Humble Table, Wise Fare

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Vulture Peak, also known as Holy Eagle Peak, was located in the capital of Magadha, India, in the city of Rajagaha (now Rajgir ). According to Buddhist scriptures, when the Buddha taught the Dharma, there were one million heavenly and human beings in attendance. Until today, Buddhist pilgrims will definitely visit Vulture Peak, because during the Buddha's lifetime , he taught numerous significant scriptures at this location, including the Lotus Sutra, the Heart Sutra, the Surangama Sutra, and the Infinite Life Sutra. Countless arhats who realized the teachings were also present. After the Buddha's passing, the first canonization was held here.

The scene of the Buddha teaching the Dharma at Vulture Peak is described in the Buddhist scriptures, much like how we often see at the beginning of Buddhist sutras: "Thus I have heard: At one time the Buddha was at Vulture Peak, together with great arhats and others which total to 1250 people..." This describes the grandeur of the occasion when the Buddha taught at Vulture Peak, with important disciples such as " Sariputra , the foremost in wisdom; Maudgalyayana , the foremost in supernatural powers etc." In addition to these ten foremost disciples, there were also 500 arhats , 500 bhikkhus, and more people than just "1,250" in attendance at the Dharma talk.

Vulture Peak in Fo Guang Shan is located in the plaza upon entering the "Non Duality Gate." Here, five hundred arhats are arranged inside the garden scenery, each one lively and has his own characteristics. Although the number does not total to aforementioned "1,250," strolling around the arhats invokes the feeling of being present at the Dharma talk by the Buddha on Vulture Peak. Besides these arhats carved from white marble and the many bodhi trees that we plant, when visitors pass through the "Non Duality Gate" and ascend to the Main Shrine, they follow a path that runs up and down hills. It is like the Buddha's way that is not easy to achieve, but as long as we hold onto the bodhi mind, which aims to strive upward for Buddhahood and turn backward to help sentient beings, we can enter the Buddha’s world one day, like how we follow this bodhi path to arrive at the main shrine where the Buddhas are enshrined. Vulture Peak in

Fo Guang Shan was built in 1971, and renovated in 1992.

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