So what is a Stupa anyway?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Every time I try to explain my project to people (from family, to professors, to classmates) the first question they ask is: -Wait, a what?-, followed by: -What's a Stupa?-. So lets start by explaining what they are:

In Buddhism one of the most important structures they make is the Stupa. In them they keep the relics of influential Buddhists, like the historical Buddha. The purpose of these structures though is not to simply be a place to preserve these remains, but instead they are places for the Buddhist devotee to visit and be spiritually influenced by it. The basic ritual surrounding stupas consists of the person circumambulating (yeah! big word... it means to walk around) several times, each time closer to the center of the stupa. The idea behind this is that as they get closer to the relics in the stupa, it reflects how they are getting closer to achieving their goal of reaching Nirvana. Another way the stupa helps the devotee is that the stupas are covered with images whose meaning they would interpret and so be able to learn more about the religion and better their karma.

Image of the Stupa at Sanchi taken by Marc Shandro
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=34958707&size=m