THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM 81his absence, the stiipa offers a physical focus for the contemplation of the im-
permanence of life; as a symbol of his presence, it forms a ritual focus for of-
ferings to the Buddha as a means of gaining merit and guaranteeing a happy
destination after death. In this way, the stiipa is both a reminder of the prob-
lem of impermanence and an opportunity to store up merit as an interim so-
lution. In performing this dual function, the stiipa cult became one of the few
common denominators running through all Asian Buddhist traditions.
Another important structure associated with early Buddhist monastic resi-
dences was the caitya-grha (hall housing a stiipa). The stiipa was placed at the
end of a long hall, with a nave in front, where worshipers could gather, and an
apse containing the stiipa itself. Outside aisles demarcated by a colonnade
made pradak~i1Ji'i (ceremonial clockwise circumambulation) possible. Cave tem-
ples repeated this pattern, carved into rock. With the development of the Bud-
dha-image, such images were classed as a form of caitya and in some halls took
the place of the more abstract stiipa form.
From early Buddhist bas-reliefs we gain some idea of the religion's wor-
ship forms. We see people (and even serpents and celestial spirits) gathered
around a sacred tree or a stiipa, either standing or kneeling, their hands rever-
entially folded before their hearts. Often they have placed garlands of flowers
on the stiipa, hung them on the tree, or placed them on the shrine before it.
Ancient India had a strong tradition of fervent devotionalism, and perhaps the
belief that every act, however minor, necessarily led to good or bad conse-
quences encouraged this ardent religiosity among Buddhists as well.
In these early representations ofBuddhist worship, many symbols are used
instead of actual figures of the Buddha, which came into general use only after
100 B.C.E., probably in response to popular devotionalism (see Section 5.3).
The symbols used for worship included an empty throne, a pair of footprints,
a wheel, a shrine with a turban on it, a lotus, and a circle under a tree. The
empty throne recalled the spot on which the Buddha had attained Awaken-
ing; the pair of footprints reminded worshipers that he walked among people
and, even though he entered nirval).a, left his Path and his continuing influ-
ence in the world. They also emphasized the Buddha's transcendence, in that
even his feet deserved to be worshiped by the heads of the devotees. The tur-
ban symbolized what he had renounced, his royal worldly inheritance; the
wheel stood for his first sermon; the circle under the tree, the inexpressibility
ofhis Awakening. The lotus-which appears often, especially in connection
with Gautama's birth-has a complex symbolism all its own. It grows from
the mud of mundane existence but is transcendent in its purity; its leaves and
petals remain untouched by the waters (of becoming). In this, it forms a
metaphor for the perfection attainable even in the midst of the human world.
Although Buddha-images are now common throughout the Buddhist
world, much of the early cult practice and symbolism still survive in Buddhist
religious life today.