Today I went with a very good group to visit the most holy shrine in Lanka, Sri Maha Bodhi. The name refers to a tree, but it is much more than a tree. When the Buddha finally got enlightenment, he stood and stared with gratitude for a whole week at this tree under which he had sat as he came into awareness. And so the tree itself became perhaps the most powerful and wonderful symbol of Buddhism. When King Ashoka converted India to Buddhism, his daughter brought a planting from the original tree (which at this point was not that long after Buddha really was there) to Sri Lanka, and in 288 BC planted it, making the tree here the oldest living known plant planted by a human being. Because it’s still there, the original tree. They normally only live 500 years, but this one is 2300 years old! It has a new shoot coming off of the original part, so that means it’s still vital. Even the tree in India died and was replanted from a sapling, so this one is actually older than the Bodhi tree in India. The whole site is amazing, and we had a magical time walking around and just revering it. I wish I could have spent more time here.

Please enjoy this young monk singing one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard, sung under the Bodhi tree.