All routes

The Buddha's Life: Lumbini to Kushinagar

The Buddha's story, as Buddhist tradition tells it, runs from Lumbini in Nepal, where he was born, through Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Jetavana to Kushinagar, where he died. Each of these places can be visited today. The route follows five stops in life order: birth, enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, the first teaching at Sarnath, the monastery at Savatthi and the parinirvana. The dates are traditional; the accounts come from Buddhist scriptures and legends.