Varanasi Sarnath

When I arrived back from the Golden Temple, Narayan called for a tuktuk to take me to Sarnath. Sarnath is where Buddha gave his first teachings after becoming enlightened.

It took about an hour to get there, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking in the sights from the back of a tuktuk. When we arrived, we met up with a guide that Narayan had arranged to take me around. He showed me the temple, which is a replica of the original temple. The Golden Buddha statue is in the temple pictured below.

We walked through the beautiful grounds to the sapta, or monument to the Buddha. There were people doing pradakshina well as groups receiving teachings in the shadow of the sapta.

There's a deer park on the grounds that is fenced and cared for by the government. We didn't see any deer, but we did see a donkey looking creature. At first, I thought the deer looked very different in India! 🤣 There's also a beautiful stream full of koi fish.

There's the famous bodhi tree that Buddha sat under while giving his teachings to the five Rishis, or great sages. It is surrounded by prayer wheels.

There were a couple of groups receiving teachings here as well. The prayer flags hanging all around add to the beauty of the scene. The bodhi tree is in the center of the scene. Zoom in to see the details!

I appreciated the opportunity to visit this sacred site of Buddhism. There may be different paths, but they all lead to the same place. 🙏💖🙏