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After
leaving Kuśinagara in early morning we passed the long
journey to the south to Sārnāth by Gaňgā.
Sārnāth was called Mŗgadāva anciently which lies
in about 6 kilometers of the north of Varanasi of Gaňgā
Plain now. When Prince Siddhartha demonstrated the attainment of
enlightenment at Bodhgayā, he walked to Sārnāth
to instruct the five ascetics who had left him earlier. Then he
gave the first turning of the wheel of Dharma and
speech of though from his realizing. From this moment the
earliest Buddhist monk group and doctrines has established.
There are 2 stūpas to commemorate that built by
Aśoka, one for first turning of the wheel of Dharma,
the other for instructing five bhikşus (monks).
Why
did Śakyamuni choose Sārnāth to be done as the
place for first speech? Because according to ancient Indian
legend, every persons who became Buddha must make the turning of
wheel of Dharma
here
at the first time, so Śakyamuni only continues to do
the traditional way. In Chinese translated sūtras the
most common word was “'Deer Park”, the name derives from the
story of Śakyamuni's former live (jātaka),
when he was as a deer king to lead a herd of deer. After much
indiscriminate plundering of the herd by a local king, an
agreement was made with him that one of their number would be
offered only when necessary. The turn came of a doe who was
shortly to give birth and wished to delay until then. The deer
king offered himself in her stead, which so impressed the king
that he not only resolved to refrain from killing deer in future
but gave the park to them as their own.
Anyway,
Sārnāth was not only the important stronghold of
Buddhism development, it was the new centre of Buddhism art of
Gupta Dynasty, its artistic style was representatives
in this era as Mathūra. At the beginning of the 8th century
Xuan-zang had saw flourishing scene here, but after the
13th century Sārnāth had been destroyed and become the
ruins by the Islam and Hinduism. Through a large amount of
archaeological studies we excavate and reproduce the
civilization of Sārnāth in the past, and there are many
historical relics mostly collected in Sārnāth
Archaeological Museum.
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