The places where it actually happened.

The birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, identified by the Buddha himself as one of the four places a faithful pilgrim should visit.

The only one of the eight original Buddha-relic stupas that has never been opened.

The walled citadel of ancient Kapilavastu — the palace of King Suddhodana where Siddhartha was raised in the famous "three palaces for three seasons" and from whose eastern gate, by canonical account, he renounced the world.

The wider Shakya kingdom — Kudan, Niglihawa, Gotihawa, and Sagarhawa — surrounding the Tilaurakot citadel.

The capital of the Koliya clan and the maternal kingdom of Queen Mayadevi.

The site of the Buddha's enlightenment — the most sacred place in the Buddhist world.

The Deer Park where the Buddha delivered the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma to his five former ascetic companions — the founding of the Sangha.

The site of the Buddha's Mahaparinirvana — the final passing — between two sal trees on the full moon of Vaisakha, c.

Vulture Peak, the Bamboo Grove, the Saptaparni Cave — the hills where the Buddha taught for years, where the Lotus and Prajnaparamita sutras were preached, and where, three months after the Mahaparinirvana, five hundred arahants gathered for the First Buddhist Council.

The greatest Buddhist monastic university the world ever built — 10,000 students, 2,000 teachers, a nine-storey library, and a faculty including Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Dignaga, Dharmakirti, and Asanga.

Where the Buddha founded the bhikkhuni (nuns') order, announced his impending Mahaparinirvana three months in advance, and where, a century after his death, the Second Buddhist Council was convened to address ten points of monastic discipline.

The capital of Kosala — the Buddha's home for twenty-five of the forty-five rains-retreats of his ministry.

Where the Buddha descended from the Trayastrimsa heaven after the rains-retreat in which he taught the Abhidhamma to his mother.

The Shakya share of the Buddha's relics — possibly the original.

The self-arisen stupa atop the Kathmandu Valley's western hill — the oldest active Buddhist site in Nepal, the heart of Newar Buddhism, and the site identified by the Buddha Vipashyi (six Buddhas before Shakyamuni) as the future resting place of the dharma.

One of the largest spherical stupas in the world — 36 m tall, 100 m diameter at the base.

The kingdom of Lo, sealed behind the Himalayas at 3,800 m, was closed to foreigners until 1992.