We take a lot of hikes and recently we’ve been coming upon arrangements of stones stacked on top of each other like those in the photo. I couldn’t help but wonder if there’s a significance to these sculptures?
My cousin, James Yannucci, who has travelled all over Asia and lives in China saw my photo and wrote:
"It’s done all over the Himalayas. It’s done for prayer and is similar to a small stupa. I’ve seen these done in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Tibet, sometimes high in the mountains in places you would not expect people to be.
It symbolizes a stupa. A stupa is a solid structure (no rooms, filled with soil) that Buddhists walk clockwise around chanting their mantra and spinning prayer wheels.
Here is a photo of a large stupa in India. Stupas often contain relics and are used by Buddhists as a place of worship. They’re considered to be spiritual monuments.
Photo of Stupa in Sanchi, India (from Wikipedia).
Thanks for sharing James!
-Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Bhutan, Buddhist, Countries & Cultures, Customs and Traditions, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Stupas, Tibet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
One Response to “Stupas – Buddhist Spiritual Monuments”
Leave a Reply
May 6th, 2015 at 11:01 am
Buddhist Stupa is said to be the structural monuments that defines the power of Lord Buddha.
The Stupa with two big eyes also represents the eyes of Lord Buddha himself and he is watching over all the sentient beings.
As your friend mentioned, you will be amazed that there are many stupas in Nepal, Bhutan that are built in amazing places.