"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity"

--- Albert Einstein

I knew that buddhism hold a significant place in India, but I was quite shocked to notice the extent. Some how I thought the Buddhism in India has grown recently but I was wrong. As I went through one of the historical book on Buddhism, I came to know that Buddhism in India was founded 2500 years ago, by the historical Buddha- Shakyamundi.

Since I always wanted to see the Buddhist Temples, I searched through net and various other travel books and found that there are four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites where most of the buddhist temples and shrines are located. The most important of these are located primarily in the Ganges Valley of India. Ajanta & Ellora Caves, Sanchi Stupa, Bodhi Temple, Hirapur Temple, Spituk Monastery and Hemis Monastery are the major Buddhist temples.

Today, I really appreciate that I engaged myself with the tour that enabled me to cover the various pilgrimage destination in Buddhist circuit. The U.P government endorse a Buddhist circuit that mainly covers the region of Sarnath, Kaushabhi, Sravasti, Kushinagar, Kapilvastu (Piprahwa) and Kaushambhi. The U.P. state government with the help of Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) has been upgrading the infrastructural facilities in this circuit.

There are various local tour operator that also helps in exploring the various Buddhist sites. The major Buddhist region is Bodhgaya, Lumbini, Sarnath some region in Leh and Ladakh.

Since, I was keen of seeing all the Buddhist temples, I went to Leh Ladakh through Manali. It was a 24 hrs long journey and I explored each and every Gompa, monasteries of it. A significant factor that came into light was that Buddhism in Ladakh is divided into part- the Hinyana and the Mahayana. The aim of the Hinayanis is to look after their own nirvana, or enlightenment, the Mahayanis believe in nirvana of all living creatures to be their aim and objective.

As each city that endorsed a Buddhist pilgrimage site, had many tour packages, that covered the Buddhist temples. Special packages are provided by Government and local tour operator that helped me in covering the various sites.