BIGGEST STUPA, OLDEST STUPA AND THE OLDEST TREE IN THE WORLD

WEATHER: Hot and 35C- it really is an oppressive heat

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Surviving 4 hours of the 7 hour bike ride….

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It is so DAMN HOT

WORD OF THE DAY: Stupor  

THANKS TO ALL MY WATER CAHRITY DONATIONS SO FAR:

Massimo Ferrari

http://mycharitywater.org/bernies-odyssey-for-clean-water

BUDDHA QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. 
Buddha 

Before we leave anywhere in the morning Indika goes through a checklist of making sure we have everything we need for the day and if we are checking out making sure we have collected everything, charged everything and paid for everything.  It is so cute and you can see us all nodding as the items are read from his last each day.  We were heading on a bike ride today to see the ancient city of Anuradhapura.  I can ride a bike, I don’t mind riding bike, I am just not too good with hills and head winds.  But I am willing to give anything a go and today we were going to be on the bikes till around 3pm this afternoon.  So at 7.45am we met out the front to where all the bikes were lined up and we had to choose one, give it a test ride, get the adjustments made with the guy and the spanner and then we were on our way.  It was hot already and it was only 8am!  So we had to ride on the main road with all the traffic including the trucks. Busses and tuk tuks giving us a toot to let us know they were coming through.  We had a quick water stop, a busy intersection to cross, where our back up tuk tuk stopped the traffic to let us all cross in safety and then we got onto the more quite streets of the city.  Janice and Garry were in the tuk tuk as they weren’t comfortable riding the bikes on the busy roads and were also able to carry our spare water for the day.  Little did I know that the tuk tuk would be a life saver for me after lunch and that would be the way I would be getting home this afternoon? 

30 minutes later after turning off the main road and riding the smaller street we arrived at the   Anuradhapura Kingdom.  The Anuradhapura Complex named for its capital city, was the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka and third administrative center in Kingdom of Rajarata. Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 377 BC, it is over 2,500 years old and the scary thing is that 70% of the ancient capital is still underground as Sri Lanka have not had the funds to excavate the whole site and what we can see is massive, can you imagine how big this place would be if 100% has been excavated!!!!  The kingdom's authority extended throughout the country, although several independent areas emerged from time to time, which grew more numerous towards the end of the kingdom. Nonetheless, the king of Anuradhapura was seen as the supreme ruler of the country throughout the Anuradhapura period. Buddhism played a strong role in the Anuradhapura period, influencing its culture, laws, and methods of governance. Society and culture were revolutionized when the faith was introduced during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa; this cultural change was further strengthened by the arrival of the Tooth Relic of the Buddha in Sri Lanka and the patronage extended by her rulers.  Invasions from South India were a constant threat throughout the Anuradhapura period. Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom.  

Because the kingdom was largely based on agriculture, the construction of irrigation works was a major achievement of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, ensuring water supply in the dry zone and helping the country grow mostly self-sufficient. Several kings, most notably Vasabha and Mahasena, built large reservoirs and canals, which created a vast and complex irrigation network in the Rajarata area throughout the Anuradhapura period. These constructions are an indication of the advanced technical and engineering skills used to create them. The famous paintings and structures at Sigiriya; the Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavana stupas, and other large stupas; large buildings like the Lovamahapaya; and religious works (like the numerous Buddha statues) are landmarks demonstrating the Anuradhapura period's advancement in sculpting.

In 543 BC, Prince Vijaya (543–505 BC) arrived in Sri Lanka, having been banished from his homeland in India. He eventually brought the island under his control and established himself as king. After this, his retinue established villages and colonies throughout the country. One of these was established by Anuradha, a minister of King Vijaya, on the banks of a stream called Kolon and was named Anuradhagama.  In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) made it his capital and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled the country during in the Anuradhapura Kingdom, with the exception of Kashyapa I (473–491), who chose Sigiriya to be his capital. 

Our first stop of the morning was to see the oldest living tree in documented history.  Sounds pretty impressive and I had a mental picture in my head on what this tree would look like.  After parking our bikes we dodged a few of the ‘sellers’ but I did get sucked into buying some water lilies (the national flower) to take as an offering when we got to the tree.  It was only 100LKR but Indika warned to buy the flowers closer to the entrance of the compound as there are monkeys that will sneak up on you and steal the flowers from you.  Well I had already spoken to ‘my’ dude and with his advice that the monkeys aren’t here this early, I thought I would take the risk and as nice Garry put it I was now monkey bait and I told the whole group that they needed to keep an eye out for the cheeky monkeys but I know that they just wanted to have a photo of me getting attacked by monkeys should this occur.  Walking the paved walkway, it was about 1km long, I felt like I was a walking target and found the need to keep looking over my shoulder.  At one stage I had to get something out of my bag and handed the flowers to Christine and she thought I had seen a monkey and was passing them off to her, too funny… but the flower guy was right and we didn’t see a single monkey for the whole walk to the tree entrance. 

While walking we started to see in full force the Buddhist flags.  The flag was designed in the late 19th century to symbolize and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.  The flag was originally designed in 1885 by the Colombo Committee, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The flag was published in the Sarasavi Sandaresa newspaper of 17 April 1885 and was first hoisted in public on Vesak day, 28 April 1885.  Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, an American journalist, founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, felt that its long streaming shape made it inconvenient for general use. He therefore suggested modifying it so that it was the size and shape of national flags. Modifications were made accordingly, which were adopted. The modified flag was published in the Sarasavi Sandaresa of 8 April 1886 and first hoisted on Vesak day 1886.  In 1889 the modified flag was introduced to Japan by Anagarika Dharmapala and Olcott—who presented it to the Emperor—and subsequently to Burma.  At the inaugural conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists on 25 May 1950, its founder President Professor G P Malasekera proposed that this flag be adopted as the flag of Buddhists throughout the world; this motion was unanimously passed.  The six vertical bands of the flag represent the six colors of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained Enlightenment:

Blue (Nila): Loving kindness, peace and universal compassion

Yellow (Pita): The Middle Path – avoiding extremes, emptiness

Red (Lohita): The blessings of practice – achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity

White (Odata): The purity of Dharma – leading to liberation, outside of time or space

Orange (Manjesta): The Buddha's teachings – wisdom

The sixth vertical band, on the fly, is made up of a combination of rectangular bands of the five other colours, and represents a compound of the other five colours in the aura's spectrum. This compound colour is referred to as Pabbhassara ('essence of light').  I like the flag and I want to buy one before I finish the trip. 

So at the entrance of the Bodhi Tree we were required to take off our hats and shoes and then we had to walk through a security scanner to gain entrance.  Security was beefed up some years ago when in 1986 people were shot and in 1998 a bomb went off also killing some people.  The security has gone a little lax since then as the scanner we walked through wasn’t even plugged in.  The men had to pass through a men’s line and we had a female line for us to walk through.  Tickets were purchased in the main courtyard and then Indika told us the story behind the Bodhi Tree.  Its full name is Sri Maha Bodhiya and is the oldest living tree in documented history of the world.  It is a Sacred Fig tree and is said to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi tree under which Buddha became enlightened. It was planted in 288 BC and is said to be the southern branch of the Sri Maha Bodhi Bodhgaya India, also the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date. The sacred tree brought by the Ven. Sangamitta, the sister of Ven. Arahath Mahinda who introduced Buddha's teachings into Sri Lanka.  The area around the Sri Maha Bodhi, the Brazen Palace and Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba was once probably part of the Great Temple. The sacred Bodhi tree is the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world, for it has been tended by an uninterrupted succession of guardians for over 2000 years, even during the periods of Indian occupation.  The tree compound is surrounded by a wall that was constructed during the reign of King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha, to protect it from wild elephants. The late Ven. Pallegama Rewatha Thera had planted the Pariwara Bo trees to camouflage the Bodhi to protect it from 'ruthless' humans and to safeguard it from natural disasters such as strong winds and rains.  A lot of Sri Lankan have sought the blessings of the Sri Maha Bodhi before commencing any important work, family occasion, purchase of something, family and anything else that people may need blessings for in their lives.  The Bodhi is part of the Atamasthana or Eight Sacred Places which are a series of locations in Sri Lanka where the Buddha had visited during his three visits to the country and the Bodhi was one of those eight places and we were also going to see Thuparamaya, Abhayagiri Dagaba and Jetavanarama which is a pretty cool claim to fame, whether you are into the faith or not.  So we went into the main temple where I made an offering to Buddha to give thanks not so much a religious gesture than out a sign of respect and if I can get some extra help for a better life, believer or not, I am happy to try my chances.  I think Buddhism is a faith I can relate to in regards to their main aspect in life is to make themselves a better person, understand themselves, and help the people around them to give them a better life.  There can’t be too much wrong with that philosophy can there?

We exited the Bodhi Tree compound and made our way back towards the bikes with a stop at the Ruwanmalisaya stupa.  It is considered a marvel for its architectural qualities and sacred to many Buddhists all over the world. It was built by King Dutugemunu c. 140 B.C., who became lord of all Sri Lanka after a war in which the Chola King Elara, was defeated.   The stupa is one of the world's tallest monuments, standing at 91m and with a circumference of 290m it was a pretty impressive building to admire and walk around clockwise as Buddhists do.  It is amazing to me they build this massive constructions that are not to be entered, nothing stored in them and to not be used as a traditional building.  All that effort.  The construction of stupas was noticeable not only during the Anuradhapura Kingdom but throughout the history of Sri Lanka. Stupas were built enshrining an object of worship. The Anuradhapura dagabas which date from the early centuries of the Anuradhapura period are of such colossal proportions that they constitute the largest structures of their type anywhere in the Buddhist World, even rivaling the Pyramids of Egypt in size.  Stupas had deep and well-constructed foundations, and the builders were clearly aware of the attributes of the materials used for construction. Suitable methods for each type of material have been used to lay foundations on a firm basis.  All buildings have been adorned with elaborate carvings and sculptures and were supported by large stone columns. These stone columns can be seen in several buildings.  Drainage systems of these buildings are also well planned, and terra cotta pipes were used to carry water to drainage pits.  Buildings were constructed using timber, bricks and stones. Stones were used for foundations and columns, while brick were used for walls. Lime mortar was used for plastering walls.  It is white washed once a year to maintain its ghost white colour all year round.  There is a 40cm crystal at the top of the spire and during the Full Moon festivities 1 million people come here to offer their thanks.  1 million people!!!  Imagine how busy that would be!!!  I used my 2 last water lilies here as an offering here and then we headed back to the bikes and our next stop for the day at the museum.

The museum was good, it was like any other archeological museum, but it was hot as an oven inside.  So needless to say we only spent around 45 minutes here looking in the treasure room, the pottery room and the object room.  Indika’s mum works at the museum and we met her on our way back out to the bikes for the 10 minute ride to the biggest stupor ever built.  Jetavanaramaya.  It is located in the ruins of Jetavana Monastery in the sacred world heritage city of Anuradhapura.  King Mahasena (273-301 AD) initiated the construction of the stupa following the destruction of Mahavihara, his son Meghavanna resume the construction work of the stupa. A part of a sash or belt tied by the Buddha is believed to be the relic that is enshrined here.  The archaeologists believe it may have the original height over 100m, but today is about 70m, and also this was a similar height to the Abhayagiri as well. A British guidebook from the early 1900s calculated that there were enough bricks in the dagoba’s brick core to make a 3m-high wall stretching from London to Edinburgh.  It is also significant in world history as one of the tallest structures in the ancient world.  The height of the stupa is 122m and was the tallest ancient stupa in the world; the structure is no longer the tallest however it is the largest with a volume of 233,000 m2. At the time of its completion the structure was the third tallest structure in the world behind the Great Pyramids of Giza. Approximately 93.3 million baked bricks were used in its construction; the engineering ingenuity behind the construction of the structure is a significant development in the history of the island.  

From here we took a 15 minute walk around some of the surrounding ruins and behind Jetavana stands the ruins of a monastery that could accommodate around 3000 monks and one building has door jambs over 8m high which is still standing and we saw.  It was MASSIVE.  Just imagine how big those doors had to have been!!!!  At one time, those massive doors opened to reveal a large Buddha image where the only thing now remaining is the partial lotus flower that the Buddha sat on. 

I was starting to fade in the heat now.  I was hot and by this time it was 11.45am and we had been on the move for nearly 4 hours and I was really feeling the pinch.  We had a 15 minute ride to one of the most beautiful constructions in Anuradhapura, the Twin Ponds.  These bathing ponds are not twins ( are positioned in such a way that they appear almost the same) one is larger (132ft large and 51 ft. wide) and the other is smaller (91ft by 51 ft.) and were built by the Sinhalese in 6th-8th centuries. They were built in granite, flight of steps are located on both ends of the pools decorated with Punkalas (pots of abundance). The water was channeled to the ponds by a sophisticated system of filtration and was used as a bathing place by the monks of Abhayagiri Monastery in northern part of the city.  They still had a small amount of water in one of them and a handful of dead fish and going by the temperature I rekon they tried to jump out of the hot water and dies anyway.  Poor buggers.  We used this stop to refresh our water supplies and we all got a cold soft drink to get some needed sugar back into our dehydrated bodies. 

Our next and mast stop before lunch was the Samadhi Statue.  It is randomly in Mahamevnāwa Park in Anuradhapura.  It is a statue with Buddha depicted in the position of the Dhyana Mudra, the posture of meditation associated with his first Enlightenment, also called Nirvana. In the Dhyana Mudra the Buddha sits cross - legged with his upturned palms placed one over the other on his lap. This position is universally known throughout the Buddhist world, and this statue is therefore one of the most typical pieces of Buddhist sculpture. This statue is 8 feet in height and carved from granite.

The next stop was lunch and I was done.  Cooked, done and had enough.  I was lucky that nice Garry was happy to swap his spot in the tuk tuk, so he took my bike and I gladly took his seat.  The tuk tuk was like a backup vehicle anyway and we drove behind the last rider and lunch was only a 5 minute ride away, but I really don’t think I could have gone much further.  But it was lunch time now, time to refuel our bodies and knowing that the ride home was to be uphill and we still had some sights to see, I just hoped that nice Garry was going to stay on the bike for me till we got back to the hotel.  Lunch was at Elephant Pond.  This gigantic man made pond is 150 meters in length 50 meters across and 10 meters in depth with the holding capacity of 75,000 cubic meters of water.  There was no water in it to speak of when we were there, but it is still a pretty impressive site.  The water to this pond has been supplied through a network of underground canals and these underground canals still work after so many hundreds years and in 1982 after a very heavy rainy season you could see water pouring though these inlets.  This tank probably has been used by the monks in the Abeygiri monastery who amounted over four thousand priests.  Lunch was an impressive spread provided by the bike rental company of a handful of traditional Sri Lankan dishes with rice.  I put everything on my plate but it is with sadness I couldn’t eat it all as it was just too spicy for me.  So I ate all my rice and with pineapple and bananas for dessert I had a few of those to fill me up till dinner.  With food in this country comes the monkeys and Indika and the bike people had done well so far to keep these critters at bay, but once the bananas came out I just knew we were going to lose them and within 10 minutes as we were looking at one monkey, 2 came from behind and swiped the whole bunch off the tray!  Cheeky things they are and that monkey knew he had to act fast so he peeled them all and stored them in his mouth and then went to share them with his family.  Smart, but cheeky all the same.  It was nice sitting under the shade of these massive trees and think back to when this would have been a thriving city with 5,000 monks in the height of its glory days.  And it really is 15C cooler in the shade, that much I can tell you.

So it was time to pack up and we had a quick look at some of the ruins of the Abhayagiri Refectory where 5,000 monks were fed twice a day at 6am and then again before 12 noon.  That makes 10,000 meals pushed through this very place we were standing at now.  Amazing.  We were back on our bikes at 1.30pm to our next stop to see Half Moon Stone.  The first Moonstones (sandakada pahanas) were created during the latter stage of the ancient Anuradhapura Kingdom. They were only placed at entrances to Buddhist temples during this period.  The carvings of the semicircular stone slab were the same in every sandakada pahana. A half lotus was carved in the center, which was enclosed by several concentric bands. The first band from the half lotus is decorated with a procession of swans, followed by a band with an intricate foliage design known as liyavel. The third band has carvings of four animals; elephants, lions, horses, and bulls. These four animals follow each other in a procession symbolizing the four stages in life: growth, energy, power and forbearance. The fourth and outermost band contains a carving of flames.  They are pretty impressive works of art and with some wise words from Indika; it made standing in the sun to listen to the stories worth it. 

We had 2 more stops for the day.  We had seen the most important stupa, the biggest stupa and now we were to see one that was 95% through its restoration and after 25 years it was into its last 6 months of completion.  Rathna Prasadaya was a skyscraper stupa built by King Kanittha Tissa who ruled Ceylon from 167 to 186 AD. Mihindu II and Mihindu IV renovated the building during the 8th and 10th centuries. It looked like a massive pin cushion with all the outer scaffolding still in place around this massive structure.  We got to hold the 2 sized bricks that are being used for the project and the largest one was around 10kg.  Just think we held a brick that was going to go it a structure that is being restored 2100 years after it was originally built.  We also got to touch some of the original bricks at the previous stupa and they were 2,500 years old.  Pretty mind boggling huh!!!!

FINALLY our last stop for the day was at Thuparamaya which is a stupa.  It is a Buddhist sacred place of veneration. Thera Mahinda, an envoy sent by King Ashoka himself introduced Theravada Buddhism and also chetiya worship to Sri Lanka. At his request King Devanampiyatissa built Thuparamaya in which was enshrined the collarbone of the Buddha. It is considered to be the first dagaba built in Sri Lanka following the introduction of Buddhism. This is considered the earliest monument, the construction of which was chronicled Sri Lanka. The name Thuparamaya comes from "stupa" and "aramaya" which is a residential complex for monks.  Thuparama Dagoba is the oldest dagoba in Sri Lanka – indeed, probably the oldest visible dagoba in the world. This was just a ride by as everyone now had reached their limit.  It had been a big day and we all just wanted to get out of the sun and get a cold drink in the hand.  I felt a little guilty as I jumped in the tuk tuk with Janice for the 20 minute ride back to the hotel.  75% of the ride was up hill and I just know I would have struggled to get back.  Gary and Kevin had a small reprieve holding onto the side of the tuk tuk for a few minutes each and as we were the ‘caboose’ of the group we were able to stop and take some photos of some black faced monkey on the way home.  Even though they are a menace here they are still cute but scary if they come within 3m of me though. 

We back to the hotel at 3pm and as soon as I had walked in the door, I went straight to the bar and asked for a bottle of coke and a glass of ice, and I swigged that whole thing in 5 seconds flat.  I have found eating the ice here hasn’t caused me any problems so I am happy to ask for ice where-as the rest of the group think I am crazy.  But this is the 3^rd place so far I’ve had ice in my drink and I have had no tummy issues what so ever (touchwood) and with the weather so hot it is a risk I am willing to take.  I was absolutely knackered.  The group met at 6.30pm for our next day’s events and then some of them went out of the hotel for dinner.  I couldn’t be fagged and a handful of us stayed and had dinner at the hotel.  I tried calling Zeme a few times to no avail, which is a bummer, but this happens and I will just have to try him another day.  I was all tucked up in bed by 9pm and didn’t realize till Lenore and I looked at our clocks as I set my alarm and we just had to laugh.  Talk about a pair of party animals …. NOT.  The heat really does sap your energy but I am going to make sure no matter what that my blog entries don’t fall more than 4 days behind as I learnt my lesson the hard way a few weeks ago.   

What an amazing day.  A long day.  A MEGA HOT day but we saw some incredible things and the group is all getting along well.  What more could a travelling gal ask for?