In Buddhism, the fig tree under which the Buddha sat when he attained enlightenment (bodhi) at Bodh Gaya (near Gaya, India). The tree growing on the site now is believed to be a descendant of the original, planted from a cutting of a tree in Sri Lanka that had been propagated from the original; both trees are sites of pilgrimage for Buddhists. The bo tree or a representation of its leaf has often been used as a symbol of the Buddha.

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(Sanskrit and Pali: “awakening” or “enlightenment”) In Buddhism, the final enlightenment that ends the cycle of death and rebirth and leads to nirvana. This awakening transformed Siddhartha Gautama into the historical Buddha. Bodhi is achieved by ridding oneself of false beliefs and the hindrance of passions through the discipline of the Eightfold Path. Though not supported in canonical texts, commentaries give a threefold classification of bodhi: that of a perfectly enlightened one, or a Buddha; that of an independently enlightened one; and that of an arhat.

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