bas-relief representations of important moments pre-
sumed to have taken place during the Buddha’s life
and, later, with events that would have occurred in his
former lives. Originally venerated as repositories of
relics (physical supports for memories held to be true),
stupas became memorials constructed and adorned in
such a way that they would evoke specific recollections
of the Buddha’s path, elicit intended readings of ma-
jor experiences in the Buddha’s life, and support prac-
tices, such as circumambulation (walking clockwise
around any Buddhist site of cult). As MONKSand NUNS
engaged in austerities and built retreats, cave com-
plexes were dug at the base of cliffs; some were plain
cells, others were sanctuaries adorned with paintings
or statues. Among the many cave complexes scattered
throughout Asia, Ellora and AJANTA in India and
DUNHUANGin China are, perhaps, the most famous.
Monasteries also came to be erected on or near such
sites. Their scope, sometimes immense, attests to the
patronage Buddhism enjoyed on the part of rulers or
wealthy merchants, as can be seen in the stupendous
monastery complexes of Pagan and Rangoon in
Myanmar (Burma), Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom
in Kampuchea (Cambodia), BOROBUDUR in Java,
Lhasa in Tibet, the various capital cities of China, and
many others.
Monasteries
The construction of monasteries (tera, ji,or ji-in) in
Japan began shortly after Buddhism was recognized by
the court in the mid-sixth century C.E. The layout of
these structures shows Chinese and Korean influences,
while some aspects of the organization of their space
reveals their relation to the COSMOLOGYand cosmog-
raphy described in the ABHIDHARMAliterature of early
Buddhism. Typically, the four corner pillars of a
monastery represent the abodes of the Four Heavenly
Kings (Japanese, shitenno), who are said to protect the
east, south, west, and north corners of Mount Sumeru,
the mountain located at the center of the Buddhist cos-
mos. Toward the back of such a monastery is a plat-
form called shumidan(platform of Mount Sumeru),
on which statues of buddhas and bodhisattvas are
placed. Some monastery architecture, then, was based
on cosmographic principles, but these cultic sites be-
came sacred only after eye-opening rites (Japanese,
kaigen shiki, kaigen kuyo), in which a ritualist paints in
an iris or otherwise sanctifies the sense of vision—both
in the sense that BUDDHASand BODHISATTVASbless
devotees by establishing visual contact and in the sense
that anyone is blessed by looking at a buddha or bo-
dhisattva. Furthermore, the transformation of a statue
into a living icon required a ritualized exchange of
breath between an officiating monk and a statue, and
recent discoveries of relics and fashioned replicas of in-
ternal organs in statues prove that what was thought
to be representations were, by ritual fiat, living entities
and sacred spaces par excellence.Most of Japan’s earliest Buddhist monasteries were
erected in plains or cities. Starting in the eighth cen-
tury, however, monasteries were built on the sides of
or near the summits of mountains, and concepts of
sacred space thereby gained more intricate meanings,
as did spatial, ritualized practices. An obvious but per-
haps simplistic indication to this effect is the fact that
fourteen Japanese mountains bear the name Misen,
which refers to Mount Sumeru. Seventeen bear the
name Ben[zai]ten, the Buddhist form of the Vedic de-
ity Sarasvat. Twenty-two bear the name Fudo, the
king of sapience Acala, an important deity in esoteric
Buddhism. Twenty-seven bear the name KyozukaSPACE, SACREDPilgrims prostrating themselves at the site of the Buddha’s en-
lightenment in Bodh Gaya, India. © Alison Wright/Corbis. Re-
produced by permission.