WHAT IS A STUPA
The Sanskrit word stūpa (Tib. chörten) refers to Buddhist monuments originally built by lay practitioners to preserve relics of the Buddha. Since then, stupas have spread from India to Tibet and from China to Japan, and their shape has undergone many changes. However, the basic meaning remains the same. The Tibetan word chörten means both "offering" (chö) and "support" (ten) in the accumulation of merit.
The stupa symbolizes the Buddha mind, through whose purity infinite innate qualities can flourish. The structure of the stupa is based on an elaborate system of depicting the various stages of "Enlightenment". Its purpose is to provide shelter for relics while symbolizing the order of the world and certain points of the Buddha's teachings through shapes and details. The stupa plays an important role in religious practice and has a place in most Buddhist monasteries. Each detail symbolically represents different steps on the spiritual path towards Buddhahood or Enlightenment. The stupa is a source of spiritual blessing, spreading positive energy in the place where it stands and imbuing it with the energy of the objects it contains.
The first stupa contained relics of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni himself. The stupas that can be seen in India have a relatively simple structure. The relics are placed in the centre of a stone hemisphere which stands on a circular base. Above it on the vertical axis are three parasols, symbols of the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddha's teachings) and the Sangha (the community of practitioners). The stupa is enclosed by a square with four gates in the direction of the cardinal points. It delineates the inner space for the kora - circumambulating clockwise, in accordance with the movement of the sun. The stupa is said to be a representation of the Buddha's mind, while the sacred texts represent his speech and the statues his body. The union of the square and the circle symbolizes the connection of the earth to the vertical central axis of the universe.
Some stupas, such as the one at Borobudur in Java, are decorated with reliefs of chronologically ordered scenes from the Buddha's life, leading the pilgrim step by step on his spiritual journey. The originally simple, rounded stupas have grown in complexity over time. They became increasingly taller and divided into multiple levels. The multi-level stupas later gave rise to the Chinese pagoda style. Elsewhere in the development, symbols of the elements from which man and the universe are made: earth, water, fire and air, and ether or quintessence, which were used in India as well as in ancient Greece and Western alchemy. The symbols of these five elements are stacked in the structure of the stupa, from the the most gross to the finest: the cube (earth), the sphere (water), the needle (fire), the hemisphere (air) and the distinctive drop (ether). Such stupas can still be seen in Japan. Depending on the tradition and the particular country, different forms of stupas have taken shape, and even within Tibet there are many variations. In Tibetan Buddhism, the form depended on particular doctrinal characteristics.
EIGHT TYPES OF TIBETAN STUPAS
The four upper levels of this stupa are decorated with many lotuses. Of the eight deeds of the Buddha commemorated by the stupas, this one represents his birth in Lumbini, the manifestation of nirmanakāya. After his birth, the Buddha walked the first seven steps on the ground, and after each step a lotus flower grew where his feet touched the ground. The lotuses were gathered and the first stupa was erected in their place.
After the Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya, all the Maras (demons) came to him and asked:
"How did you attain Enlightenment?"
"For countless aeons," said the Buddha, "I have been accumulating positive actions, so now I have attained Enlightenment."
"Who can testify to you that for eons you have performed positive deeds that have brought you to Enlightenment?" asked the demons.
"The earth is my witness, for it is the earth on which my activity was born and developed," replied the Buddha. He sat down in the meditation position and touched the ground with his right hand. From the heart of the Earth, the Earth Goddess with the golden body stepped forth and declared:
"This son of the noble lineage has been accumulating positive deeds for countless eons. It is so." The deamons were helpless and their plan had failed.
This stupa is therefore also sometimes called the "Demon Subjugation Stupa."
When the Buddha attained Enlightenment, the kings of the gods Indra and Brahma offered him a white conch shell and a golden wheel and asked him to turn the wheel of the Law, in other words, to begin teaching. This stupa was built to commemorate the Buddha's first transmission of the teaching to the five noble disciples in Varanasi.
During the time when the Buddha resided in the kingdom of Shravasti, in the city of Kosala, he had to face six manifestations of heresy (unorthodoxy). They challenged the Buddha to perform miracles, saying that only then would they accept his teachings. From the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the Buddha performed a miracle every day. His deeds during this period are commemorated in the Stupa of Miracles.
The Buddha's mother died shortly after giving birth and was born in the realm of the gods. Thanks to his miraculous powers, Shakyamuni visited the realm of the gods and transmitted his sacred teachings there for three months. In the center of this stupa is a triple staircase symbolizing the miraculous stairs created by the gods so that the Buddha could return to the world of humans.
This stupa was built as a reminder of the harmony and concord that the Buddha restored to the monastic community after it was divided by Buddha’s cousin Devadatta, who envied the Buddha all his life.
Three months before his death (before entering parinirvana), Shakyamuni was about to leave his body. His disciples, however, begged him to stay and continue to teach. The Buddha granted their request. He triumphed over death and stayed with them, thus delaying his parinirvana. This stupa is also known for its healing powers.
This stupa commemorates the Buddha's departure from the conditioned existence in Kushinagara. It has a shape of a bell and symbolizes the perfect wisdom of the Buddha.
THE SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE RISES
KORA
Monks and lay practitioners can often be seen circumambulating the stupas in a clockwise direction (the direction in which the sun moves across the sky). This activity (called circumambulation or kora) is a common Buddhist practice of merit accummulation. Monasteries and temples and even mountains are circumambulated in the same way, despite the altitude, cold and wind. People usually recite mantras while doing so. The circumambulations (pilgrimage circuits) are an expression of respect for the stupa and bring blessings to the practitioner.
By circumambulating the stupas, one can accumulate merit even unconsciously, as in the following story:
In the time of the Buddha, there was a brahmin named Viradutta. He was rejected by his family, lived in poverty, and had nothing to eat. His wish was to enter the monastic community. Therefore he went to Shāriputra and Maudgalyayana, the Buddha's main disciples, to ask them for ordination. The Buddha's disciples looked into his mind, but found no hint of merit. They therefore found it impossible to grant his wish. They thought that it would be another hundred thousand lifetimes before the poor brahmin would attain the state of an arhat, that is, before he would break out of the cycle of life and death. The unfortunate Viradutta went to a nearby river and wished that in the next life he would be reborn as a disciple of the Buddha. Just as he was about to end his life and throw himself into the river, the Buddha himself appeared before him. He stopped him in his flight and wondered why Viradutta wanted to take his own life. Viradutta explained to him the reason for his despair and the Buddha, unlike his disciples, agreed to accept him into the monastic community. The monks were surprised. They wondered how a man without a shred of merit could be accepted among them. But the Buddha, through the power of his abilities, saw what even the best of his disciples could not see. For once upon a time, a thousand lifetimes ago, a brahmin was born like a pig seeking food in the mud of a stupa. There a sullen dog pounced on him and a chase ensued, in which the pig unwittingly brushed against the stupa and filled several cracks in it with mud. So it not only circumambulated the stupa, but also repaired it. This involuntary act gave rise to a merit sufficient for Viradutta to now become a monk. And he became a really good monk, and eventually attained the state of arhat. (Source: Tcheuky Sengue, The Tibetan Temple and Its Symbolism, published by Claire Lumiere.)
POSITIVE EFFECTS ATTRIBUTED TO THE STUPAS
When we bring offerings to the stupas, we accumulate many positive actions – sönam. The karmic consequence of such activity is protection from all kinds of suffering (war, hunger, poverty, disease, etc.). One is not even born in worlds where such misfortunes occur. Thus he is protected until he attains enlightenment. However, gifts must be given with the wish to help and protect all beings from suffering. The Buddha said to Ānanda: "The merits of the construction of the Mahāparinirvāṇa stupa for the perfect Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, or for those who have conquered all demons, will be greater than the merits of the sons and daughters of noble families who, with deep devotion, create three hundred thousand universes out of the seven liquids and precious substances and offer them to Great Beings, even if the stupa is no bigger than the fruit of a cherry plum tree, and its tree of life no thicker than a needle, and the parasol is only as big as a juniper leaf, the statue as big as a grain of barley, and the relic in the stupa as big as a mustard seed..." The Kanjur (Buddhist canon) contains the following story. The divine Shāriputra, renowned for his intelligence, one day asked the Buddha to tell him what blessing comes from circumambulating the stupa? The Buddha replied, "A person circumambulating the stupa will be freed from the eight unfavorable conditions, will be born into a noble family, will live in wealth and will be free from disturbing emotions such as greed and anger. It will be easy for him to practice generosity, and he will be beautiful, attractive and have a delicate complexion. People will always be happy to see him, he will have power and become a Dharma King. In the next birth he will be very rich and enthusiastic about the Buddha's teachings. After his practice bears fruit, he will perform great miracles, and gradually the thirty-two pure characteristics and the eight physical perfections of the Buddha body will appear in him." The mere sight of a stupa or information about its qualities will bring one happiness in this life and ultimately lead to enlightenment. In the same way, if we touch the stupa, pass through its shadow, or just have the wind blowing towards us from the stupa. Therefore, the emphasis in the texts is on the merit derived from the construction and worship of stupas. Even a stupa that is empty or contains only one manuscript with a teaching is an important source for the accumulation of merit. Even more important than its visible structure, however, is the hidden content of the stupa – blessed objects and relics, often the remains of realized lamas after cremation. It is in these that the true power of the stupa lies, and through them it can spread the Buddha's blessings to all who even look at it, touch it, or think of it.