Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images. Part 1 Introduction

Since my 2011 post ‘Three Favourite Buddhist Temples and Monasteries’ it has been our good fortune to visit many more, so it is time for an update and expansion - as I did with mosques earlier this year.

But first a brief introductory post.

Dharma Wheel (a symbol also used by Hindus and Jains)
Shazz, Esteban.barahona  GNU Free Documentation License

Who was the Buddha?

Early texts suggest that Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini in Nepal around 560 BCE (or maybe 480) and grew up in Kapilavastu, a now lost site probably in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border.

Moved by the suffering caused by the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth, he set out on a quest for liberation from suffering (nirvana). He first studied meditation, particularly the attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" and philosophy to explore "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception".

He found these teachings insufficient and turned to the practice of severe asceticism, included strict fasting.

The Buddha after fasting, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2015)

When this too fell short he turned to the meditative practice of dhyana, the training of the mind to withdraw from automatic responses. After a long period of meditation beneath a Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya, now in the Indian state of Bihar, he became the Buddha (The Awakened One).

From Bodh Gaya the Buddha walked some 250 km west to Sarnath where he first taught the Dharma to a group of disciples. The Damekh Stupa occupies the site where this was believed to have happened. The foundations of the stupa were built around 200 BCE, the higher parts have been built and rebuilt many times over the centuries.

Damekh Stupa, Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh (2013)

He spent the next 40-45 years travelling the Gangetic Plain and teaching the Dharma to all who would hear, while his disciples took his words across the whole of the subcontinent.

Northern India with the relevant sites underlined in green
Adapted and borrowed from Raju India

He died and achieved Nirvana in Kushinagar where his remains were cremated. The task was obviously poorly done as there are stupas/dagobas/pagodas all over the Buddhist world allegedly built over a charred shoulder blade/shin bone/forefinger pulled from his funeral pyre.

That Ing Hang, Savannakhet, Laos, allegedly enshrines a piece of the Buddha's backbone (2015)

What did the Buddha Teach?

The essence of Buddhism lies in

(1) The Four Noble Truths

Dukkha (Suffering) Suffering and pain are essential characteristics of the earthly realm.

Samudaya (origin) Dukkha arises from taṇhā (desires, attachments and unsatisfiable cravings).

Nirodha (ending) of Dukkha can be attained by the renouncement of tanha.

Magga (path) The Noble Eightfold Path leads to the renouncement of tanha and cessation of dukkha.

and

(2) The Eightfold Path

The practices of the eightfold path are often linked with the eight spokes of the Dharma wheel.

The Noble Eightfold Path
Ian Alexander used under  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Internationallicence

Starting with Right View (the acceptance of the cycle of rebirth and the four noble truths) and working clockwise to Right Samadhi (Dhyana) steps 1 & 2 involve wisdom and insight, 3,4 & 5 moral virtue and 6,7 & 8 meditation.

These Truths and the Path encapsulate the teaching of the Buddha but were formalised after his lifetime. It is worth noting that the Buddha never claimed to be God, to be a messenger of God, or even that there was a God or Gods. Buddhism would be a philosophy rather than a religion except that it assumes an answer to the biggest of religious questions: 'What happens after we die?’ Do we spend eternity carousing in the Halls of Valhalla (my personal choice), or are we judged and sent to heaven or hell? No, we go round and try again.

What do Buddhists Believe and Do?

I cannot answer for all of them but, presumably they believe in the Four Noble Truths and try to follow the Eightfold Path. There are also stories and legends and later writings which become important to some believers but would be news to the Buddha (Christianity is like that, too). These can vary by region and, as in all religions, some believers are more sophisticated (and less credulous) than others.

Some believe the 108 marks of the Buddha were visible on his feet from birth…

The 108 attributes on the sole of Buddha's foot, Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok (2012)

….he walked seven paces immediately after being born…

Very large infant Buddha and his seven stepping stones beneath a cannonball tree, Wat Yai, Phitsanulok, Thailand (2015)

…and any Buddha image he breathed on immediately became an exact likeness.

The Mahamuni Buddha in Mandalay, Myanmar is allegedly over 2000 years old and one of the five images made during the Buddha's lifetime.
He breathed on it making the likeness perfect, so no gold leaf is ever put on the face

Many believe Buddha images are so important they should be covered in gold leaf...

Devotees have put so much gold leaf on these Buddhas at Phaung Daw Oo Temple, Lake Inle, Myanmar that they no longer resemble Buddhas (2012)

…or stored in great in quantity…

A huge number of small Buddha images, 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Sha Tin, Hong Kong (2005)

… or just be huge.

The 100m long Chaukhtatgyi Reclining Buddha in Yangon, Myanmar (2012)

Most Tibetans believe the endless spinning of prayer wheels will earn them merit.

Small prayer wheels can be carried in the hand, large ones line the street, Lhasa (2005)

How Many Buddhist are There, and Where are They?

Distribution of the Different Buddhist traditions
This is a simplified map by Javierfv1212
To see his more complex map, click here

There are thought to be over 500 million Buddhists (between 7 and 8% of the world population) making it the fourth largest religion. Although Buddhism has thrived to the north, south and east of India, it has all but died out in the land of its birth.

The Buddhist majority countries we have visited are Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. Vietnam and Malaysia also have substantial Buddhist minorities. Almost half the world’s Buddhist (244m) are in China making up 18% of the Chinese population.

Like all religions Buddhism has schisms and there are three main groups.

66% of Buddhists follow the Mahayana (or Eastern) tradition, largely in Japan and China, but also in Vietnam, both Koreas and Malaysia

28% (150 million people) follow Theravada (or Southern) Buddhism, mainly in Myanmar, Thailand Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

4% (18 million people follow Northern or Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes called Vajrayana and sometimes treated as a subgroup of Mahayana. Adherents live in the vast but sparsely populated areas of the Tibetan plateau and the steppes of Mongolian and Buryatia in Russia.

There are other, smaller groups and the boundaries are never as neat as the map implies.

The following posts (links below) look at each tradition in turn, with pictures of temples, monasteries and (not too many) Buddha images.

Not too many, but this particularly fine Buddha image is in the National Museum, Sukhothai, Thailand  (2015)

Personal Thoughts

As if anyone cares what I think!

I am not a Buddhist, nor a believer in any religion, but I find much to admire in Buddhism. There is a gentleness, an inclusiveness that allows outsiders into the holiest of places and a lack of the overt piety and petty rules and restrictions that characterise other religions.

The Buddhist idea of a good life, live modestly and be nice to other people, echoes other religions and is easy to support. But the Buddha’s outlook seems unnecessarily miserable. Life is not a vale of tears, not always anyway, and would it not be better to help those for whom it is rather than to strive to opt out of the cycle of death and rebirth. I believe the attachments I have made (to people rather than things) and the desires and cravings I have endured/enjoyed (whether embraced or repudiated) have had positive effects. I know I have been very fortunate, and that my good fortune could end anytime at the whim of the gods I don’t believe in, but when that happens, as eventually it must, I will not regret these attachment, cravings and desires. ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention.’ I need to stop now, before I disappear up my own sphincter.

Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Mahayana Buddhism
Part 3: Tibetan Buddhism
Part 4: Theravada (1) Sri Lanka
Part 5: Theravada (2) Myanmar
Part 6: Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand