Sapling from world's longest-living Bodhi tree planted in Bai Dinh pagoda

The tree, named Sri Maha Bodhiya, stands in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It was said to be propagated from the famous Bodhi tree under which Siddhartha Gautama the Lord Buddha was sitting when he gained enlightenment.

With permissions from the Sri Lankan Government and the local pagoda housing the sacred fig and support from the South Asian country's embassy in Vietnam, the sapling was planted in Bai Dinh at a ceremony on March 25.

The ceremony followed a pilgrimage starting March 21 by monks and Buddhist followers from the Vietnamese pagoda to Sri Lanka to bring the sapling back to Vietnam.

The Bai Dinh pagoda is part of the local Trang An Landscape Complex that was recognised as a World Cultural And Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is a temple with massive, monumental architecture and bold traditional cultural identity, considered a famous spiritual tourist destination in the northern region.

(Source: VNA)