"I see thousands
of kotis of stupas, numerous as the sand of the Ganges, which have been raised
by these sons of the Jina and now adorn kotis of grounds."
In each of innumerable worlds there is a Buddha who took final Nirvana and who adorned the kotis of lands with this kind of stupa. Buddha did not encourage his disciples to make stupas, but some of them built one for a nun when she passed away. Mostly, stupas were built by Mahayana Buddhists. We have a certain way of building stupas. They are round, and underneath the roof is an umbrella for protecting Buddha's mound. If you go to Japan Center, you will see a stupa. The top of the building is a symbol of the center of the umbrella. And in the center of the building there is supposed to be a sarira [relic] of Buddha. [DC comment - I wonder if there are more stupas for Shakyamuni Buddha than he had molecules in his body.] -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC
In each of innumerable worlds there is a Buddha who took final Nirvana and who adorned the kotis of lands with this kind of stupa. Buddha did not encourage his disciples to make stupas, but some of them built one for a nun when she passed away. Mostly, stupas were built by Mahayana Buddhists. We have a certain way of building stupas. They are round, and underneath the roof is an umbrella for protecting Buddha's mound. If you go to Japan Center, you will see a stupa. The top of the building is a symbol of the center of the umbrella. And in the center of the building there is supposed to be a sarira [relic] of Buddha. [DC comment - I wonder if there are more stupas for Shakyamuni Buddha than he had molecules in his body.] -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC
