The tree standing at the site is considered the sixth regeneration of the original tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment about 2,500 years ago
The tree under which Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment has become the center of controversy, with monks alleging that a branch of the sacred tree has been cut.
The Mahabodhi (great enlightenment) tree stands in Bodh Gaya, a town in eastern India's Bihar state, 1,110 kilometers southeast of New Delhi. Buddhists consider it their holiest tree.
The tree standing at the site is considered the sixth regeneration of the original tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment about 2,500 years ago. The present tree, about 110 years old, is just behind 1,500-year-old Mahabodhi temple, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002.
Buddhist monk Bhante Priyapal says some monks on July 21 found marks that suggest a branch had been cut off from the tree. He told UCA News by phone five days later the monks are upset that the "sacrilegious" act occurred in a place guarded around the clock. "Bhante" means "Reverend" in Sanskrit.
Bhante Pragyasheel, general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh (National Federation of Buddhist Monks), told UCA News the monks want the culprits "punished for desecrating the most venerable tree on the earth."
Both monks blame Mahabodhi temple's managers because, according to Bhante Priyapal, no one could cut it without the involvement of temple officials.
Bhante Pragyasheel alleges that temple managers connived with other people to remove a branch, three meters long and one meter around, to sell to foreign Buddhists. He pointed out that Buddhists from Thailand and Korea who visit the temple donate hundreds of dollars just for a dry leaf from the tree.
The temple committee collects and preserves the tree's falling leaves and tiny branches to keep visitors from trampling on them. Bhante Pragyasheel, who was on the committee 1994-2000, confirmed that overseas pilgrims receive dry leaves and a tiny branch chip after their "generous" donations are recorded.
Temple officials reportedly insist the tree's cut marks were made in 1979 when a branch was removed to apply medicine to the tree. At that time, the management pruned the tree purportedly to save it from a bug disease, but it was soon learned that temple officials sold some of the chopped branches.
An ensuing uproar forced the government to intervene and store the remaining branches in a vault that was placed under the care of a senior temple worker.
Some observers see the latest controversy as part of a protracted tussle between Hindus and Buddhist monks for control over the temple. A government-appointed committee currently manages the temple. A president and a secretary lead the committee. Both of them are Hindus, as are four other committee members, while the remaining three members are Buddhists.
Bhante Priyapal insists the latest cut marks "are barely a few weeks old," whereas the 1979 scars "are clearly old and black-moss-stained."
A Catholic priest who asked not to be named told UCA News that he found the scars fresh when he visited the site on July 23. According to the priest, local Buddhists are "furious" and "their anger is legitimate."
The controversy has forced the Bihar government to send its home secretary, security officials, agricultural experts and botanists to probe and then report on the various aspects of the situation. Ajit Pandey, a Hindu sociologist, has told UCA News that the government move aims to prevent "widespread condemnation and protest" from Buddhist nations around the world.
In any case, Bhante Priyapal said, Buddhist monks will not accept any government report because it may be manipulated. He called for an independent international inquiry by a team of experts from Buddhist nations.
Bihar's home secretary, Afzal Amanullah, a Muslim who heads the state's probe team, dismisses all that has happened since the tree-cutting claims arose. It says it is an "unsuccessful attempt" to "denigrate the image of the state in general and Bodh Gaya in particular." He endorses the stance of the temple management committee that the cut marks are from 1979, and blames the controversy on internal rivalry within the committee and local Buddhist monks.
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