หนังสือทุกเล่มมีแจกที่วัดไทยฯดี.ซี.

ต้องการหนังสือเล่มนี้ติดต่อรับได้ที่วัดไทยฯดี.ซี.

อำลาเมืองบอมเบย์ (Bombay)

ถ้าเอลโลร่า (Ellora Caves)

The Ellora Temple Caves

The Ellora temple caves are used for worship by different religions, namely Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. These caves are a mile and a quarter long. They are located about eighteen and a half miles from the city of Aurangabad. There are twelve caves devoted to Buddhism, eighteen to Hinduism, and four to Jainism, thirty-four in all.

The Ellora caves, which date from the period 9 to 12 A.D., were constructed later than the Ajanta caves. Sometimes when people worshipped the Lord Buddha, they built caves to honor him. These caves also served as places for monks to perform Buddhist ceremonies and to study the Dhamma. Such was the case with the Ellora caves. Many carvings were produced in these caves. Because of changes in the religious leadership, there was a lack of support for the continued construction of some of the Ellora caves. Changes in leadership meant that some caves remained unfinished.

The most beautiful of the Ellora caves is the tenth. It is two stories high with a pagoda inside. The top floor has a large arched balcony extending outwards. There are stone carvings of hovering devas on the exterior face of the cave. The ceiling is a Sanchi-style dome. In the stupa there is a large Buddha image.

The eleventh and twelfth caves, which are considered to be more important than the other caves, are three stories high. Each story consists of a large residence hall (vihara) that the monks used. The monks’ cells extend off from the halls. The viharas are decorated with large columns and include balconies. Each top story, which contains many Buddha images lined up in a row, has a large Buddha sculpture. The fourth cave is currently used for Dhamma study, and the twelfth for merit ceremonies and as a monks’ quarters.

The seventeenth cave was the Hindu cave. The Hindu people wanted their caves to be a treasure of Hindu religion. They constructed caves thirteen through twenty-nine.

It was well known that the sixteenth cave, the Kailash cave, was the most beautiful of all the Ellora caves. This cave was carved from top to bottom out of a mountain. Altogether the stone that was removed weighed about 200,000 tons. The stone was carved into a very large and very beautiful Hindu-style temple. Around the temple walls and doors there are various forms of the Hindu god (tavathas) with his consort. Inside what was the monks’ residence is a large Shiva-lincum (phallus). On the ceiling of the temple is a carving of a lotus. Many Hindu people come here to worship. When they enter they feel that they are connected with their ancestors. Because the temple cave is so enormous, in every direction there are stone carvings of Hindu tavathas miles long.

When the Jains were in power, they built caves that modeled the caves the Buddhists and Hindus had built. This is especially true of the thirty-second Jain cave. This temple cave contains a stone carving of Mahavira sitting in the meditation position under a banyan tree. Another carving depicts a naked male standing with a vine wrapped around his arms and legs. However, all thirty-four caves have carving of devas at the ceiling angles, as well as carvings covering the columns with large lotus petals at the capitals of the columns.

By PhramahaThanat Inthisan Ph.D.

Edited by Duwayne

August 26, 2005

ถ้ำอชันต้า (Ajanta Caves)

พระสถูปสาญจี เมืองโภปาล ประเทศอินเดีย

The Great Sanchi Stupa

The great Sanchi stupa looks like a huge bowl placed upside down. It has been well known since ancient times. Built between the years 200 B.C. to 200 A.D., it is the oldest stone structure from the era of Great King Asoka. The ancient hill of Sanchi was called Shikiri City of Jetiyakiri, jetiyakiri meaning the mountain with the pagoda on top. The Sanchi stupa is located in the Madhya Pradesh (state) in central India, about twenty-seven miles from the capital city of Bhopal. It is about 558 miles from New Delhi, about 124 miles from Bombay. It is situated atop a small mountain about 300 feet high. When viewed from a distance, it looks like a saddle on the back of a horse.

The ancient hill of Sanchi was in proximity to Ujayni, the capital city of Awanti. Awanti was the birthplace of Queen Devi, the first wife of Great King Asoka. When the king was traveling to Ujani to become a viceroy, he met the future queen on the way there at Vidisa and asked her to be his wife. The king was very fond of the hill near Vidisa and returned there to build a most beautiful stupa as an expression of gratitude to the Buddha. This Sanchi stupa was constructed to contain the Buddha’s relics.

The stupa is well preserved to this day. It is constructed of rectangular-shaped stones lined up in rows. It is about 120 feet in diameter and about 52.5 feet in height. The stupa is topped by a ceremonial umbrella (chatta). The area around the stupa is quite large and enclosed by stone balustrades. These balustrades are curved, designed to conform to the shape of the stupa. They are known as King Asoka Fence. All four entrances to the stupa have stone carvings of the Buddha depicting different periods of his life. There are carvings of the birth of the Buddha, Lumpini Grove where he was born, his reaching Enlightenment, his preaching the Dhamma, his leaving the palace to become a monk, and his passing into Nirvana. There are carvings of the Buddha converting the three ascetics. Another scene shows his relics being divided among the eight cities. There are even carvings which illustrate the lifestyles of the people of the time.

Two small stupas were subsequently constructed on either side of the larger one. The one on the right was built to enshrine the venerable Sariputta’s relics. The other small stupa on the left contains the venerable Maha Moggallana’s relics. The venerable Sariputta and the venerable Maha Moggallana were the Buddha’s chief disciples. There was also a sangkaram (temple, wat) at the rear. Another stupa at the temple holds the relics of Mokkalibutisa Thera, Great King Asoka’s teacher and the abbot of the temple, as well as the relics of arahants respected by the king.

Near the great stupa at the wat there was a Dhamma hall used for religious ceremonies. Only remnants of this building remain, including the bases of the stone columns. At the front of the great stupa there was a monolithic pillar, now broken. A long section of the pillar is now on the ground where the monks’ residence hall (vihara) used to be at the temple. The inscription on the piece of pillar states the following: “If anyone moves or destroys this stone pillar, that person will be punished.” The inscription warned that anyone tampering with the pillar was committing a sin.

By PhramahaThanat Inthisan Ph.D.

Edited by Duwayne

August 26, 2005

เมืองฤาษีเกษ และฮาริทวาร ต้นแม่น้ำคงคา

ทัชมาฮาล และอัคราฟอร์ด (

พระเชตวันมหาวิหาร เมืองสาวัตถี (Jetavana Sravasti)

กุสินารา สถานที่ปรินิพพาน (Kusinagar)

Kusinara, the Place of the Buddha’ Parinibbana


I. Location and Historical Significance

Kusinara (Kusinagar, Kushinagar) is the place where the Buddha passed away at the age of eighty (reached Mahaparinibbana, “the great fullness of Enlightenment”). It is about thirty-four miles east of Gorakhpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It is next to the town of Kasia (Kusia). Ancient Kasia, known as Kushavati, though not very large, was the center of the Malla tribe of eastern India. The Buddha himself provides some historical perspective on the old town. In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, defending his choice of Kusinara as the place of his passing away in the face of Ananda’s opposition, the Buddha says that Kusinara, named Kusavati in previous times, was once a rich and populous capital that never slept, ruled by the righteous King Mahasudassana, who had conquered all the adjoining areas (cf. the “Mahaparinibbana Sutta: The Great Passing; The Buddha’s Last Days,” in The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Digha Nikaya), II:16.5.18).

Over the centuries following the Buddha’s death, Kusinara had an up-and-down history (cf. Middle Land, Middle Way; A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Buddha’s India, by Ven. S. Dhammika, p. 167, for what follows in the rest of this section). When Huien Tsiang came to Kusinara in the early part of the seventh century, the place was already in ruins. However, a few decades later when I Tsing came, there were more than one hundred monks there, with five hundred there during the pilgrimage season. When the Korean Hye Ch’o traveled there about 725 A.D., the place was once again in decline. The site was more or less abandoned. After 725 A.D., even before the Muslim invasions, historical records are silent about Kusinara.

After hundreds of years of neglect following the Muslim invasions, Kusinara was rediscovered in the middle of the nineteenth century. At the suggestion of H. H. Wilson in 1854 that the town of Kasia might be Kusinara, Alexander Cunningham visited the area in 1861-62 and agreed with Wilson’s assessment. In 1876 Cunningham’s assistant, A. C. L. Carlleyle, excavated the area around Kasia. He found the large reclining Buddha statue currently exhibited in the Nirvana Temple at Kusinara. However, only after further excavations between 1904 and 1912 which produced seals and an inscription was there conclusive proof that Kasia was ancient Kusinara. Just as the Burmese played a key role in the preservation of the shrine of Bodh Gaya through their missions to repair the premises, so, too, did they play a role in the rejuvenation of Kusinara. For in the 1900s Venerable U. Chandramani, a monk from Burma, made a pilgrimage to Kusinara, built a temple there, and in the following years took care of the visitors who began coming. In 1956 the Government of India built the presently existing Nirvana Temple at Kusnara in conjunction with the Buddha Jayanti Celebrations, the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha’s death, when Buddha Jayanti Park was built in Delhi.



II. The Story of the Buddha’s Passing Away:
a Synopsis of the Text

The Mahaparinibbana Sutta in the Digha Nikaya is the story of the Buddha’s passing away. The first two-thirds of the sutta (II:16.1.1-4.43) deal with a variety of topics leading up to the final journey to Kusinara: the discussions on morality, the Noble Truths, and the Mirror of Dhamma; the trip to the grove of Ambapali, the courtesan, and the meal with her; the Buddha’s sickness at Beluva during the rainy season; the discussion of the Dhamma as an island and of the four roads to power; the evil Mara’s visit with the Buddha at Capala Shrine three months before the Parinibbana; the discussion of the eight stages of mastery and eight stages of liberation; the discourse to the assembly of the monks in the Great Forest; the Buddha’s final trip to Vesali for alms; the discourse to the monks at Bhandagama and several other locations; the meal prepared by Cunda, the smith, at Pava and the Buddha’s ensuing sickness; and the visit of Pukkusa, a student of Alara Kalama, with the Buddha on his final journey from Pava to Kusinara.

Of the events leading up to the trip to Kusinara, the incident involving Cunda is important and instructive (cf. 4.13-20, 4.42). The Buddha, Ananda, and a large group of monks traveled to Pava to the mango grove of Cunda, the smith. The Buddha instructed him on the Dhamma. Cunda, in turn, offered to prepare a meal of “pig’s delight.” After the Buddha had eaten the meal, he became so sick it was as if he were going to die. However, he endured his sickness with mindfulness and did not complain. He then suggested to Ananda that they journey to Kusinara. While resting on the road, the Buddha exhibited his special powers by making the dirty water of a stream clean so that Ananda could bring him it to him to drink. Later the Buddha instructed Ananda on what to say to Cunda so that the latter would not feel remorse about the sickness he had caused.

The last third of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (II:16.5.1-6.28) covers the passing away of the Buddha and the events immediately prior to this. The Buddha, Ananda, and a large group of monks crossed the Hirannavati River to the sala grove near Kusinara in preparation for the Parinibbana. At the Buddha’s behest, Ananda prepared a bed between two sala trees with the head to the north. The Buddha was tired and wanted to lie down. The Buddha told Upavana, standing in front fanning him, to move to the side so the devas from ten world-spheres could see him. They knew he would take leave of the earth in the last watch of the night, and they wanted to see him while they had the chance. Ananda asked the Buddha what was to be done with his remains. The Buddha said his remains were to be treated like the remains of a “wheel-turning monarch” (5.11): they were to be wrapped 500 times in cotton and a new cloth, placed in an iron oil-vat, and cremated on a perfumed funeral pyre; then a stupa was to be built at the crossroads. Ananda wept at the thought of the Buddha’s passing away, but he reminded his disciple that everything pleasant and delightful is changeable, i.e., that everything that is born decays. Ananda expressed the wish that the Buddha not die in the miserable little town of Kusinara, but the latter recounted the glorious history of ancient Kusavati and its ruler, King Mahasudassana. The Buddha sent Ananda to Kusinara to tell the Mallas there of his imminent passing away. The Mallas came to the sala grove with great weeping and, family-by-family, paid homage to him.

It happened at that time that a wanderer by the name of Subhadda was in Kusinara. Hearing that the Buddha was about to pass away, he went to the sala grove to gain Enlightenment. Though Ananda insisted several times that Subhadda not disturb the Buddha, the Buddha urged his disciple to let the wanderer see him. Subhadda asked the Buddha if the famous ascetics and Brahmins had realized the truth, or not. The Buddha, typically, refused to be drawn into a debate about other doctrines. His tact was to shift the focus to the efficaciousness, therefore validity, of his own teaching: only the Dhamma with the Noble Eightfold Path had produced Stream-Winners, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, and Arahants (cf. 5.27). (This little passage is quite significant for providing some insight into the way in which the Buddha “defends” his teaching in the face of contending doctrines without engaging in debate. It can be studied in the context of two other masterful pieces: the “Dighanakha Sutta; To Dighanakha,” in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya), Number 74 (“debate” by accepting a view at face value and showing it is untenable (Dighanakha’s “Nothing is acceptable to me”) (74.6-8); and the ensuing brief analysis of material form, and of kinds of feelings, here representative of all mental factors—an analysis which leads to liberation (9-13)); and the “Satipatthana Sutta; The Foundations of Mindfulness,” in The Middle Length Discourses, No. 10 (a full-blown analysis of material forms, mental factors, etc.: mindfulness/insight meditation leading to liberation).) Subhadda subsequently saw the truth of the Dhamma and was ordained—the Buddha’s last personal disciple.

The Buddha spoke further, first to Ananda, then to the assembly of the monks. He told Ananda he would have no successor: the only teacher after his death would be the Dhamma itself. To the assembly of the monks he spoke his last words: “all conditioned things are of a nature to decay—strive on untiringly” (6.7).

Having gone through the various jhanas and Spheres, the Buddha passed away (cf. 6.8-6.9: the four jhanas and the various Spheres, e.g., the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception, the Sphere of No-Thingness, etc.; cf., also, 3.33: the eight liberations). A terrible earthquake occurred, together with thunder. Some of the monks wept passionately; others bore their loss mindfully. The next morning the monk Anuruddha sent Ananda to Kusinara to tell the Mallas about the death of the Buddha. The Mallas, anguished and sorrowful, came to pay homage, paying respect with song and dance for six days. On the seventh day they carried the body through the city to the shrine of Makuta-Bandhana and wrapped the body in linen and cotton wool. The Venerable Kassapa the Great, who had been traveling from Pava to Kusinara with an entourage of monks, went to the Mallas’ shrine to pay homage. Once he had done so, the funeral pyre ignited by itself, and the Buddha’s body was burned so that only the bones remained. The leaders of eight cities—Magadha, Vesali, Kapilavatthu, Allakappa, Ramagama, Vethadipa, Pava, and Kusinara—laid claim to the relics of the Buddha. The Brahmin Dona divided the relics among the eight cities. The leaders of the eight cities built stupas for the relics, Dona build a stupa for the urn, and the Moriyas of Pipphalavana built a stupa for the embers in their city.

III. What to See at Kusinara Today

Why go to Kusinara? It is one of the four sites the Buddha himself recommended the faithful visit: the place of his birth, Lumbini Park; the place of his Enlightenment, Bodh Gaya; the place of his first discourse, Sarnath—and the place of his passing away, Kusinara (cf. 5.8 of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta).

Kusinara today is noteworthy both for the ancient monuments to be found there as well as for the temples that have recently been built (for the following, cf. D. C. Ahir, Buddhism in Modern India, pp. 46-48; cf., also, Dhammika, Middle Land, Middle Way, pp. 168-169). The temple by which Kusinara is recognized today is the Nirvana Temple with its barrel-vaulted roof and its large round glass windows. It is at the site of the ancient temple, which also had a barrel-vaulted roof. The Nirvana Temple is noteworthy for the large reclining Buddha statue that it contains. This statue, twenty feet long and dating from the 400s A.D., was carved from one piece of red sandstone. Carlleyle found it in 1876 when he excavated at the site of the original temple. Behind the Nirvana Temple is the main stupa, seventy-five feet high, which was restored by Venerable U. Chandramani, the Burmese monk, in 1927. There is some difference of opinion about whether the Buddha passed away at the spot where the temple exists or where the stupa exists. (According to Ahir, p. 47, the reclining statue in the temple is thought to be the place where the Buddha died. According to Dhammika, p. 168, however, the stupa marks the spot. Dhammika argues that the present stupa consists of stupas within stupas, in the first of which were found charcoal and black earth, presumably from a funeral pyre. It is not clear why material from the site of the creation stupa were be present in the main stupa.) Down the road and south of the Nirvana temple and the main stupa lies the Matha-Kuar temple. It should be noted that this is the temple that was built in 1927 by the Burmese to hold a large Buddha statue. This statue, ten feet high and about 1000 years old, represents the Buddha in the earth-touching position under the bodhi tree at the time of his Enlightenment. About one mile east of the Matha-Kuar temple is the remains of the cremation stupa, the Makutabandhana Chaitya (the site of the Mallas shrine) or Ramabhar stupa (from the name of the nearby pond), where the Buddha’s body was burned. The cremation stupa was a drum-shaped structure. It was large: it was 112 feet in diameter, its base 155 feet in diameter. Modern temples, lastly, have also been constructed at Kusinara by the people of China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Japan.

วัดเวฬุวันมหาวิหาร เมืองราชคฤห์ (Veluwanamahavihar)

มหาวิทยาลัยนาลันทา (Nalanda University)

เจดีย์รอบ ๆ เจดีย์พุทธคยา

พุทธคยา สถานที่ตรัสรู้ ตั้งอยู่ทางฝั่งตะวันตกของ แม่น้ำเนรัญชรา ณ ตำบลโพธิคยา หรือ พุทธคยา มีอาณาเขต ติดต่อกับตำบลตารดิตถ์ จังหวัดคยา รัฐพิหาร ซึ่งมีเมือง ปัตนะเป็นเมืองหลวง ก่อนจะเดินทางถึงบริเวณสถานที่ตรัสรู้ คือ ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ เราจะมองเห็นพระวิหารโพธิ (พระเจดีย์ ๔ เหลี่ยม) ตั้งตระหง่านสูงประมาณ ๑๗๐ ฟิตจากพื้นดิน เมื่อเดินเข้าใกล้เราจะมองเห็นว่าสถานที่รอบ ๆ ที่ตรัสรู้นี้ ตั้งอยู่ในที่ต่ำลึกจากระดับพื้นดินบริเวณรอบ ๆ ที่ถูกสร้างเป็น กำแพงในปัจจุบันประมาณ ๕ เมตร ที่เป็นเช่นนี้ เพราะบริเวณ พระศรีมหาโพธิ์ในอดีต มีวิหารใหญ่ ๓ หลัง เฉพาะทางประตู ด้านทิศเหนือของต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ มีวิหารชื่อมหาโพธิสังฆาราม ซึ่งกษัตริย์ชาวศรีลังกาได้มาสร้างไว้ มี ๖ ห้อง ๔ ยอด มีพระสงฆ์อยู่อาศัยถึง ๑,๐๐๐ รูป แต่ใน พ.ศ. ๑๗๔๗ วิหารทั้ง ๓ หลัง รวมทั้งกำแพงได้ถูก ทำลายลงโดยกษัตริย์มุสลิม ดังนั้น บรรดาซากถาวรวัตถุที่ปรักหักพังได้ตกสลายไป ทำให้เกิดการทับถมกันของแผ่นดิน บริเวณนี้จึงอยู่ต่ำจากระดับกำแพงและบริเวณ รอบซึ่งเป็นซากวัดในอดีตประมาณ ๕ เมตร
เมื่อวันที่ ๒๗ มิถุนายน พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๕ องค์การสหประชาชาติได้ประกาศยกย่อง ให้พุทธคยาเป็นมรดกโลก
สถานที่ตรัสรู้
เจ้าชายสิทธัตถะ หรือดาบสสิทธัตถะในขณะนั้น หลังจากที่ทรงใช้ความวิริยะ อุตสาหะเพื่อแสวงหาโมกขธรรมอยู่เป็นเวลา ๖ ปี ได้ทรงตรัสรู้อนุตตรสัมมาสัมโพธิญาณ เป็นพระพุทธเจ้า ณ ภายใต้ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ เมื่อวันพุธ ขึ้น ๑๕ ค่ำ เดือน ๖ ปีระกา (วันวิสาขบูชา) ก่อนพุทธศักราช ๔๕ ปี พุทธคยาจึงจัดเป็นสถานที่สำคัญของพุทธศาสนิกชนตั้งแต่นั้นเป็นต้น มา บริเวณสถานที่ตรัสรู้นี้ ในครั้งพุทธกาลเรียกว่าตำบลอุรุเวลาเสนานิคม

พระแท่นวัชรอาสน์(Vajarasana)

Bodhi Tree, ตันพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ ที่พุทธคยา

ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ เป็นสถานที่ ที่สมเด็จพระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้าตรัสรู้ประทับ นั่งตรัสรู้ในคืนวันเพ็ญวิสาขปุรณมี ก่อน พุทธศักราช ๔๕ ปี ณ สถานที่นี้ได้เคยมีพระ พุทธเจ้าองค์อื่น ๆ ในอดีตกาลถึง ๓ พระองค์ ที่ได้ทรงตรัสรู้แล้ว คือ พระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้า กกุสันโท โกนาคมนะ กัสสปะ และพระพุทธเจ้า องค์ปัจจุบัน และในอนาคตกาล จะเป็นที่ตรัสรู้ ของพระศรีอริยเมตไตรยต้นที่ปรากฏอยู่ใน ปัจจุบัน เป็นต้นที่ ๔ มีประวัติโดยสังเขปดังนี้
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นที่ ๑
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ที่พระพุทธองค์ได้ประทับนั่ง เพื่อตรัสรู้พระอนุตตรสัมโพธิญาณ เป็นสหชาติกับพระพุทธเจ้า อายุประมาณ ๓๕๒ ปี พระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นนี้ ถูกพระนางมหีสุนทรี มเหสีองค์ที่ ๔ ของพระเจ้าอโศกมหาราช ราดยาพิษและน้ำร้อนจนตาย พระเจ้าอโศกทรงเสีย พระทัยมาก ทรงอธิษฐานและสั่งให้เอาน้ำนมวัวถึง ๑๐๐ ตัวมารดหน่อของพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ จึงงอกขึ้นมาใหม่
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นที่ ๒
พระเจ้าอโศกทรงปลูกเมื่อ พ.ศ. ๒๗๒ ในช่วงปี พ.ศ. ๑๑๔๓ - ๑๑๖๓ กษัตริย์ชาว ฮินดูแห่งแคว้นเบงกอล ชื่อ ศาศางกา ได้ทำลายเสีย ต่อมากษัตริย์แคว้นมคธชื่อ พระเจ้าปุรณวรมา ทรงทราบข่าว จึงเสด็จมาที่พุทธคยา ได้ทรงเห็นต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ถูกทำลาย จึงทรงให้เอา น้ำนมวัว ๑,๐๐๐ ตัว มารดจนหน่อของพระศรีมหาโพธิ์เกิดใหม่อีก
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นที่ ๓
พระเจ้าปุรณวรมา ได้ทรงปลูกหน่อต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นที่ ๓ นี้ไว้ ณ ตำแหน่ง เดิม จนต้นเจริญงอกงามดี ต้นที่ ๓ นี้ มีอายุประมาณ ๑,๒๕๖ – ๑,๒๗๖ ปี ก็ตายลงด้วยถูก พายุพัดโค่น เพราะอายุแก่มากแล้ว ต่อมา เซอร์คันนิ่งแฮม ได้เห็นหน่อของต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ งอกขึ้นมา ๒ หน่อ จึงเอาหน่อที่สูงประมาณ ๖ นิ้ว ปลูกไว้ที่เดิม หน่อที่สูงประมาณ ๔ นิ้ว ปลูกไว้ทางทิศเหนือขององค์พระเจดีย์
ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นที่ ๔
ท่านเซอร์คันนิ่งแฮมได้นำมาปลูกไว้ เมื่อ พ.ศ. ๒๔๒๓ ณ ตำแหน่งเดิมของต้น พระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นแรก พระศรีมหาโพธิ์ต้นนี้มีอายุประมาณ ๑๒๔ ปี ( พ.ศ.๒๕๔๗ ) นับแต่ปลูกมา ปัจจุบันต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ ก็ยังแข็งแรงและสมบูรณ์ดี มีการกั้นรั้วทองเหลืองไว้โดยรอบ มีประตูเหล็กดัดสูง ๒ เมตร สร้างถวายโดยชาวพุทธศรีลังกา
๒. พระแท่นวัชรอาสน์
พระแท่นวัชรอาสน์ คือ ที่ประทับนั่ง ตรัสรู้ของสมเด็จพระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้า ที่ใต้ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ ในครั้งนั้น พระ พุทธองค์ทรงใช้หญ้ากุสะ ๘ กำมือ ที่ โสตถิยะพราหมณ์ถวายให้มาปูลาดนั่ง และเมื่อพระองค์ได้ตรัสรู้เป็นพระสัมมา-สัมพุทธเจ้าแล้ว บัลลังก์ที่ประทับนั่งนั้น จึงถูกเรียกว่า อปราชิตบัลลังก์ หรือ รัตนบัลลังก์
ต่อมา พระเจ้าอโศกมหาราชทรงสร้างเป็นแทนหินสลัก ประดิษฐานไว้ระหว่างต้น พระศรีมหาโพธิ์กับองค์พระเจดีย์ เพื่อให้เป็นอนุสรณ์สถานที่ถาวรยาวนาน พระแท่นนี้สร้างขึ้น โดยใช้แผ่นหินทราย เป็นรูปสี่เหลี่ยมผืนผ้า ยาวประมาณ ๗ ฟุต ๑๐ นิ้วครึ่ง กว้าง ๔ ฟุต ๗ นิ้วครึ่ง ความหนา ๖ นิ้วครึ่ง แกะสลักเป็นรูปแหวนเพชร นอกจากนั้น ยังมีรูปดอกบัว รูปพญาหงษ์ และดอกมณฑารพด้วย