Alone in his hermitage, he came at last to that solid conviction, that KNOWLEDGE never to be shaken, of the laws of things, which had seemed to him the only foundation of a truly free life.

The spot where, after a week of constant meditation, he at last arrived at this beatific vision, became one of the most sacred places in India.

He was seated under a tree, his face to the east, not having moved for a day and night, when he attained the triple science, which was to rescue mankind from its woes.

Twelve hundred years after the death of the Buddha, a Chinese pilgrim was shown what then passed for the sacred tree.
It was surrounded by high brick walls, with an opening to the east, and near it stood many topes and monasteries.

In the opinion of M.
Saint-Hilaire, these ruins, and the locality of the tree, may yet be rediscovered.