Buddhist Pilgrimage and the Ritual Ecology of Sacred Sites in the Indo-Gangetic Region
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
There is a great deal in the article that is both well explained and compelling. In particular is the notion that these sites function as "places of memory,"--that is, their importance comes from remembering them in the present as sites for events in the past. The author clearly lays out how such memory work (focusing on the "present absence") can serve both as a way to have that remembered person serve as a model, but also how such memory can help to "purify" the person in the present tense. Also how places and objects (especially bodily relics) can act as foci for these.
The parallel between the treatment of places and relics (and thus their importance) is quite clearly stated.
This notion of "memory sites" shows some overlap with how Sikh pilgrims visit sites such as the 5 Takhts, or for that matter venerate objects (pans, swords, clothing, etc.) given to devotees by their Gurus. The material connection with the past acts to provide a meaningful personal connection in the present.
The Buddhist case also highlights the long-time Buddhist emphasis on mind and intentionality (which in the earliest Buddhist texts is seen as determining the karmic outcome of different actions). In their intentionality the people doing these rituals are seen generating merit (for this world and the next).
Of course, if these sites are primarily functioning as places of Buddhist memory, then it is not surprising that there is so much variability. The Buddhists coming to the these places all share the narrative of the Buddha's life, but diverge widely in other matters of personal/community history (region, language, sect). Since each pilgrim understands the Buddha's life as it is refracted through all of these other prisms, one cannot expect but that it would be sharp differences.
The beginning of the article talks about the Four great sites for the Buddha's life (Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagari), but the article's actual content is drawn almost exclusively from Bodh Gaya. This is not necessarily a problem, but it would be helpful to discuss this at the start. I've only seen two of these sites in person--Sarnath and Bodh Gaya--but their built environment and "feel" is sharply different. I remember Sarnath as essentially an expansive park (lots of lawns and some monuments) with an adjacent museum. There may also be monasteries and rest houses and other institutions, to be honest I don't remember, since I went there as a day trip from Benares. Bodh Gaya is very different, and in some ways more like (for want of a better expression) a self-contained Buddhist cultural theme park. Different groups have different monasteries and sites, buildings, all reflecting the prevailing national architecture (and thus highlighting the diversity in the Buddhist world). From my memory the tourism development questions are far more germane to Bodh Gaya (perhaps because it is more remote and the pilgrim/tourist economy is at its center). Bodh Gaya has also been contested in the past, and remains so today (for example, near the built section is a Muslim cemetery).
One of the things that surprised me was the disjunction between the article abstract and the article body. The issues mentioned in the second half of the abstract, starting with the phrase "unique pressures on the built environment..." are found only in the paper's last four paragraphs, which made it a bit of shock to suddenly come to the end of the paper--I was expecting more discussion of these aspects. So either the abstract needs to be modified to more accurately convey the contents of the paper, or (preferably) the paper needs some expansion to honor the promises made by the abstract.
As the author notes, Buddhist pilgrims tend to travel in homogenous groups, which raises the question "To what extent are they doing the same thing"? At least in Bodh Gaya, these groups have brought a rising tide of prosperity locally--not to mention the "western" visitors who want nicer accommodations, fast wifi, and mango lassis. All of this has brought considerable money to Bodh Gaya but has also changed the quality of the place there.
So in summary one issue is the disjunction between abstract and text, and the other is the recommendation to be clearer that much of the material was drawn from Bodh Gaya (there is no shame there--one of the things that struck me on my single visit was seeing Buddhists who were clearly from all over Asia).
A few minor grammatical notes (based on my American English syntax):
Line 43 has "tourists spaces" Should it be "tourist spaces" (adjectival)
Line 57 has "produces" (should be produce?)
Line 491 has "to access to" (did you mean "to gain access to")?
Line 547 has "meditating" which I think should be "mediating"
Line 633 has Buddha's (possessive), should be Buddhas (plural)
I found this very interesting!
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for your time and valuable comments.
Response to Reviewer 1
Thank you, reviewer, for all your positive comments and encouraging feedback- we really appreciate such encouragement.
Below we respond to the main points suggested for improving the manuscript.
- The beginning of the article talks about the Four great sites for the Buddha's life (Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagari), but the article's actual content is drawn almost exclusively from Bodh Gaya. This is not necessarily a problem, but it would be helpful to discuss this at the start.
Response: We have made changes to the abstract and in introduction to clarify this. The following sentences have been added (line 63-69).
Although much of our descriptions of ritual phenomena can be generalized across several main Buddhist pilgrimage sites our analysis is greatly informed by sustained fieldwork at a few prominent sites, especially Bodhgaya—the seat of enlightenment located in south Bihar. Thus, a study of ritual ecosystems at Buddhist sites, like Bodhgaya, has the potential to provide important insights into how the vitality and vibrancy of a site for Buddhist practitioners and visitors can be more effectively managed by state governments, archaeological and heritage agencies, and religious authorities.
In addition, at many places we reiterate that this paper focuses on Bodhgaya including photos.
- In their intentionality the people doing these rituals are seen generating merit (for this world and the next).
Response: Thank you for this positive comment. We thought of expanding on to it in alignment with the focus of the paper by adding the following sentences in Section 3.5 Dana and merit.
Line 522-535:
Applying gold leaf on sacred objects and images such as stone footprints (to the chagrin of conservation authorities) is also a popular practice among some South East Asian Buddhist groups. In a recent chapter by anthropologist Joanna Cook (2018), she accompanied a group of 120 Buddhist pilgrims from Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, to Nepal and India to make the journey around the four sites. In one instance, Cook describes the ways in which Thai lay pilgrims internalize and actualize the truths of suffering and impermanence in Kushinagar by symbolically cremating the names of deceased family members on small slips of paper which allows them to create a tangible connection between the death of the Buddha and their own personal experiences of loss. These actions are not only morally transformative to the participant, but they also infuse and enhance the sacred power associated with the Buddhist sites because “the more people share in a meritorious act, the more merit is created” (Cook, 2018, 45).
And Line 557-564:
As we see in this section, providing Dana and accruing merit can be expressed in a range of ritual forms, from the recitation of certain verses, offerings to the sangha, donations, and social work, to name a few. Although there are multiple modalities for the transference of merit one could argue that undertaking pilgrimage itself represents one of the highest forms of merit-making in the Buddhist world given the ways in which other ritual practices are enfolded within the journey. For these reasons pilgrimage places are very auspicious locales for undertaking virtuous deeds that is akin to a merit multiplier effect.
- The disjunction between the article abstract and the article body. The issues mentioned in the second half of the abstract, starting with the phrase "unique pressures on the built environment..." are found only in the paper's last four paragraphs, which made it a bit of shock to suddenly come to the end of the paper--I was expecting more discussion of these aspects. So either the abstract needs to be modified to more accurately convey the contents of the paper, or (preferably) the paper needs some expansion to honor the promises made by the abstract.
Response: We have chosen the latter given the length of the article and the importance of foregrounding the various rituals. Edits were made to the abstract and discussion clarifying this. The abstract is revised with inclusion of the following sentence:
Despite the differences across national, cultural-linguistic, and sectarian lines, the ritual practices associated with pilgrimage speak to certain patterns of religious motivation and behavior that contribute to a sense of shared identity that plays an important role in how Buddhists imagine themselves as part of a translocal religion in a globalizing age.
Similarly, few paragraphs and sentences are revised in the discussion section to reflect the main content more appropriately. Newly added content is:
Line 646-652:
These aspirations continue to play a formative role in linking the human world with transcendent realms as moral axis points for the religious community. Thus, as places of memory the Buddhist pilgrimage sites provide a ritual environment that helps to reinforce and internalize the truths of the dhamma because they help bring to life the stories of the Buddha in the holy land in ways that are morally transformative. As Cook (2018, 51) writes, “These practices are intended to effect changes within themselves, resulting in the actualization of moral good in accordance with Buddhist cosmology.”
Line 728-735:
Due to the sheer number of pilgrims from abroad it is difficult to generalize about the significance of the pilgrimage journey, given the different backgrounds, motivations and experiences. Although this paper provides a broad descriptive overview of the ritual ecology of sacred sites along the pilgrims path in North India and Nepal, more case studies are needed among different national groups and lineages to shed light on how Buddhist themselves imagine Buddhism on a translocal and transhistorical scale, and the ongoing significance rituals have for the importance of pilgrimage in the Indo-Gangetic region.
- A few minor grammatical notes
We have corrected all the errors that were identified by the reviewer.
Reviewer 2 Report
This is a most helpful analysis of pilgrimage practices and ontologies. However the concluding paragraph, as also signalled in the abstract, comes as a surprise. This problematises the sustainability of pilgrimage places in non-Buddhist localities, which has not been the focus of the article itself. Rather the article gives no sense that pilgrims are alien to the localities they visit. It suggests a whole area of exploration not covered in article, such as the desire of non-Buddhists in such localities to 'profit' from pilgrims, the politics of conserving these sacred sites in polities based on other religion, and the ease of access of pilgrims to such sites. This suggests to me a totally different article, and maybe this concluding paragraph would be best removed and another concluding paragraph substituted
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for your valuable feedback on our paper.
Response to Reviewer 2
Reviewer’s feedback
This is a most helpful analysis of pilgrimage practices and ontologies. However, the concluding paragraph, as also signalled in the abstract, comes as a surprise. This problematises the sustainability of pilgrimage places in non-Buddhist localities, which has not been the focus of the article itself. Rather the article gives no sense that pilgrims are alien to the localities they visit. It suggests a whole area of exploration not covered in article, such as the desire of non-Buddhists in such localities to 'profit' from pilgrims, the politics of conserving these sacred sites in polities based on other religion, and the ease of access of pilgrims to such sites. This suggests to me a totally different article, and maybe this concluding paragraph would be best removed and another concluding paragraph substituted.
Our Response:
We understand the disconnect that was pointed out. Since the focus of the paper is on understanding the ritual ecology in Buddhist pilgrimages, we have decided to stick to it and side-stepped the issues related to sustainability and built environment – we agree that this subject can become another paper. As such, we have amended the abstract and discussion sections to maintain the central focus as stated in the paper by removing the last paragraphs.
The abstract is revised with inclusion of the following sentence:
Despite the differences across national, cultural-linguistic, and sectarian lines, the ritual practices associated with pilgrimage speak to certain patterns of religious motivation and behavior that contribute to a sense of shared identity that plays an important role in how Buddhists imagine themselves as part of a translocal religion in a globalizing age.
Similarly, few paragraphs and sentences are revised in the discussion section to reflect the main content more appropriately. Newly added content is:
Line 646-652:
These aspirations continue to play a formative role in linking the human world with transcendent realms as moral axis points for the religious community. Thus, as places of memory the Buddhist pilgrimage sites provide a ritual environment that helps to reinforce and internalize the truths of the dhamma because they help bring to life the stories of the Buddha in the holy land in ways that are morally transformative. As Cook (2018, 51) writes, “These practices are intended to effect changes within themselves, resulting in the actualization of moral good in accordance with Buddhist cosmology.”
Line 728-735:
Due to the sheer number of pilgrims from abroad it is difficult to generalize about the significance of the pilgrimage journey, given the different backgrounds, motivations and experiences. Although this paper provides a broad descriptive overview of the ritual ecology of sacred sites along the pilgrims path in North India and Nepal, more case studies are needed among different national groups and lineages to shed light on how Buddhist themselves imagine Buddhism on a translocal and transhistorical scale, and the ongoing significance rituals have for the importance of pilgrimage in the Indo-Gangetic region.
To reinforce our focus, we have also reiterated the connection between rituals and merit-making in section 3.5 by adding the following sentences in Section 3.5 Dana and merit.
Line 522-535:
Applying gold leaf on sacred objects and images such as stone footprints (to the chagrin of conservation authorities) is also a popular practice among some South East Asian Buddhist groups. In a recent chapter by anthropologist Joanna Cook (2018), she accompanied a group of 120 Buddhist pilgrims from Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, to Nepal and India to make the journey around the four sites. In one instance, Cook describes the ways in which Thai lay pilgrims internalize and actualize the truths of suffering and impermanence in Kushinagar by symbolically cremating the names of deceased family members on small slips of paper which allows them to create a tangible connection between the death of the Buddha and their own personal experiences of loss. These actions are not only morally transformative to the participant, but they also infuse and enhance the sacred power associated with the Buddhist sites because “the more people share in a meritorious act, the more merit is created” (Cook, 2018, 45).
And Line 557-564:
As we see in this section, providing Dana and accruing merit can be expressed in a range of ritual forms, from the recitation of certain verses, offerings to the sangha, donations, and social work, to name a few. Although there are multiple modalities for the transference of merit one could argue that undertaking pilgrimage itself represents one of the highest forms of merit-making in the Buddhist world given the ways in which other ritual practices are enfolded within the journey. For these reasons pilgrimage places are very auspicious locales for undertaking virtuous deeds that is akin to a merit multiplier effect.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The last sentence of the abstract has two clauses beginning with "that. Would recommend breaking it into two sentences, by putting a period after "behavior" and replacing the second "that" with "These"
line 35 has "sights"--should be "sites"
lines 630 ff use the Pali forms of the trilakshana. Would Sanskrit be more appropriate, given the usage in the rest of the paper?
Line 722 has "meditate"--should this be "mediate"?
