Buddha and his legacy in India

Last year started in the India the construction of a complex that includes a temple and a statue of Buddha, which should be ready by 2013. The statue, in bronze, will be 152 meters high when completed. It will be the largest Buddha statue in the world.

This is proof that shows the importance of the Buddha, his religious teachings and the Buddhism in India. The complex will also include a library, a hospital, a university, a meditation center and an exhibition hall. It will cost more than 160 million euros.

Buddha is a title that in Sanskrit means "the one who has awakened" and not a proper name as is often believed. With that title he is known Siddhartha Gautama, a 486th century BC prince and religious leader Born in Nepal, he was the son of a noble family. When he dedicated himself to meditation and sought enlightenment, he abandoned his family and began to travel, that is how he came to India, to Bihar, in the north. There he dedicated himself to teaching through sermons, the first of which was in Benares, until the time of his death in XNUMX BC in Uttar Pradesh. After he died, his worship began. Today his fame and wisdom extends to India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and Thailand.

For the believers of Hinduism, the majority religion in India, Buddha is the ninth and most recent incarnation of Vishnu, the creator God of the universe, preceded by Krishna, the main form of God. At first, the Buddha confronted Hinduism over differences such as the caste system or the admission of women to worship. However, his overwhelming personality and the impact of his speech on people of all classes and conditions made Hindus accept the Buddha as part of their divine pantheon, integrating him among the religious avatars (reincarnations) of Hinduism. Buddhism is also now the fifth most important religion in the country.

Today, pilgrims and tourists follow the Buddhist routes of India. Since the Buddha began his preaching in Benares, this is usually where the tours begin. The Buddhist monasteries of Gompas, Tabo, Namgyal, and Sikkim are also visited. Other Buddhist pilgrimage sites are Bodhgaya and Uttar Pradesh, site of the Buddha's death.