An oasis of calm in Bangalore

Famous for its filmi world of glamour and glitterati, Bangalore’s Gandhinagara, contrastingly, is also the location of Maha Bhodhi Society, the Buddhist spiritual centre, also called Buddhagaya (Bodh Gaya) of Bangalore.

Founded by Acharya Buddharakkhita in the early 1950s, Bangalore’s Maha Bhodhi Society is a charitable institution engaged in both spirula and service activities. The society since years has been running its Maha bhodhi Burns and Casualty Centre – a 200-bed casualty ward in the Victorial Hospital. The Society also runs its health care centre in collaboration with Mallige Hospital in Bangalore.

The Maha Bhodhi Society was established in Bangalore with the main objective of teaching and propagating the Buddhists’ holy book Dhammapada consisting of 26 chapters and 423 verses. Each verse of Dhammapada is said to be “a guideline to right living”. Commemorating the birthday of Acharya Buddharakkhita, Dhammapada festival is celebrated in March (on full moon day) every year.

There is a Bhikku Training Centre to train teachers to spread the knowledge of Dhammapada. The Society has a residential school called the Maha Bhodhi Academy for Pali and Buddhist Studies.

At the entrance is Loka Shanti Buddha Vihara, the temple with a beautiful statue. This temple (in its structural design and spiritual sanctity) is known to be quite similar to the sacred Buddhists’ Mahavihara (temple of) Bodh Gaya in Bihar. The inner walls of the temple are decorated with paintings depicting the life and teachings of Buddha. The temple has a spacious hall where spiritual discourses and meditations are regularly conducted in the interest of one and all.

Next to the Buddha temple is the holy Stupa, a domed granite structure enshrined with the relic of Buddha and the whole scripture of Pali Tipitaka.

This Vishwa Maitri Stupa, with its unique structural design, said to symbolically depict  the teachings of Buddha.

At the rear side of the Stupa is the sacred Bhodhi Tree, a sapling from famous Bhodhi Tree, under which Buddha is believed to have attained spiritual enlightenment.
The sapling was planted when the foundation for Mahabhi was laid in the year 1956.