Mound; heap
From Sanskrit 'stup' (to heap); originally burial mounds for relics of the Buddha, evolving into dome-shaped monuments found across Buddhist Asia.
Circumambulating a stupa clockwise is a devotional practice symbolizing the turning of the Wheel of Dharma and one's own progress toward awakening.
Anathapindika bought Prince Jeta's grove by covering it entirely in gold coins, building the Jetavana Monastery where the Buddha spent nineteen rainy seasons.
At eighty, the Buddha ate his last meal from Cunda, taught be a lamp unto yourselves, and passed between the twin sal trees at Kushinagar.
The Sacred Rock-Cut Buddhist Cave Sanctuaries
The Mahaparinibbana Sutta names four pilgrimage sites: Lumbini (birth), Bodh Gaya (enlightenment), Sarnath (first sermon), and Kushinagar (parinirvana).
Amrapali's Monastery
Buddhism's Great Mahaviharas