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Buddhist Culture & History - Buddhist monuments

Monuments in Asia

There are many Buddhist temples and sacred sites in Asia. Though they are Buddhist architectural monuments, their architectural contractions differ drastically, mainly due to the schools of Buddhism that the country follows and due to the cultural influences. For an example, Sri Lankans’ follow Theravada Buddhism. Therefore, the Buddha is always protracted as a human, and these statues, sculptures and paintings project a calm and tranquil feeling. In Theravada Buddhism Buddha is a human and was an icon of kindness.

In Mahayana and other schools Buddha, at times, is portrayed as a god, as a warrior or as an overly happy figure.

Buddhist sacred places

The Eight Places of Buddhist Pilgrimage

Lumbini the birthplace of the Buddha
Bodhgaya the site of Buddha's enlightenment
Sarnath where Buddha first turned the Wheel of Dharma
Rajgir where Buddha gave the second turning of the Wheel of Dharma
Shravasti where Buddha gave many teachings in the Jetavana Grove
Sankashya where Lord Buddha descended from Tushita Heaven
Nalanda the site of the great monastic university
Kushinagar where Buddha entered mahaparinirvana

Ashoka Pillar

This was built by the king Ashoka, in memorial of renouncing violence and embracing his famous dhamma vijaray campaign, victory through dhamma. A splendid monolithic stone pillars on which many of Ashokan inscriptions are engraved.

This is a masterpiece of Indian art, and the capital atop one of them, the Sarnath Pillar, inspired the use of back-to-back lions that is the Indian national emblem.

The 24-spoked Ashoka-chakra, which has found its way into the Indian national flag also a fine artifact of Ashoka's period.

Foot print

Buddhist believe that Buddha on one of his three visits to Sri Lanka left an imprint of his foot on the hills of Sri Pada (foot print of the enlightened one). There are actually four foot-prints here, superimposed one on another. Each one is artistically en-graved. They are housed in a modest shrine 150 steps up a steep hill, which also offers a great view across the plains to the mountains opposite, and to the sea over the tree tops. Buddha's Footprint is not signposted but can be found by going up a concrete slope on the left, two kilometers West of the turnoff for the Butterfly Garden, kandy, Sri Lanaka.

Lumbini

Lumbini, means lovely in Pali, is in Nepal near the Indian border. It is the birth place of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Lumbini is located 25kms east of the municipality of Kapilavastu, the place where the Buddha grew up and lived up to the age of 29 - until he renouncing his place as the future king.

Mahabodhi temple

The Mahabodhi Temple is a Buddhist temple in Bodhagaya, the location where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya is in Bihar state, India. Next to the temple, to its west, is the holy Bodhi tree, under which Buddha took shelter while he realized the truth of the world, enlightenment.

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		© 2006, Kaushi Weerapura The University of Western Ontario
		Last updated:2006/July