everything else. At 100 feet, this is the world8217;s tallest brass statue of Buddha and weighs 1,500 kg. The statue stands out against the green and white pagoda-style architecture of the meditation centre.

The force behind this meditation centre is Thai activist Maha Upasika Dr Bongkot Sitthipol, who about 15 years ago led 1,000 devotees to Buddhist centers in India and Nepal, including Lumbini, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Gaya and for the first time, Shravasti.

Of all these places, Sitthipol thought Shravasti held a special significance for it was here that the Lord had spent a considerable part of his life. Even when many other countries lobbied hard for the meditation centre, Sitthipol zeroed in on Shravasti.

In 1996, Sitthipol got 125 acres behind Jetvan, where Buddha spent most of his life, for the centre. And then, Sitthipol got down to work. She brought 9,999 a lucky number in Thailand banyan saplings from Thailand and planted them at the campus. Today, there are 40,000 such trees.

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And when it was time for the centre to be built, Sitthipol simply drew sketches of a pagoda-shaped building and got an architect to do the calculations. Sitthipol knew how to lead from the front 8211; during the construction, she and her disciples worked tirelessly, they did everything from levelling the land to mixing mortar. She even put up a water purification plant, which produces 2,000 litres of drinking water.

Every day, nearly 300 visitors turn up at the centre. 8220;All those who come here are motivated to do at least five minutes of meditation,8217;8217; says a volunteer at the centre.

Shravasti8217;s meditation centre has inspired other such centres in the neighbouring districts of Balrampur, Bahraich and Faizabad.