(seated, walking, or otherwise on the move) and the
recitation of sutras belong to the basic activities of
Shugendo. Thus, while it is misleading to speak of
Shugendoonly in terms of Buddhism, its adherents
consider themselves Buddhists and it is not inaccurate
to consider it part of the Buddhist tradition.
See also:Japan; Shinto(Honji Suijaku) and Buddhism;
Space, Sacred
Bibliography
Earhart, H. Byron. A Religious Study of the Mount Haguro Sect
of Shugendo.Tokyo: Sophia University, 1970.
Miyake Hitoshi. Shugendo: Essays on the Structure of Japanese
Folk Religion,ed. H. Byron Earhart. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 2001.
Renondeau, Gaston. Le Shugendo: Histoire, doctrine, et rites des
anachorètes dits Yamabushi.Paris: Imprimerie Nationale,
1965.
Rotermund, Hartmut O. Die Yamabushi: Aspekte ihres Glaubens,
Lebens und ihrer sozialen Funktion im japanischen Mittelal-
ter.Hamburg, Germany: de Gruyter, 1968.
Swanson, Paul L. “Shugendoand the Yoshino-Kumano Pil-
grimage.” Monumenta Nipponica36, no. 1 (1981): 55–84.
Swanson, Paul L., and Tyler, Royall, eds. “Shugendoand Moun-
tain Religion in Japan.” Special issue of Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies16, nos. 2–3 (1989).
PAULL. SWANSONSHWEDAGON
According to Burmese accounts the Shwedagon
pagoda was constructed in 585 B.C.E. It has since been,
and is still being, much embellished. Successive Mon
and Burmese kings and queens added their weights in
gold to the spire as it rose higher and higher through
the centuries. The finial or htiis encrusted with enor-
mous rubies and diamonds. The Shwedagon finally
reached its present height of 326 feet in the fifteenth
century under the patronage of the Pegu queen Shin
Sawbu. According to tradition, the Buddha gave eight
of his hairs to two Mon merchants who returned to
their land and dedicated the pagoda. The Shwedagon
is now the most famous shrine in Burma and truly a
wonder of the world. Best visited at night, one enters
another world of gilded spires and tinkling bells, flick-
ering candles, and reverberating gongs.
The pagoda rises from the 190-foot high Dagon Hill
and has four main entrances—one to each cardinal
point—with long covered stairs, commanded at their
feet by giant chinthélions, and lined with pagoda shops
selling flowers and religious paraphernalia. The south
and east stairs have been remodeled recently. The main
terrace was leveled by the Pegu kings in the fifteenth
century; it covers fourteen acres and is paved with mar-
ble slabs. The main STUPAhas a circumference of 1,421
feet; the base is octagonal, each side lined with eight
subsidiary stupas for a total of sixty-four. At each cor-
ner is a manothihaor sphinx. Octagonal terraces rise
for eighty feet; only one terrace above the main plat-
form is accessible, and only to monks and male Bud-
dhists. Above these are the circular bands that rise to
the htifinial.
Opposite the covered zaung-dan(stair halls) are the
four principal shrines dedicated to each of the four
BUDDHASwho have manifested themselves during the
present eon. Filling the platform are several hundred
shrines and temples, mostly dating from the colonial
period and Rangoon’s development as a mercantile
capital. There are shrines erected by various merchant
guilds, including the Chinese Buddhist Community. A
fire in 1931 destroyed many of these pavilions and they
were subsequently rebuilt. There are many fine exam-
ples of traditional wood carving. Surrounding the main
stupa are planetary shrines for the days of the week
with their corresponding animals. There are countless
other shrines, statues, and symbolic objects on site. Di-
vine beasts are everywhere, as are nats(spirits). The
MahaGhanta, a great bell cast by King Singu in 1779,
is especially notable. It weighs twenty-three tons, has
a diameter of over six feet, and stands seven feet high.
In 1825 the British attempted to send the bell to Lon-
don as booty, but while loading it onto a ship it fell
into the Rangoon River and was abandoned there.
Later an association of pious Burmese salvaged it from
the riverbed and were allowed to replace it in the
Shwedagon. There is another larger bell, the Mahati-
sadda Ghanta, that weighs forty tons; it was donated
by King Tharawaddy in 1848 and is the second-largest
bell in Burma.See also:Monastic Architecture; Myanmar; Myanmar,
Buddhist Art in; Southeast Asia, Buddhist Art inBibliography
Moore, Elizabeth; Meyer, Hansjorg; and U Win Pe. Shwedagon:
Golden Pagoda of Myanmar.London: Thames and Hudson,
1999.SHWEDAGON