Sacred Places, Sacred Teachings

Following the Footsteps of the Buddha

Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781614299738
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

A guide to following the footsteps of the Buddha—for the pilgrim in India and at home.

The holy sites of India—Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Shravasti, and others— became holy because the Buddha blessed them by performing his enlightened activities there. When we become holy through our practice of the Buddha’s instructions, then the places we go will be made holy, too. Through meditation practice, we can realize and capture what the Buddha described as the profundity of the mind, which is completely peaceful, free from elaboration, luminous, and uncompounded.

In this wise, heartfelt, and indispensable guide, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen takes us on a journey through the major holy sites for Buddhist pilgrimage by offering profound teachings related to each of the sacred places. In Bodh Gaya, the site of the Bodhi tree and the Buddha’s enlightenment, we learn of how the Buddha became enlightened and what it means to take refuge in him; we uncover the profundity of emptiness at the site where the Buddha expounded the Heart Sutra; at the place of the Buddha’s passing, we learn that the legacy of his vast teachings came about through his perfection of bodhicitta—a core quality we can master, too. In chapters based on these and other sacred places, we find that the wisdom the Buddha uncovered is available to us all.

The Buddha discovered total satisfaction, the ultimate achievement, and left instructions on how we, too, can achieve the same. We already have this great path; we just have to follow it. In that way, we experience the joy of following the footsteps of the Buddha.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Publisher’s Acknowledgment
• Contents
• Foreword by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoche
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Bodh Gaya: The Buddha’s Enlightenment
• 2. Bodh Gaya: Refuge
• 3. Bodh Gaya: Guru Yoga
• 4. Vulture Peak: The Heart Sutra
• 5. Nalanda: Shantideva and the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life
• 6. Mahakala’s Cave: Skillful Methods
• 7. Sujata’s Tree: Meditation Instructions
• 8. Sarnath: The Four Noble Truths
• 9. Kushinagar: Bodhichitta
• 10. Lumbini: The Fivefold Path of Mahamudra
• 11. Shravasti: The Four Dharmas of Gampopa
• Appendix A: A Guru Yoga that Brings the Dharmakaya onto the Path
• Appendix B: The Heart Sutra
• Appendix C: The Seventeen Stages of Samadhi
• Glossary of Enumerations
• Glossary of Names and Terms
• Notes
• Annotated Bibliography
• Illustration Credits
• About the Author
• What to Read Next from Wisdom Publications
• About Wisdom Publications
• Copyright