The Ficus religiosa or Bodhigara growing at the Holy Vajrasana Temple is a descendent of the Maha Bodhi Tree at Sri Lanka, the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date. That tree has been tended by the monks at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka for 2,300 years, surviving foreign occupation and many civil wars. It was brought to the island by Venerable Sangamitta, the daughter of Emperor Asoka who had sent her and her brother as missionaries to Sri Lanka in 288 BCE. It was a descendent of the original Bodhi Tree under which Shakyamuni Buddha became enlightened in Bodhgaya, India on the 8th day of the twelfth month of the Chinese lunar calendar in the year 593 BCE.
Our Bodhi Tree has been growing quite vigorously each year, but would die down each winter. Only last winter was much warmer and it survived, sprouting the lush green leaves on last year’s branches that you see in the top photo. The picture below shows the tree when it was installed at the temple ten years ago.
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