November 29-December 4, 2015, Agra/Sarnath and Delhi. Thoughts on “sacred places.”

So Jon and I flew back from Varanasi the evening of the 28th, and did a day trip to Agra and Sarnath on the 29th. The morning of the 30th, Jon (was supposed to leave, but got stranded…) and I met up with some friends from DC who are working at the US Embassy in Delhi.

Pictures below. Self-important rambling follows.

The featured image is of the Buddha statue in the Tibetan Temple at Sarnath. Sarnath is believed to be the birthplace of Buddhism, the first place where Buddha articulated the Dharma and where the first community of enlightened came into being (Sangha.) So Sarnath is a sacred place, and one of the 4 main sites for Buddhist pilgrimage.

I’m writing this from Kathmandu- and it occurred to me that inadvertently, a common thread running through my travels has been “sacred places.”  Off the top of my head, these places might include

Athens: Parthenon, Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Nike, Temple of Hephaestus…

Thessaloniki: Hagios Demetrios…

Rome: Vatican City, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Pantheon/Basilica of St. Mary and Martyrs…

Delhi: Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Jama Masjid, Qutub Minar- and the mosques there, Lotus Temple…

Varanasi: The whole city  and the Ganges- and the Cremation Ghats…

Sarnath: The Dhamek Stupa and a bunch of temples…

Agra: I’m not sure, but I think the Taj Mahal counts…barely. There’s a mosque there, (and we had to either take off or cover our shoes, which is kind of a cross-cultural indication of a sacred or holy place…)

Kathmandu:  Swayambhunath, Boudhanath…

I’m headed to Israel and Palestine next, with plans to see Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and Bethlehem, (during Christmas too.) Eventually I’ll be doing the Camino de Santiago as well.

Now that I think about it, I don’t really know what a sacred or holy place is. I’m kind of skeptical of the whole notion that a particular spot on this planet has some sort of special power. I categorically reject the notion that these places have some sort of supernatural power to heal or some shit like that. e.g I don’t believe bathing in the Ganges is going to help cure anything, (it’s probably gonna make it way worse whatever you have,) similarly skeptical of the Sarovar at Bangla Sahib, or the “myrrh” that “flows” from the relics of St. Demetrios.

However, I’m open to the effects or “power” that derive from the “specialness” or meaning that we as humans attribute to a place, for one reason or another. Especially if it’s power or meaning attributed en masse…  If one guy thinks a place is special and does rituals there because he thinks it will heal him or grant him salvation, everyone else probably thinks he’s nuts. If entire civilizations and cultures through thousands of years do it…. it’s different. Then you can build stuff like… well, these temples and mosques and cathedrals. (You can also end up with stupid fights over places like Jerusalem for centuries. According to wikipedia- Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.)

I think elements of a sacred place might include:

• It’s a physical place that’s been set aside for a specific purpose, and activities outside those purposes would be seen as sacrilegious or disrespectful.
• The reason why the place has been set aside is that something special happened there historically, or special things are still happening there.
• People do certain things there that have a certain importance… rituals. A series of specific behaviors or actions that people do for a certain reason- remembrance, healing, something…

The rituals have significance and relate to the specialness of the place. Put together, there’s some kind of meaning that people get out of it. Hope, transcendence… or maybe just getting rid of a nagging case of leprosy. (As an outsider, watching ritual is just weird. A lot of weird motions and noises. There seem to be elements that transcend culture- chanting and prayer, motions that signify reverence and devotion, and actions with food- generally both sharing food and sacrificing of food.)

Some of my thoughts have been informed by that book, “Chasing Francis.” Through a character in the book, the author suggests that a modern equivalent to a sacred place could be Yankee Stadium. A special place, set aside, where historically special things happened, ritual occurs, and people have a shared sense of transcendence- a connection to something bigger or more timeless than themselves.

I’m not sure where I come out on this whole thing. I’m not willing to say it’s all bogus, although I think much of it is. I think there’s something that can be gained from the common experience and meaning that’s shared by a lot of people over time. We’ll see… I think part of me is secretly hoping for some kind of religious experience somewhere; however, I am also unwilling to be a passive victim of psychosocial phenomena and tradition. I need to be an active agent- a coauthor, owner and participant… anyway. /end self-important rambling.