Stupas speak of enlightenment on many different levels.The outer form of a stupa represents a meditating Buddha, seated and crowned. When seen from above, a stupa is a perfect mandala, a pure distillation of the universe.
Symbolism of a Stupa. Stupas speak of enlightenment on many different levels. The outer form of a stupa represents a meditating Buddha, seated and crowned. When seen from above, a stupa is a perfect mandala, a pure distillation of the universe. But that is only the beginning of a stupa’s meaning Sanchi Stupa--A World Heritage Site. Sanchi's Great Stupa is one of India's oldest surviving Buddhist monuments. It sits on a hilltop 30 miles northeast of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, and 6 miles south of Vidisha, a small town that was an important urban center at the turn of the common era. Religious Significance: A stupa is a dome-shaped mound that mimics the funerary mounds used to mark the graves of great kings. The first Buddhist stupas enshrined the Buddha's physical relics (bones and teeth), and thus gave him royal status. 1 Symbolic stupa, to symbolise aspects of Buddhist theology, for example, Borobuddur is considered to be the symbol of the Three Worlds (dhatu) and the spiritual stages (bhumi) in a Mahayana bodhisattva's character.. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight mounds with two further mounds encasing the urn and the embers. The earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE in India. Buddhist symbolism is the use of Buddhist art to represent certain aspects of dharma, which began in the 4th century BCE. Anthropomorphic symbolism appeared from around the 1st century CE with the arts of Mathura and the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and were combined with the previous symbols.  Their shape that of a dome was the beginning of the Buddhist Stupas. The dome shape originated form the seated position the saints were buried in. Now the shape represents the proportions of the Buddha s body. The stupas shape is said to be that of the Buddha seated for meditation. The Buddha Shakyamuni had ordered his disciple to place his ashes in a monument, or stupa, as was the tradition of Indian leaders of the time. The Stupas are also symbolic architecturally. There are five geometric shapes of the Stupas that corrspond to the five elements (void, or space, being the fifth): 1.A square base or foundation corresponding to earth. 2.A dome, or and a, corresponding ro water. The shape of the Stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and seated in the meditation posture on a throne. His crown is the top spire; his head is the square at the spire’s base; his body is the vase shape; his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace; and the base is his throne. At the top of the stairway in the portal is a large sculpture of a standing Buddha. This is a unique feature of the Great Stupa not found elsewhere. It symbolizes Trungpa Rinpoche’s distinct ambulatory style of teaching in the West. The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya was built in honor of the great meditation master, author and artist, Choegyam Chögyam Trungpa rinpoche shortly after his. Death the finest and most enduring materials have been used throughout the, structure which was constructed using concrete that was formulated to 1,000 1000. years At the top of the stairway in the portal is a large sculpture of a standing Buddha. This is a unique feature of the Great Stupa not found elsewhere. It symbolizes Trungpa Rinpoche’s distinct ambulatory style of teaching in the West. Great Stupa Symbolism. The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya was built in honor of the great meditation master, author and artist, Choegyam Chögyam Trungpa rinpoche shortly after his. death At the top of the stairway in the portal is a large sculpture of a standing Buddha. This is a unique feature of the Great Stupa not found elsewhere. It symbolizes Trungpa Rinpoche’s distinct ambulatory style of teaching in the West. A stupa (Sanskrit: m., stūpa heap) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing śarīra relics, typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns, used as a place of meditation. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight mounds with two further mounds encasing the urn and the embers. The earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE in India. Symbolism: When the Sanchi stupa was built, the Buddha was not portrayed in human form. Maybe he was seen as having transcended human understanding, or maybe the early Buddhists wanted to underline that he had transcended the condition of birth-and-death that marks embodied existence. Religious Significance: A stupa is a dome-shaped mound that mimics the funerary mounds used to mark the graves of great kings. The first Buddhist stupas enshrined the Buddha's physical relics (bones and teeth), and thus gave him royal status.
http://www.tara.org/stupas/ http://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/buddhism/sanchi/intro.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_symbolism http://www.angelfire.com/mt/thubtentenzin/page10.html http://www.shambhalamountain.org/great-stupa/great-stupa-symbolism/ http://www.shambhalamountain.org/great-stupa/great-stupa-symbolism/ http://www.shambhalamountain.org/great-stupa/great-stupa-symbolism/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupa http://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/buddhism/sanchi/intro.html
buddhist stupa symbolism