Symbolism of the Stupa

The Stupa is one of the ancient symbols of the Buddha because of its association with his Buddha himself and is honoured as such. This devotion id expressed in the Mahavastu Avadana of the Lokuttaravadins “He who having turned his thoughts to the enlightenment for the sake of all living things, reverentially salutes the tope of the saviour of the world, becomes everywhere in all his lives as he fares on the way to enlightenment, mindful, thoughtful, virtuous and assured” (Jones 1952:329)

Stupa also symbolises Buddha’s enlightened mind and his teachings and few Stupas were built to enshrine Buddhist scriptures. Furthermore the architectural elements of a Stupa are symbolic of the doctrine and may vary with tradition. In some Theravada traditions the parts of the Stupa represents the divisions of the noble eight-fold path (ethical conduct, concentration, wisdom and nirvana).

The Buddhist Stupas are of three kinds, saririka Stupa raised over the relics of Buddha or Arhants. The existence of such Stupas is archaeologically proven in several places like Sanchi, Taxila, Vaishali, Piprahwa, Bhattiprolu and Nagarjunikunda. Paribhogika Stupas are the Stupas which enshrine the objects which have been used by the Buddha such as robe, bowl or walking staff. Fa-hsien and Hsuan-tsang the Chinese pilgrims reported seeing Stupas enshrining such relics but archaeologically it has to be proven. Uddesika Stupas were erected just for worshipping and contained no relics or to enshrine scriptures. The Stupa raised by Ashoka in the Lumbini garden visited by the emperor on his twentieth regnal year accompanied by his teacher Upagupta. Another example is when King Kaniska had built a magnificent Stupa to enshrine the Vibhasas (commentaries of the Sarvastivada tradition) at the end of the fourth Buddhist council.

The Vajrayana tradition attributes the components of the Stupa to each of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and space). These elements represent the different stages in the transformation of psycho-spiritual energy in the path to enlightenment. Hence being an object for devotion, the Stupa also became an instrument for meditative visualisation.