The Bodhi Tree's branches stretch out from its solid trunk, their distinctive heart-shaped leaves casting protective shade over those who sit beneath. It was under just such a tree, here along the banks of the Phal-gu River in northern India, that a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama, troubled by the world's miseries, sat in meditation some 2,500 years ago. And this is where he is believed to have attained nirvana, or supreme enlightenment, and become the Buddha, whose teaching would influence countless billions.
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