Bodhi Tree, Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh India

Bodhi tree is another sacred place for the Buddhists as it originated from the sapling of the Sri Lankan Bodhi tree, which is also a branch of the original Bodhi tree(Bodh Gaya) under which the Buddha attained enlightenment in 528 BCE.

The Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura was brought by Emperor Ashoka's daughter, the venerable Bhikkhuni Sanghamitta, as a branch of the Buddhagaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, under which Prince Sidhartha Gautama attained Enlightenment. The bodhi tree of Anuradhapura is the oldest religious tree in the world.

The retaining wall around the Bodhi tree and the images of the Sakyamuni Buddha preaching his first sermon to the first five disciples were erected in 1989 with the assistance of the Myanmar Buddhist devotees.

In 1999 the Bodhi tree complex was widened by making space for meditation and Dhamma sermons with twenty images of previous Buddhas around the Bodhi tree, beginning from Taranankara Buddha to Gautama Buddha, all said to have attained Enlightenment under the Sri Maha Bodhi tree at Buddhagaya and preached their first sermons at Isipatana Deer Park, Sarnath. A granite plate inscribed with the Dhamma Chakka Pavattana Sutta, the first sermon of the Sakyamuni Buddha was also erected. The entire Bodhi complex was declared open on 17 December 1999 by the Dalai Lama, with a message to the world to restore and promote peace and harmony.