Pilgrimage

DN 16 the Mahaparinibbana Sutta suggests 4 holy places. Where the Buddha was born in Lumbini. Where he got enlightened: Bodh Gaya. Where he taught his first sermon that enlightened others, "turning the wheel of the Dharma": Deer Park (Sarnath). And where he reached parinirvana: Kusinara.

When you look at the Lumbini wikipedia page, you see that countries build temples: India, Japan, Thailand, Chinese, Germany, French, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Cambodia, Austria, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam, Tibet, Myanmar, and even Russia is building a temple. It's not lost on me that USA doesn't have one. These spiritual tourism cities have a logic of their own.

There are some good pillars of Ashoka there. In the mythology there were many Buddhas before our era Buddha and one of them is Konagamana, who was also born in Lumbini.

Only 3% of the people in Lumbini now are Buddhists, it's mostly Hindu now, and there are twice as many Muslims as Buddhas.

It's not the original tree at Bodh Gaya, it's the grandchild of the original tree. Someone must have taken a cutting and grown a tree, and someone took a cutting from that one, and grew a tree. 

Like all good tourist spots, it includes other notable sites. There is a temple that was built 200 years after the Buddha's death, which makes it quite old. It must have been refurbished a few times. There is a stupa and an Ashoka pillar dedicated to the girl who gave the Buddha some milk. There is a great statue:

(Sarcastic voice) Like all good spiritual places, there were bombings in 2013.

Sarnath has the Dhamek Stupa. The Dharmarajika Stupa is one of the few pre-Ashokan stupas remaining at Sarnath, although only the foundations remain. It has been the subject of extensive depredations and archaeological excavations, from the late 18th through the early 20th century (source). There's an 1833 drawing of it.

The Ashokan pillar erected here was broken during the invasions of the 12th century but many of the pieces remain at the original location.

There's a 5th century relief of the Buddha's first sermon that is notable. 

Perhaps the most impressive stupa is the Chaukhandi Stupa.

The Sarnath Museum looks cool too, where the above relief is. 

Mulagandha Kuty Vihara looks interesting too.

There is also another grandson of the Bodhi tree planted in Sarnath. 

Kushinagar is where the Buddha died. I've been reading the fantastical Mahaparinibbana Sutta. I don't really get the spiritual importance of the story where Ananda could have asked the Buddha to live 20 more years, but he missed it. Excoriating people for lack of mindfulness isn't what Buddhism is about, in my humble opinion. 

There are some dubious explanations of earthquakes, but the idea that enlightenment causes some is a cute idea. There's a big debate over whether the Buddha at boar by eating "Pig's Delight" but I think it would be truffles. 

Ramabhar Stupa is the thing to see. In a way it reminds me of the Native American mounds in North America. 

There's a Parinirvana Temple.

If you added in other sites, I would pick:

Vulture's Peak Rajgir Bahar India.

Rajgir is where Nalanda, a great center of Buddhism 427 CE until around 1400 CE., which hosted the scholars Dharmapala, Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Chandrakirti, Xuanzang, Śīlabhadra and Atiśa..

Sravasti includes stupas and many sites, archaeological and reconstructed that are in the Pali Canon.

Sankissa has some sights, pillars, statues, monastery and stupa ruins.

Vaishali has archaeological sites too.

Mathura has the first image of the Buddha on record perhaps.

When I think of sites I would like to visit, I think Bodhidharma's cave and a walk around Shikoku to the 88 temples, for Kukai. India, Nepal, China and Japan. I'm sure I could find more places I'd like to go, but that's what comes to mind this morning.

DN 16 expresses a contradiction. Some of the monks are wailing and pulling their hair out, and some have attained something so that they don't see death as a surprise. Both contradictory reactions are possible. One is of great devotion but little insight, and one seems blase but actually contains the insights the Buddha has led you to.