Mahabodhi Temple
Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India
The temple at Bodh Gaya marking where the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, the holiest site in Buddhism, open to pilgrimage from around the world.
The temple's 55-meter tower encloses the Bodhi Tree, believed to descend from the tree beneath which the Buddha attained enlightenment, with the Vajrasana, the Diamond Throne, at its foot. The site has drawn pilgrimage for over two thousand years; UNESCO inscribed it in 2002, and the temple is managed under the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by a committee, with a long-running dispute over full Buddhist control of the temple that this entry reports with both perspectives and no verdict.
Pilgrimage is constant: monks and lay practitioners circumambulate the complex, meditate at the Vajrasana, and arrive from every Buddhist country. From March 2025, phones and cameras are prohibited inside the complex, deposited at counters before entry, a security measure following a threat alert.
Visiting
The temple's own site carries current hours; open daily from dawn to late evening, free entry; phones and cameras barred since March 2025 (deposit at the counter); footwear left outside; modest dress and silence in the temple.
Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Worshipper_at_Mahabodhi_Temple_Bodh_Gaya_India.jpg), CC BY 2.0, Evan Loveley.
Associated traditions & practices
Traditions from this region
Traditions historically rooted in this region — offered as background context, not as a claim about this particular place.
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