The Buddha held that two qualities are rare among humans: Katannuta that is, gratitude and Pubbakarita, which is, initiative to help others without expecting anything in return. These two qualities are the true measure of progress on the path of Dhamma for any person devoted to Dhamma.
Gratitude is more important of the two qualities. Whenever we remember the help given to us by any saintly person we feel gratitude towards him/her, we naturally feel inclined to live up to that ideal and consequently we are inspired to give selfless service towards that ideal. Gratitude and selfless service complement and support each other.
An individual uses words to express himself. A civilization expresses itself in architecture.The Global Vipassana Pagoda is an expression of our gratitude: towards the Buddha, who as the Bodhisatta strived for incalculable aeons to fulfill his paramis (noble qualities) to reach Supreme Enlightenment. Having done so, he taught the Dhamma for the good and benefit of many, out of compassion for all beings.
The Purpose and Value of the Global Pagoda
Some of the various functions and purpose of the pagoda can be listed as follows:
Honouring the Buddha
Following the instructions in the last discourse of the Enlightened One, the genuine Buddha relics are enshrined at the top of a large central hall where about 8,000 Vipassana students can sit and meditate jointly, getting advantage of the powerful vibrations emanating from the relics.
With the genuine relics enshrined, the Pagoda has become a centre of tremendous attraction for the devotees of the Buddha around the world to come and pay their respects to the relics and get the message of Vipassana - the quintessence of the teaching of the Enlightened One that is lost in their countries also. Hence, this magnificent structure will also be a great symbol for creating goodwill amongst countries that have traditionally revered the Buddha.
Correcting Historical Misconceptions
During the past nearly one-and-half to two millennia, the actual historical truth about the life and teachings of the Enlightened One has not only disappeared from the country but a gross misinformation has spread making him a mythological divine figure, completely forgetting his historical human reality. Besides, his rational, scientific teachings were totally misunderstood and became wrongly considered as just another of the many sectarian dogmas and religious tenets. The Pagoda will have an informative gallery exhibiting the actual historical life of the Buddha, and the benefit of the practice of Vipassana derived during his lifetime.
The Pagoda will be a vehicle for the spread of the Buddha’s true teaching that emphatically opposes any sectarian, casteist, religious dogmas. The teaching is already proving to be an ideal bridge for peace, tolerance and harmony across all the communal and regional divides splintering India today. The strongly secular nature of Vipassana is further proved by its acceptance amongst people of all religions, nations, sects and socio-cultural backgrounds.
Vipassana courses are taking root even in some of the staunchly sectarian countries.
Expression of Gratitude
The Global Pagoda is visible proof of the re-awakening of the Buddha's teachings in India, and the acceptance of the teachings around the world. It is an expression of gratitude to Myanmar, the country that preserved Vipassana, the practical essence of the Buddha's Teaching. It embodies our gratitude to U Ba Khin, who enabled each of us today to find the path to liberation.
Vehicle for Promotion of Social Peace, Harmony and Tolerance
Centuries ago, India served humanity at large by distributing the invaluable gift of Vipassana. This proved so very effective and beneficial that people accepted and adopted it wholeheartedly. History now is repeating itself, with the rapid spread of Vipassana to many countries across the six continents. The Vipassana Pagoda will be a central symbol of this spiritual tradition.
Acharya Goenkaji's most fervent Dhamma wish was fulfilled in November 2008 when the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda was completed. He hopes that this monument will act as a bridge between different communities, different sects, different countries and different races to make the world a more harmonious and peaceful place.
Planning for the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda began in 1997, while actual building work started in 2000. The pagoda consists of three sub-domes. The first and largest dome was completed when bone relics of Gautama Buddha were enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome on October 29, 2006, making it the world's largest hollow stone masonry structure containing relics of the Buddha. The relics were originally found in Bhattiprolu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. They have been donated by the Mahabodhi Society of India and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to be kept at the Global Vipassana Pagoda. The second and third domes, along with an auxiliary dome adjoining the second dome, sit atop the first dome. Construction of the third dome was structurally completed on November 21, 2008.
The center of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world's largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. The height of the dome is approximately 29 metres, while the height of the building is 96.12 meters, which is twice the size of the previously largest hollow stone monument in the world, the Gol Gumbaz Dome in Bijapur, India. The external diameter of the largest section of the dome is 97.46m and the shorter sections, is 94.82m. The internal diameter of the dome is 85.15m. The inside of the pagoda is hollow and serves as a very large meditation hall with an area covering more than 6000 sq m (65,000 sq ft). The massive inner dome seats over 8000 people, enabling them to practice the non-sectarian Vipassana meditation as taught by Mr S N Goenka, and now being practiced in over 160 centres in more than 60 countries. An inaugural one-day meditation course was held at the pagoda on December 21, 2008, with Mr S.N. Goenka in attendance as the teacher.
The aim of the pagoda complex is to express gratitude to Gautama Buddha for dispensing a universal teaching for the eradication of suffering, to reveal the truth about the life of Buddha and His teaching, and to provide a place for the practice of Vipassana meditation. Vipassana meditation courses are held free of charge at the meditation centre that is situated in the Global Vipassana Pagoda complex.
From the jungles of Java to the snow-covered wastes of Mongolia, from the mountains of Afghanistan to Japan's pacific coastline, these monuments rose, bearing silent witness to the power of the Buddha's teaching. Called a ‘Stupa’ or ‘Pagoda’ - it was originally a mound erected as a memorial to a great leader. It is mentioned in theMahaparinibbana Sutta, the discourse recording the last days of the Buddha, that ten stupas were constructed to honour his remains…Lenatthanca sukhatthanca, jhayitunca vipassitum.
Viharadanam sanghassa, aggam Buddhena vannitam.
Tasma hi pandito poso, sampassam atthamattano.
Vihare karaye ramme, vasayettha bahussute. -- Culavagga 295
Sheltering and conducive to concentration and insight, a place of meditation is praised by the Buddha as the greatest gift to the Sangha. Therefore a wise man, considering his own welfare, should build pleasant dwellings in which those who have heard much about the Dhamma may stay (and practice it).
The custom of building such memorials seems to date from very ancient times in India. In Sanskrit the term is Chaitya and in Pali it is Cetiya or Thupa. One of these is thought to be still standing at Kushinagar in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, marking the spot where the Buddha's body was cremated.
Traditional accounts credit the Emperor Asoka with building 84,000 stupas all over his realm, each containing a relic taken from the original ten. Archaeological evidence confirms that extensive construction was undertaken in Asoka's time, two hundred years after the Buddha.
The best preserved of the Asokan stupas are at Sanchi in central India, where the relics of the Buddha's chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana were found. The boxes contained small fragments of bone in white soapstone caskets, along with precious stones and fragments of sandalwood, perhaps from the funeral pyres. The relics were removed to Britain but were returned to India after it gained independence, and are now again enshrined at Sanchi.
Still more astonishing is the discovery of caskets identified as containing relics of the Buddha himself, made at Peshawar in Pakistan, site of the ancient city of Purushapura and at Piprahva in Uttar Pradesh, where a rare pre-Asokan stupa stands. Some of the relics are enshrined at Saranath, where the Buddha began his teachings and some are enshrined in a temple in Mandalay, Myanmar.
As the Dhamma spread beyond the frontiers of India, the practice of building stupas followed. The largest is the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar. Legend has it that this was the first stupa built to honour the Buddha, established to enshrine the hair that he had given as relics to two Burmese merchants who paid respects to him soon after his enlightenment. Although the largest and most highly venerated, Shwedagon is only one of countless stupas in Myanmar, which is sometimes called "the Land of Golden Pagodas." The landscape is dotted with these monuments and every village has its stupa, though sometimes of modest size.
Post by- Devesh Shah
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