blog




  • Essay / The Importance of Sacred Spaces - 619

    Sacred spaces are physical embodiments of spiritual beliefs and are places where one seeks divine truth and is able to practice spiritual openness. Structures such as the Great Stupa of Sanchi and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are seen as sacred spaces for their cultural aspects and religious characteristics. The Great Stupa in Sanchi, India, houses the relics of Buddha and was founded during the reign of Ashoka. . A high stone fence surrounds the stupa mound, which separates the sacred space of Buddha's relics from the outside world. Four gates, or toranas, stand at each cardinal point. Buddhists entered through one of the gates and walked around the stupa clockwise, as it was impossible to enter the stupa. The act of circumambulation served to honor the Buddha and also symbolized the movement of the earth and sun, as the worshiper became one with the cosmos. The devotee enters a spiritual realm by circling the stupa, replicating the Buddha's exodus from the physical world. The monumental stupa is a mandala, representing a physical diagram of...