Lumbini Temples

Lumbini, the bithplace of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, is located down in the Terai region of Nepal, near the border to India. As Buddha's birthplace, it holds a special significance to Buddhists and it attracts many pilgrims. It is listed as a World Heritage Site.
Over the past few decades money has been dedicated towards the creation of a small village of temples known as the Lumbini Development Zone. The most important is the Maya Devi temple which holds the rock Buddha was born on. On its grounds is the pool in which his mother bathed before giving birth. It also holds a group of ruins from over 2,000 years ago, and a sandstone carving depicting the birth of Buddha. It's huge, and beautiful.
The Lumbini Development Zone has been dedicated towards the construction of monasteries from Buddhist countries around the world. Although many are still under construction, we were able to visit several.
The Lumbini Development Zone is divided into two sides, with a museum dedicated to Buddha and a Peace Pagoda, like the one we visited in Pokhara, at the far end. It is fairly spread out, so we hired bicycles (mine worked much better this time!), and went around looking. One of my two favourites was the first we visited, the Chinese Buddhist Monastery. It had a large garden in a courtyard, with a shaded walkway around it. the monastery, at the far end, is a large building, very spacious, open-air and bright. This, I later learned, was in contrast to some others, which were much darker in comparison. In the middle was a huge gold statue of Buddha. I had read that millions of dollars have been donated to the creations of these monasteries, seeing this statue and temples really made me realize it. It think it was also the fact that it was green and there was no dust, because it is HOT in Lumbini, and the road just outside the temple was extremely dusty in places (it was a dirt road most of the way). The walkways were cool and shaded, and the monastery, with it's statue, was truly a sanctuary.
My other favourite was at the far end of the row of monasteries, located with several others around a small pond. It also has spacious gardens, bigger than those at the Chinese Monastery. The monastery building itself had a covered deck all around, so you could walk around in the shade and look at the succession of murals, painted on the outside walks of the building. While we were there I saw a group of children dressed in the same clothing as the monks. They were talking and laughing and going about their lives, it was my favorite part of seeing the temples.
The Zone is divided into two rows of monasteries, each side dedicated to one sect of Buddhism, with a canal in the process of being built in between them. The entire site is truly a construction zone. The roads are still being built in places, and many of the monasteries are unfinished, but there was an air of tranquility within the zone, which made cycling along the dirt roads, along a few avenues line with trees, an idyllic way to pass a few hours. Well, the actual cycling bits were, but it was hot, so some of that idyll might have come from the breeze!
We visited one of the unfinished monasteries, the Korean one, whose gate was unlocked. Right now its a giant concrete building, with concrete buildings all around, but you could just imagine what it was going to look like once completed. It's large, several stories high, with a central room to hold the forthcoming gold statue, which will be quite large based on the size of the room!
The Peace Pagoda was very similar to the one we visited in Pokhara. A large, white, dome-shaped building, it was again a place that inspired quiet. It was also an ideal spot for much-needed shade!
After a rest and a snack lunch, we headed to the Lumbini Museum. As far as the museums I've visited here in Nepal, I was quite impressed with this one. The architecture of the building was quite modern, constructed of brick, with high, arched ceilings and large, circular windows. Some effort had clearly gone into the displays, and although it was mostly rather similar (to me, at least) statues and many paintings and photographs. Mot had clear descriptions, and I learned all about the important places in Buddha's life where he was born, gained enlightenment, preached his first sermon, and died.
Visiting the temples was a lot of fun, but Lumbini will be an even better place in 10 years or so, when the construction will be finished. Then, it will be spectacular, and I only hope I get to see it again.