Essay on Relationship between Stupa and Image of Buddha
Added on 2020-07-23
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Essay(With reference to three specific examples, analyse how the Buddha image and the stūparelate to each other)
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTIONBuddhism is known to be a practice which leads to enlightenment or awakening of thebuddhahood. The practice of meditation helps an individual in being familiar with self and truereflection of nature. It provides a chance to awaken in enhancing qualities such as awareness,wisdom and kindness. It can be identified that Buddhism does not believe in worship of a god orcreator of beings (Boucher, 2015). The practical and straightforward approach helps in individualin choosing the right paths and be fully responsible for actions and behaviour which will directlyimpact experience which has been availed by an individual.Before occurrence of the image of Buddha, Stupas were viewed as an object which leadsto clarity of picture relating to this religion. The Stupas is place where monks cremated alongwith his relics and disciples which were presented in an stylised manner. There is a close relationbetween Buddha and Stupas they were utilised frequently by them in the second century to exerttheir authority on Buddhist people who did not possess same amount of knowledge as them. Thisessay attempts to analyse relation between Stūpa and image of Buddha to each other takingassistance from certain examples. MAIN BODYBuddhism can be defined to be a 1000 year old practice which has originated due to thedynamism in the political, economic and religious life of people. The backdrop of religiousordered helped in development of Buddhism and its expansion in the south Asian region.Whereas Stūpa is known to be a scared Buddhist monument where monks and nuns are crematedalong with the place to practice meditation. The story of Buddha origins from a place near India where a man named as SiddhartaGautama was born. Born as a prince he soon realised that these experiences does not provide himwith happiness (Shiping, 2012). When he confronted himself with suffering and illness he triedto identify answers for the same. He began his spiritual journey through meditation to look foranswers for recurring problem in a life of a person. It is after the discovery of suffering andillness that Gautama Buddha left his royal responsibilities and ventured on a one way pathtowards enlightenment and began a journey through forest. Over the next 6 years, Buddha metnumerous people who are good at meditation and gained mastery in the same. On this journey hediscovered that it is essential to show a path to other as mind itself did not possess capacity to1
reach to its full potential. He further explored the potential of mind in benefiting all humanbeings. Soon after Buddha attained enlightenment, during that time all mixed feeling and ideaswere settled at their respective places and all the section of time beautifully turned into a bliss(Chien and Shiu, 2012). The awareness and timelessness attracted people belonging to differentcastes and professions throughout northern part of country. He always believed in questioninghis teachings and gaining answers through their own distinct experiences and this school ofthrough have turned in philosophy of Buddhism.The understanding of spiritual career of Buddha will help in identifying cause behindbuilding of Stupas. These are known to be architectural structure which involves cremation ofremains of saintly people. In Buddhist tradition origin of Stūpa can be related to theMahaparinirvana Sutra. It is an ancient text which describes the last days which are lived byBuddha and states that remains of Buddha prior to his eternal rest were taken to 8 parts of thecountry and cremated in form of Stupas. The reason is that follower of Gautama Buddha wereexposed to a question of what to do with his remains. Following trends of cremating significantfigures in form of Stūpa Buddha's remain into 8 sections in the kingdom where Buddha hadtravelled awarded with a portion of his relics. In the late 3rd century it is believed that The GreatMauryan Emperor further distributed to relics to more than 84,000 portions and have built Stūpaover each so that Buddhism could be expanded. Stūpa are known to be possess essence of Buddha and his protective powers. They tend tosymbolise path which leads a person from ignorance to enlightenment (Amerasinghe, 2011). Themound (anda) which are being formed with the help of stones and possess a circular platform(medha) on its top. The mound or dome is being combine with an cone like figure and there arefour gateways (Torana) signifying major events of his life such as birth, sermon, enlightenmentand nirvana. The importance of Stupas were later enhanced due to its clergy-laity practices andincrease in Mani-folds by Mauryan emperor. These architectural symbols are known to be placeswith which people are able to tap their own enlightenment and a place to meet, meditate and talkabout their philosophies. The rise in importance of Stupas lead to construction of monasteries invarious regions. There were people who were benefited on financial grounds as well such asmerchants, artisans and monks had a fair share of income due to Stupas. They accompanied2
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