Buddha was here: 10 places of historical significance for Buddhists

The Todai-ji (Eastern Great Temple) at Nara is one of the oldest and most revered temples in Japan and has the largest bronze statue in the world known in Japanese as Daibutsu or Big Buddha.

There are four places in the world that followers of the Buddha’s teachings consider significant: Lumbini in Nepal is the birthplace of the son of a king who became Gautama Buddha; Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India, is where the Buddha attained enlightenment, sitting under a sheltering tree; Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, India, is where he delivered his first teaching; and Kushinagar, also in Uttar Pradesh, is where he died and attained Parinirvana (ie, though he had attained enlightenment earlier, at this stage, he achieved freedom from physical existence).

Benoy K. Behl has not only photographed these four places but also most other sites in the world touched by Buddhism. Delhi-born and based Behl, 61, is a filmmaker, art historian and photographer who has held exhibitions in Malaysia previously.