ABSTRACT
I saw the Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya in February 1980 when he came to perform ceremonies for the Tibetan New Year as he has done since he left Tibet. The audience was not big, but clearly included devotees who had journeyed from very far to be there for this event (Figure 3.1). There were other special occasions at Bodh Gaya throughout the year, such as the Buddha Jayanti, which would temporarily swell a small resident population largely composed of Indian villagers and international Buddhist monastics. Back then relatively few visitors otherwise travelled there. In 1980 the tree and the seat beneath, which is often called the Vajrāsana or Bodhimaṇḍa, were significant aspects of the site, but showed little sign of ongoing veneration, quite unlike the situation today (Figure 3.2). In less than twenty-five years, a visit to Bodh Gaya became quite a different experience, demonstrating how swiftly change can occur even at the place where Shakyamuni is believed to have achieved enlightenment. Given the possible speed of such developments, it is surprising how many still privilege some sense of an “authentic” or “singular” Buddhist appearance of the site over a multivocal one.
