The Bodhi Tree

The tree that stands today on the western side of the Mahabodhi Temple is a Ficus religiosa, a peepal or sacred fig — and a direct descendant, by cutting after cutting, of the original tree under which the Buddha sat.

An unbroken lineage of saplings

The chain of descent is remarkably documented. A cutting of the original tree was carried to Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE by Sanghamitta, daughter of Ashoka; that tree, the Sri Maha Bodhi, still lives and is the oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date in the world. When the Bodhgaya tree was later damaged, saplings from Anuradhapura were brought back to renew it. The tree you stand beneath is the child of the child of the child of the tree of the awakening.

Practice at the tree

At dawn the space beneath the branches fills with saffron and maroon — monks circumambulating, pilgrims prostrating, lay people quietly tying strips of cloth in the five colours to the railing. Fallen heart-shaped leaves are gathered with great care; to be given one is a small blessing. We sit here in the early morning, when the recitation is loudest and the crowd has not yet come.