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EARTH SYMBOL

A   B U D D H I S T    F E A T U R E


The mound raised at Kusinara, the site of the Buddha’s cremation .

THE BUDDHA DIES

When the Buddha was eighty years old he was talking with some of his monks and pointed out that it is natural for the body to get old and that nothing, including his own body, was immune from the process of aging and death. The monks asked what he would like done with his body when he died.
     The Buddha didn’t say anything but spread a cloth on the ground in front of him and put his upturned alms bowl on it. Note that the shape of a bowl and a simple mound are quite similar. He later suggested that the stupa should be built at the junction of four major roads. from the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (D.II.141–3))

When the Buddha was cremated about 500 BC, there was nearly a war between neighbouring kings over possession of the ashes. Finally, they were divided into eight portions and a stupa built over each in the respective kingdoms. Legend has it that King Asoka dug up several of these stupas around 250 BC. He further divided the ashes to furnish several thousand stupas throughout India.
     As Buddhism flourished in various countries more stupas were built to further honour the Buddha. It is now impossible to be sure which stupas contain genuine Buddha relics.

 

A STUPA IS . . .

A TOMB FOR GREAT BEINGS
Buddha suggested four kinds of beings worthy of a stupa:
A fully enlightened Buddha, a Silent Buddha, a disciple of the Buddha and a Universal Monarch.* ••
A TYPE OF MEMORIAL
We remember the attainments, nobility, virtue, and wisdom of the Buddha. The stupa reminds us that we can be ‘better’ by following his example.
Stupas were originally built to house the remains of a single individual; in the first instance the Buddha. However a stupa is a general encouragement to remember, to wake up, or come alive to the possibility of our own greatness, enlightenment or freedom. This possibility is available to all beings and it is this that the stupa intends to help us remember, this is its purpose.

* Digha Nikaya, II: 143



The remains of the stupa in which the Buddha’s family enshrined their portion of his relics.
A CONTEMPLATION
Stupas are monuments rather than buildings and their purpose is spiritual rather than practical, they are intended to inspire us to greatness. Most stupas are solid with no entrance or open space inside. The stupa points to the possibility that, like the Buddha, we too can achieve greatness through our own efforts. We can improve our behaviour, the quality of our lives and increase our understanding of ourselves. Some symbolic aspects of the stupa aren’t immediately apparent and their value as an object for contemplation gains significance the more one investigates and reflects on them. These symbols will be examined in the section: ELEMENTS.