Ancient India and Indonesia:
The Cosmic Mountains of Buddhism
Shinto
Buddhism
Animistic Religion
Speculative Religion
explains relationship between
human beings and nature
explains human purpose on earth
and the end for which humans
beings must strive
Buddhism evolves out of Hinduism
Goal: to become one with the World Soul once again
Hinduism: Cycles of the transmigration of
the soul (reincarnation)
Buddhism: Enlightenment (nirvana)
allows for early liberation from the
cycles of transmigration
Early Buddhists were itinerant ascetics
1.
The Buddha
(“the Enlightened One”)
10 original brick stupas around India
sheltering the Buddha’s relics
Stupa at Vaishali, India
Siddhartha Gautama
(ca. 563-483 BC)
Stupa at Sarnath, India
I. Early Buddhism’s multiplication of sacred places = multiple centers of the world
A. What was the rationale for erecting 40 “Pillars of Law”?
Pillars erected by emperor Ashoka
Ashokan pillar next to one of 10 original stupas
I. B. How did the Ashokan pillars function as cosmic axes (apply Eliade’s theory)?
2.
Column at Besnagar in Madhya
Pradesh, India, 1st cen. B.C.
cosmic axis
chaos (profane)
space
boundary
cosmicized (sacred)
space
II. Architectural monuments in a religion that renounced worldly and material comforts
Great Stupa, Sanchi, India, 2nd – 1st century BC
II. A. Contexts of politics and religion
1. Why were there not stupa-centered monasteries before the 2nd century BC?
Great Stupa in the Buddhist Monastery at Sanchi
II. A. 2. What purpose did stupas serve in the speculative religion of Buddhism?
B.
Eliade’s concepts of sacred and profane space (cosmos vs. chaos;
II. B. 1.
Eliade’s
Whereconcepts
does theof
notion
sacred
ofand
a cosmic
profane
mountain
space used
find form
to linkand
theexpression
living essence
in the
ofGreat
the Buddha
Stupa?(his
axis mundi) used to link the living essence of the Buddha (his body)
body)
to the cosmos
to the cosmos
Great Stupa
II. C. Ritual and design: How is the stupa a diagram of Buddhism that is used by individual
believers?
Great Stupa
II. C.
Great Stupa
II. C.
Great Stupa
II. C.
Great Stupa
II. C.
Great Stupa
Great Stupa - upper vedika
II. C.
Great Stupa
Great Stupa’s cube railing (harmika),
mast (yashti) and triple chattri
III. Buddhist architecture as a university to attain perfected wisdom (Bodhi) in Southeast Asia
The Borobudur temple, Java, Indonesia, 770-850
III. A. Context of politics and religion
III. B. What are the parts of the Borobudur and how do they differ from the Great Stupa at Sanchi?
Great Stupa at Sanchi
The Borobudur
III. B. 1. The earthly realm: geometry, sculpture (formal quality and content)
The Borobudur: Four terraces of the earthly realm
III. B. 2. The celestial realm (ruphadhatu): geometry, stupas and sculpture (quality and content)
The Borobudur: Three terraces of the earthly realm
III. B. 3. The world of formlessness (arupadhatu): how does architecture convey the world of
formlessness?
The Borobudur: the Great Stupa
III. C. Ritual and design: How is the Borobudur a diagram of Buddhism, used by individual believers to
instill perfected wisdom (Bodhi)?
The Borobudur
III. C.
The Borobudur: the Great Stupa
first square terrace
second square terrace
III. C.
The Borobudur: the Great Stupa
first circular terrace
III. C.
The Borobudur: the Great Stupa
circular terraces: miniature stupas with statues of the Buddha inside
III. C.
The Borobudur: the Great Stupa
the Great Stupa
III. D. Eliade’s concepts of sacred and profane space (cosmos vs. chaos) used to link
Buddhist wisdom to the cosmos
1. Where is the idea of a cosmic pillar (axis mundi) present?
The Borobudur
III. D. 2. Where does the notion of a cosmic mountain find form in the Borobudur, and why is it square?
The Borobudur
III. D. 3. Where does the profane end and the sacred begin at the Borobudur?
The Borobudur