The brick shrine at the summit's teaching site, valleys unfolding fold upon fold below

Buddhism

गृध्रकूट

Vulture Peak

“On the vulture-shaped peak, a seat of teaching kept through the ages”

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Photo: Sumitsurai · CC BY-SA 4.0

Scenes

Prayer flags draped over the summit rocks above the green valleySumitsurai · CC BY-SA 4.0
The hilltop teaching site cradled by green hillsKtoya · CC BY-SA 3.0
Offerings on the preaching platform — prayer that still continuesSumitsurai · CC BY-SA 4.0
The vulture-shaped rock, a golden cloth strung above itSumitsurai · CC BY-SA 4.0

Meaning

You climb the steep stone steps to where the vulture-shaped crag rises, and far below, the plains of Magadha stretch into the haze.

Rajgir was the ancient capital of Magadha, where the Buddha is said to have spent many rainy-season retreats teaching. Vulture Peak (Gridhrakuta) is revered as the setting of several important discourses, and the nearby Bamboo Grove monastery is remembered as the first place the sangha stayed through the rains.

Voices across time

“Born too late to meet the Buddha in this world, I can only gaze upon the traces he left behind.”

— Faxian, pilgrim monk, on this peak — A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms · 5th century

Roads through this light

✦The Buddha — Walking a Life→

“Disciples scattered onto the roads, and days of teaching gathered on a peak”

✦Zen — From Mind to Mind→

“Where Kashyapa smiled at a single raised flower — the first mind to cross in silence”

Field notes

Location
Rajgir · Bihar · N25.0° · E85.4°
Best time
Early morning, when first light touches the peak.
Getting there
From Rajgir, ascend by ropeway or up the stone steps.
Etiquette
Pilgrims sit in meditation here; quiet is appreciated.

Sources

  • · Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • · 현장 『대당서역기』 (전거)
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