Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c10.t1.25

c10.t1.25

It may be here observed that at least the first rudiments of a cultus of another stamp, separated in broad distinction from that which we have discussed, go back into the times with which our sketch has to deal: the rudiments of the veneration attaching to holy places and to Buddha’s relics. Four places, it is said,† are deserving that believing, noble youths should see them and that their hearts should be moved by them : the place where the holy Buddha was born ; the place where he has obtained the highest illumination ;* the place where he has " set in motion the Wheel of the Law," the place where he, delivered from everything earthly, has entered into the perfect Nirvâna. To these places monks and nuns, lay-brothers and lay-sisters have a desire to travel. "For he, O Ânanda, who dies in the faith on the pilgrimage to such holy places, will, when his body dissolves, beyond death, walk the good road and be born again in the heavenly world."