According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha attained enlightenment beneath a Bodhi tree.
The Bodhi tree is a sacred fig, scientifically known as Ficus religiosa. Buddhist tradition identifies the tree at Bodh Gaya in present-day India as the place where Siddhartha Gautama meditated and became the Buddha. The word bodhi means awakening or enlightenment, so “Bodhi tree” means the tree associated with awakening.
The original tree is not thought to have survived continuously for more than two millennia. However, Buddhist tradition preserves lineages of sacred fig trees connected with it. A famous descendant at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, is traditionally said to have been grown from a branch taken from the original tree.
The Bodhi tree is sometimes confused with the sal tree, which is linked in traditional accounts with key events near the Buddha’s birth and death. The banyan is another important Indian fig tree, but it is not the specific species traditionally associated with the Buddha’s enlightenment.