Lumbini Crane Conservation Center

(Buddha: In the Puskarni Pond)
The birth of Buddha

It was the incident before the birth of Buddha, while, Maya Devi (the mother of Buddha) dreamt while she was asleep. In the dream, she found the gods from four directions carried her towards the Himalayan Mountain lifting up even with her cot too. The gods of four directions laid down the cot on a huge stone (seven hundred miles long), under a seven-miles-tall Sal tree. The consorts of these gods appeared and took Maya Devi to the “Divine Lake”, Anotapada, and she bathed there. It was a divine lake because after this bath, the queen lost her human odour. After that, queen was decorated with divine dresses, ornaments and flower-beads and entered into the golden vehicle (Kanak Biman). At this time, Swetaketu, the lord of Tushita heaven, descended from his abode taking the form of a white elephant. Taking a white lotus in its trunk, the elephant entered into the golden vehicle, circumambulated Maya Devi for three times and entered into her womb through her right armpit. Queen Maya Devi woke up frightened from her dream. She narrated all the events of dream to King Suddhodhan. The king instantly invited sixty-four Brahman priest to the palace, and recounted the queen’s dream to the Brahmans and asked them about its fruit. In response to this query, the Brahmans expressed their opinion in this way: “O king, the dream is very much auspicious. One great being will be born from the womb of the queen. The child, if he remains ruling, will be a universal monarch. If he renounces the throne for a saintly purpose, he will attain supreme enlightenment”. In this way, the Boddhisatva (future Buddha) entered into the womb of Maya Devi on the auspicious full-moon night of Ashad (June). After few months, Queen Maya Devi bathed in the Puskarni Lake in Lumbini Vana during her journey to the maternal home to give birth. After bathing Queen had the labor pain and gave birth to Prince Siddhartha holding a branch of the Sal tree. The newly born prince walked seven steps and in each step a lotus flower blossomed. Since then the Sal tree (Shorea robusta) and the lotus flower became symbolic to his birth. The Puskarni Lake still exists in Lumbini, in a modified form.
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(Buddhism: In the Maya Devi Temple)
What is Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion that is based upon direct experience. It is empirical. Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha, tried every method and theory available in his search for enlightenment. His teachings are based on his experiment of what actually works. Religion based on truth is required for the welfare of human beings. The major bases of Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path and The Nirvana. However, ultimately the true basis of Buddhism is wisdom – the knowledge and understanding of the real world of nature.

The four noble truths mentioned by Buddha are as follows: There is sufferings; Origin of sufferings; Cessation of sufferings; and Path leading to cessation of sufferings.

Similarly The Eightfold Path given by Buddha is as follows: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

Ultimately, the major theme of Buddhism is to overcome pain and suffering of life, which is actually the result of ignorance and greediness. Hence, awareness is only the way to get rid of such problems. Human awareness through psycho-treatment on the basis of Buddhist philosophy is the today’s new educational approach needed to conserve the natural environment of the world.

The Natural Law applies to all life that concern itself with the material world and still must perform its duty for oneself and for the society too. It is our duty to perform social service, which establishes ethical principles in our daily life and the general life of society.

The Buddhist philosophy focuses on awareness, attitudes and actions that should never harm and should help all life forms on earth.

In fact every human in the world have to carryout his/her responsibility honestly. For this, the Buddha has given a word ‘Karma’. Karma has been defined as specific action, moral duty or performance of religious rites. Karma-yoga is the performance of actions without hoping for rewards. Central to understanding this process of Karmic cause and effect is the psychological insight that all action begins in the mind. The quality of life, both in terms of our inner feelings as well as the external situations, we find ourselves in originates from the positive and negative states of mind that motivate our actions. For this reason, disciplined attention to thoughts, feelings and emotion is considered essential to the practice of meditation. Human beings have responsibility to do their karma in the nature conservation, which help them step towards the Nirvana.

Buddha said Nirvana is the extreme happiness of the life. The Buddha also said that Nirvana is accessible to man through proper understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the practice of the Eightfold path/ the Middle path. The Middle Path is the path between two extremes, self-indulgence and self-mortification. In other words, neither a life of comfort nor a life of poverty is good. The extremes bring suffering as these contain lust (Trishna), love (Maya) and attachment (Moha). The path between the two extremes is free from the above ills. One day when Buddha was in deep meditation in the Jungle of Uruvela, near Bodhgaya, a group of village girls came there dancing and singing. The song was “Don’t loosen the string of the flute too much, it will make no sound, Don’t tighten the string too much, it will break down”. That was the song, which gave him a hint of the middle path. The middle path is, therefore, a dispassionate path leading to the elimination of suffering. In the ancient India, Vedas and Upanishads also told the story of human suffering. But, it was only the Buddha who tried and succeeded to find the causes of suffering and end them. The middle path is the path, which leads to an end of all desires and ultimately to the salvation.
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(Life: Along the route from Mayadevi to LCS)
The non-injury to life age

Buddha made a rule against travelling during the rainy season because of possible injury to the organisms in wet surfaces. The non-violent attitudes towards the smallest living creatures prevent the monks and nuns from drinking contaminated water. Reason behind this is to save the life of microorganisms present in that water. No doubt, it is a sound hygienic habit, but noteworthy is the reason, which prompts the practice, namely, sympathy for other creatures. The first percept of non-injury means the cultivation of compassion and sympathy for all living beings. The Buddhism also prescribes the practice of ‘loving-kindness’ towards all creatures: timid and bold, long and short, big and small, minute and great, visible and invisible, near and far, and born and awaiting birth. Just as our own life is precious to us, so is the life of another precious to them. Therefore reverence must be cultivated towards all forms of life.
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(Forest: Along the routes from Mayadevi to LCS)
Buddha and Forests (The Period before Buddha)

The relationship between culture and ecology is an integral one in Buddhism. Furthermore, instances of ecological protection can be found in ancient scriptures like the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, Puranas, Tripitak, Jataka stories and so forth. Worshipping, mainly, flowering, shady and medicinal trees was common practice in the Vedic period. Various gods are symbolically identified with the trees. For example, Kadam (Anthocephalus kadamba) for Sri Krishna, Asoka (Saraca indica) for Kamadeva, Palash (Butea monosperma) for Shiva, Koirala (Bauhinia variegata) for Laxmi, and Asoka, Pipal (Ficus religiosa) and Sal (Shorea robusta) for Buddha.

The Ramayana states that the Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), Karvir (Nerium oderum) and Jupa Puspi (Hibiscus mutabilis) were the favorite trees of Sita. There were also popular forests in Ramayana period, such as Puspa Vatika of King Janak, Asoka Vatika of Ravan, Alakapuri of Kuber etc.

The Mahabharat has also mentioned the famous forests i.e. Vrinda Vana, where Krishna and Radhika played in their childhood under the Kadam tree. The town of Indraprastha was decorated with gardens, waterfalls and the trees like Asoka, Bar, Pipal, Champ (Michelia champaca), Palash, Rajbrikshya (Cassia fistula) etc. Prajapati Kasyapa has further mentioned that Mango (Magnifera indica), Arecanu (Areca catechu), Malati (Quisquails indica), Dumri (Ficus glomerulaata), Arjuna, and Neem (Azadarichta indica) trees are best planted near religious sites or temples.

The period of Buddha
The period of Buddha is a landmark for tree plantation and forest conservation. Lots of forest and various types of tree are associated with Lord Buddha. Gardening was quite popular among the people of this period, and mostly located near the Monasteries and Stupas. We can find the description of the gardens of Nalanda and Takshasila, which were very famous at that time. There are many literary and sculptural references to lord Buddha being born, attaining enlightenment, and passing away under various trees. According to various Buddhist writings, there were many natural forests, man-made forests, various deer parks, and sub-forest. Lord Buddha during his travels generally spent the nights either near the pond or in the Amra Vana (Mango grove), Amalaka Vana (Grove of Phyllanthus emblica), or Arandya Vana (Natural forest). Furthermore, the Maha Vanas of Kapilvastu, Vaisali and Uruvela, Lumbini Vana of Shakya, Sal Vana of Mallas at Kusinagar, Naga Vana of Vajjiya etc are some of the important forest mentioned in Buddhist writings.

Lumbini Vana:- According to Pali literature, Lumbini forest lay in between the Kapilvastu kingdom to the west and Devdaha kingdom to the east. Detailed description of this forest and mentioned in various Buddhist texts that Lord Buddha was born in this forest under the Sal tree.

Maha Vanas:- As mentioned in Buddhist literature, there were three Mahavanas. They were at Vaisali, Uruvela and Kapilvastu.

Maha Vana of Vaisali:- Lord Buddha spent his 46th rainy season in the Kutirasala of Maha Vana at Vaisali.

Maha Vana of Uruvela:- This place was within the Malla kingdom and Lord Buddha visited there many times. Lord Buddha spent five years in this forest following the preaching of five Brahmins before his enlightenment.

Maha Vana of Kapilvastu:- this forest extended from the Himalayas to Vaisali, and thus it was known as the Maha Vana of Kapilvastu and is mentioned in various Buddhist sutra.
In this technological or modern age, trees or forest play very important role in our daily lives. Our primitive ancestors depended upon the trees and forests for shelter, they clothed themselves with tree barks, ate fruits and later made weapons and tools from wood. The beliefs and veneration rendered to plants and trees alone makes them precious enough to be preserved. The traditions associated with them are conducive in giving them long-term effects and these also prove beneficial to society as a whole. With the discovery of iron and the industrial revolution masses of trees were chopped down to make pulp factories, and to obtain furniture, houses, paper, and so forth. Thus, for their preservation we need to consider our traditional values and nature, because this would have several long-term effects not only for us, but also for generations to follow.
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(Cranes: Inside the LCS)
Buddha and an injured Sarus Crane

For centuries, the Sarus Crane, the world’s tallest flying bird, has been living harmoniously and in close proximity of human dwellings. Sarus Cranes are sacred to the people living in the Indo-gangetic plain. The surveys carried out from 1988 onwards have revealed that viable population of this species was found only in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu Districts in Nepal.

During the youth days of Prince Siddhartha, he used to spend most of the time in the garden. One day as he was strolling in the garden a Sarus Crane shot by his cousin Devdutta dropped near him. He treated the arrow wound and saved its life. Prince Siddhartha and Devdutta had a debate over the ownership of the crane. The King Suddhodhana summoned both of them. And the verdict was made “the crane belongs to the one who tried to save.” Sarus Crane carries the blessing of Buddha and the local people revere them.
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(Animals: Inside LCS)
What Buddha says about Animals

The Buddhist philosophy on human morality is based on love and respect for all forms of life. One of the most simple statements of this principle was given by Buddha himself:
“Not to commit evil, But to practice good
And to keep the heart pure”; This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Furthermore, in Buddhism, the reflection on morality is extended to consider how everything we use in our daily life is derived from other beings: The Korean Zen Master Ya Un told his monks:
‘From the time of ploughing and sowing until the food reaches to your mouth and the clothes to your body,not only do men and oxen suffer great pains in producing them, but countless insects are also killed and injured. It is improper to benefit in this way from the hardships of others.’ Buddhism is supreme in the case of loving other beings, it teaches us to show equal care and compassion for each and every creature in the universe. The destruction of any creature represents a disturbance of the Universal Order. However, man’s cruelty towards animals is another expression of his uncontrolled greed. top

(Humanity: Inside LCS)
Killing any creatures is equivalent to killing our parents

When Buddhism spread across central Asia into China, it explained the fact that all beings have at one time or another been parent to us. Since all male creatures have at one time been our fathers, they should all be regarded as our father. And since all female creatures have at one time been our mothers, they should be regarded as our mother. In each and every forms of life, they have been the ones to give birth to us.

Therefore, all living things throughout the ‘six realms’ (i.e. gods, titans, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and of hell) can be considered as our father and mother. So, to catch and eat any living creatures is of course equivalent to killing our parents and eating our own body. Furthermore, the five great elements: earth, water, fire, wind and air are the element of both our own and others’ bodies. For these reasons, we should give life to others by setting them free. Regarding the welfare of the natural world, it has been an important element throughout the history of Buddhism. Although Buddhists believe humans have a unique opportunity to realize enlightenment, which other creatures do not, they have never believed that humanity is superior to the rest of the natural world.

In search of pleasures and affluence, modern humanity has exploited nature, without any moral restraints, to such an extent that nature has been rendered almost incapable of sustaining healthy life. Invaluable gifts of nature, such as air and water, have been polluted with disastrous consequences. Humanity is now searching for ways and means of overcoming the pollution problem. As our health is also with a sense of responsibility to the natural world, we must find an appropriate environmental ethics to our fellow human beings and to our future generations, one of which must be the religion.

Kindness and Sympathy: Even wild animals can be tamed with kind words. The Buddha tamed a wild Elephant that was infuriated, with no other miraculous power than the power of loving and kindness. Human and beast live and let live without fear of one another but only humans cultivate sympathy and regards to all life with compassion. The understanding of karma and rebirth also prepares the Buddhist to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards animals. According to this belief that humans can be reborn as animals, it is possible that our dead relatives are now living as animals.