Introduction

(1) The significance of investigating the rainy season

(2) Rain did not fall

(3) Indian miracles

(4) Forsaken by the deity Indra

(5) Results of the survey

(6) Introducing those who were allocated various portions of the study

Part One. Itinerary

(1) Delhi. The starting point

(2) Mathurā, Madhurā. The westernmost city

(3) Saṅkassa. City of legend

(4) Kaṇṇakujja. The city associated with Xuanzang

(5) Kosambī. City of betrayal

(6) Sārnāth. The symbolic Indian city (Deer Park)

(7) Ayodhyā, Ayojjhā. The wandering city

(8) Kapilavatthu. The lost city

(9) Kusinārā. The city of the ascetic Babaji

(10) Pāvāpurī. The Jaina city

(11) Rājagaha. The mountain city

(12) Bodhgayā. The city of sand

Part Two. What route did Sakyamuni take to reach Kusinārā?

(1) Description in the Mahāparinirvānasūtra

(2) The Kesariya stupa

(3) The Mango Grove (Ambavana)

(4) The village of the Nādikā clan

(5) Koṭigāma

(6) The starting point of the Mahāparinirvānasūtra

(7) The flooding of the Ganges river

(8) The location of Koṭigāma

(9) The valued base

(10) After Koṭigāma

Conclusion

This report was prepared for a debriefing meeting held on October 26, 2001 concerning the month-long field survey studying places associated with Indian Buddhism in relation to the rainy season undertaken between August 1 and August 30, 2001 with financial assistance from the Chūō Academic Research Institute.

The previous field survey of Indian sites associated with Buddhism had studied the wanderings of Sakyamuni and his ordained followers principally in the dry season. The present survey sought to experience vicariously how they spent the rainy season retreat. Unfortunately, though, rain hardly fell during our time in India and so we were unable to realize our anticipated objectives.

Instead, we spent the time visiting a large number of sites associated with Buddhism that we had not expected to go to. Therefore this paper focuses on our report about these sites, with the aid of photographs and maps, and on the results of our study of the assumed route taken by Sakyamuni during his last journey, as described in the Mahāparinirvānasūtra.