I had the fortune of visiting the newly-opened and beautiful Buddha Samyak Darshan Museum in Vaishali. The main building in the shape of a stupa houses the Buddha Relics that were unearthed at Vaishali and kept at Patna Museum for over 70 years.

It is believed that after Buddha’s cremation, the ashes were divided equally into eight parts and distributed to the king and patrons of Buddha. The Licchavi Kings received their share, which they put inside the Vaishali stupa. The stupa was later destroyed and buried during the decline of Buddhism in India in the 12th century — only to be unearthed by British archaeologists in the early 1900s.

Vaishali and Buddha.

Vaishali is located some 30 km north of Patna — the state capital of Bihar in India. Although it often does not get mentioned at par with the other four major sites, it is historically significant in that it was the capital of the Licchavi Kingdom that patronized Buddha and the Sangha.

Vaishali is also believed to be where Buddha met his first teacher, Arada Kalama (yes! Buddha had teachers too). Arada taught him mediation, which Buddha mastered in a few months.

The Monkey Miracle.

It is believed that the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma took place in Vaishali, where the Buddha taught the concept of Bodhicitta — the Buddha-nature that is present in all sentient beings, and cittamatra (mind-only), over which later in the 4th century, the Yogacara School was founded by Asanga.

Today one can visit the spot marked by the Ashoka Pillar, and a large water reservoir (dry in winter) called the Monkey Tank, and a large brick mound renains of a stupa.

The reference to monkey comes from a very popular story of Buddha in Vaishali. A monkey is supposed to have stolen the Buddha’s begging bowl, and returned the bowl filled with fresh honey as an offering later. When the Buddha accepted and blessed it, the monkey was so happy. When he was reborn as a human, he attained enlightenment. This legend is the most famous of Vaishali and is told and retold, and even carved as rock and temple art all over Buddhist India.

Historically, Vaishali is remembered for two other important moments in Buddhism.

1. Teaching of Impermanence. Buddha also conducted his last teaching in Vaishali before leaving for Kushinagar. He taught on impermanence and went on to announce his upcoming demise and emphasized the inevitability of change — one of the key Buddhist concepts.
2. Ordination of women and democracy. Upon insistence by Ananda, Buddha ordained the first group of women into the Sangha — starting with his foster mother, Mahaprajapati Gautami (Buddha’s biological mother died soon after his birth). Furthermore, Buddha expressed his satisfaction over how the decisions in the Sangha were made in the most democratic manner.

Special gratitude.

A special thank you to the Indian monk and the security guard who allowed me to take pictures and spend a little more time in the temple. They did that when I told them that I was from Bhutan and was on a serious pilgrimage.

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Tadyatha Om Gatey Gatey Paragatey Parasamgatey Bodhi Svaha (ཏདྱ་ཐཱ། ཨོཾ་ག་ཏེ་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་སཾ་ག་ཏེ་བོ་དྷི་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།).
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Pilgrimage2026

eightplacesassociatedwithBuddha

• The ruins and the location of the original Vaishali stupa can be seen even today.
  ** With this third of the eight places associated to Buddha, I conclude the first phase of my pilgrimage in India. I will continue with Sarnath, Sravasti, Kapilavastu, Lumbini, and Kushinagar next time.