• 건축역사연구
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• 제20권5호
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• pp.81-94
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• 2011

Buddhism that has arisen in India began to build the Stupa to enshrine body and Sari of Buddha as an object of worship. The stupa existed as a tome of holy leaders even before the birth of Buddha, which was called stupa or tupa in the Sanskrit and the Pali, the ancient language of India. The stupa was renamed accordingly in each Buddhism transmitted countries such as Ceylon, Tibet, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand and China and also reshaped according to their own formative style. But its original meaning and type are kept unchanged. The stupa was established in the 4 holy places including the birth place of Buddha, the place where Buddha found enlightenment, the place where Buddha preached for the first time, and the place where Buddha died. Thus, a pagoda to commemorate holy ancient places is called Chaitya, which became differentiated from the stupa in which Sari is enshrined. The stupa means Nirvana, the eternal body of Buddha, and also a place filled with teaching and preaching of Buddhism. It signifies the symbol of Buddha who escaped from the death and rebirth, to achieve complete extinction, i.e. parinirvana, and to reach ultimate eternal world, rather than simply means death. During the non-statue of th Buddha period, people built the stupa to embody Nirvana of the Buddha, and worshipped the tomb where body of holy saints was enshrined. On the other hand, they also sanctified memorial things such as tools that holy saints used, the Bo tree under which one achieved Nirvana, Dharma cakra that implied words, footprint that carried out mission work, and a way to reach to heaven.