Kesariya Stupa and Vaishali

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  WHAT IT IS: The twin sanctified ground of Mahakaruna, or Supreme Compassion, where the Buddha sanctioned the ordination of women, taught the protective Ratana Sutta, spent his final monsoon retreat, and, according to tradition, gave his holy alms bowl to the devotees at Kesariya before moving toward Kushinagar.
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  WHY VISIT / CHANT: Recitation of the Ratana Sutta and circumambulation of the stupas, called Pradakshina, dissolve spiritual obscurity, remove epidemics and bodily illnesses, invoke divine triple-gem protection, and accelerate the attainment of inner liberation, or Nirvana.
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  WHEN TO VISIT: October to March (during the cool and serene winter season). Important spiritual occasions include Vaishakh Purnima, which is Buddha Purnima, Asadha Purnima, which is Dhamma Day, and Magha Purnima, which recalls the Buddha's announcement of his Parinirvana.
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  WHERE: Vaishali District and East Champaran District, Bihar, India; situated along the fertile alluvial plains of the Gandak River. The nearest major transit hubs are Muzaffarpur Railway Station and Patna Airport.
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  HOW (VIDHI & RULES): Pilgrims should observe the Five Sacred Precepts, the Pancha Sila. Begin the pilgrimage at Kolhua in Vaishali by performing clockwise circumambulation of the intact Ashokan Lion Pillar and Ananda Stupa. Offer candles, incense, and lotuses. Meditate quietly at the Relic Stupa and proceed north-west to Kesariya Stupa for silent contemplation and prostrations.

Vaishali is remembered in Buddhist tradition as one of the great places of the Buddha's life and miracles. The Ratana Sutta is preserved at Sutta Nipata 2.1, and the story of its first recitation is told in the commentarial tradition. During the time of the Licchavi Republic, Vaishali was beset by a catastrophic threefold calamity: severe famine, evil spirits, and virulent pestilence. In utter desperation, the noble Licchavis sought the divine shelter of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, who was then residing at Rajgir. Upon the blessed touch of the Tathagata's feet on Vaishali's soil, the skies opened with torrential purifying rains. Lord Buddha instructed Venerable Ananda to walk the perimeter of the ancient ramparts, sprinkling water from the Lord's alms bowl while reciting the sublime Ratana Sutta, the Jewel Discourse. Instantly, all malignant energies dispersed, illness dissolved, and supreme peace was restored to the kingdom.

It was in Vaishali, at the Kutagarasala Vihara, the Gabled Monastery in the Great Forest, that a monumental spiritual milestone was enacted. Mahapajapati Gotami, the Buddha's foster mother, arrived barefoot and weeping with five hundred noble Shakyan women, seeking entry into the holy order. Moved by Venerable Ananda's earnest advocacy, and recognizing the spiritual capacity of women to attain Arhatship, the Buddha established the Bhikkhuni Sangha, the Order of Nuns. He laid down the eight Garudhammas (special rules of conduct for nuns), as recorded in the Cullavagga, chapter 10 of the Vinaya. Here too, the noble courtesan Amrapali offered her mango grove to the Sangha and attained the highest stage of spiritual perfection.

When the Blessed One reached His eightieth year, He looked back upon Vaishali with the serene gaze of an elephant, called Nagapalokana. At Chapala Chaitya He announced that His earthly manifestation would cease within three months, as told in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Digha Nikaya 16. The weeping Licchavi citizens followed Him inconsolably toward His final journey. The Buddha miraculously created a deep, wide river to halt their progress, presenting them with His sacred stone Alms Bowl as an eternal token of His love and refuge. At this exact spot of divine detachment and supreme renunciation arose the grand Kesariya Stupa, rising like the multi-tiered cosmic Mount Meru across the plains.

The sacred soil of Vaishali and Kesariya has been venerated by the highest lineages of awakened beings and royal protectors across millennia:

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  Mahapajapati Gotami and Amrapali: Pioneering elders of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, who realised Arhatship, as the Therigatha attests (Thig 13.1, indexed there under the Pali spelling Ambapali), showing that the light of Dhamma transcends all distinctions of gender and social station.
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  Emperor Ashoka the Great (3rd Century BCE): Is remembered as the Dharma-king who raised the polished monolithic pillar at Kolhua and honoured the Buddha's relics with stupas.
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  Chinese Pilgrim-Monks Faxian (5th Century CE) and Xuanzang (7th Century CE): Visited the Vaishali region and recorded the traditions of the Buddha's alms bowl and of the stupa raised to mark his farewell.
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  The Great Second Buddhist Council (c. 383 BCE): Convened at Vaishali about 100 years after the Mahaparinirvana by 700 venerable Arhats, with Elders Yasa, Sabbakami and Revata among its leaders, to preserve the unadulterated Vinaya (monastic discipline).

During times of personal affliction, physical sickness, or spiritual unrest, devotees chant the sacred verses of the Ratana Sutta, taught by the Buddha at Vaishali and preserved in the Sutta Nipata, chapter 2, discourse 1: