Golden Temple: Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma

Bagan (Pagan) and Shwedagon Pagoda: The Cosmic Geometry of Burma’s Buddhist Temples | SLICE

(SLICE) Across the vast Asian continent, temples and sanctuaries stretch out in harmony with the land, their horizontal lines reflecting a deep connection to nature and the living world.

At their core lies an intricate sacred geometry inspired by the cosmos, the elements, and the human form — a fusion of spirituality and design that transcends time.

In Burma (Myanmar), this connection reaches its zenith. The Shwedagon Pagoda, gilded with nearly 60 tons of gold, rises as a beacon of faith (saddha, confidence in the Buddha) and devotion, shimmering under the sun.

Its spire points to the heavens (sagga), yet its base remains firmly rooted in the earth (Bhumi) — a symbol of the link between the divine and humanity.

Meanwhile, the plains of Bagan (formerly Pagan), with their breathtaking expanse of over 2,000 ancient temples, monuments, and stupas, showcase an unparalleled architectural legacy.

These temples, born of devotion and ambition, reflect a civilization’s desire to immortalize its beliefs in stone and art.

This profound bond between humanity and the cosmos, visible in Asia’s sacred structures, invites us to marvel not only at the beauty of these monuments but also at the resilience and creativity of the civilizations that built them.

From the serene plains of Bagan to the golden splendor of Shwedagon, these sacred spaces stand as timeless testaments to the spiritual quest for harmony with the universe.

Documentary: Sacred Spaces – Asian Temples: Humans, Nature, and Gods directed by Véronique Legendre. Production: ZED, ARTE FRANCE, CuriosityStream.

SLICE fully owns the rights to the use of the published content. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action. SLICE wants to fill up curiosity! Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time, this channel is a weekly dose of short docs about curious facts, discoveries, astounding info, unusual stories, weird, fun and instructive. Be smart, have a slice! Subscribe now ► @slicedocumentary. Become a fan: @slicedocumentary. Follow: 👇 In French: slicefr. Facebook: slicedocs. Instagram: slicedocs. #documentary #slice #fulldocumentary #freedocumentary #myanmar #bagan #shwedagon #plains #buddism #buddha #gold #temple #pagoda #religion #asia #amazing #heritage #prayer #pray #nature #god #geometry #relics

• SLICE in Burma, Dec. 12, 2024; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist Pyramids (photos)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly; Steven Barringer (zoisiv71/flickr.com)

Buddhist pyramid, Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center, Taiwan (Zosoiv71/flickr.com)

  

Close up of steps as in ancient Mexico

A stupa, dagaba, or pagoda is an elaborate reliquary, a Buddhist burial mound, often the center of a temple complex.

Pyramid (thailand-delights.com)

It holds holy relics (that of the Buddha, a great arhat, or a famous teacher). 

 

Its dimensions and proportions are symbolic, geometrically representing the shape of the cosmos or this "world-system" (galaxy?) as a mandala in concentric circles, squares, walls, spaces, and levels.

Thai Buddhist temple (Ska09/flickr)

Although traditional stupas from Afghanistan (formerly on the northwestern frontier of ancient India in a region known as Gandhara) down to Sri Lanka (the teardrop Buddhist island off the southern tip of India) are milky white and breast- or bell- shaped, they are also found on pyramidal bases  as shown here.

Stupa (yasithaishanthaphotography/flickr)

The more elaborate they have become, the more they appear to be pyramids -- likely in function (mysterious energy generation) as well as aesthetics, which must stand out to hovering spacecraft (vimanas) operated by "shining beings" from space (akasha devas), whose emanations are such to light up an entire grove.

 

Pyramidal base with steps -- similar to those the devas helped the Aztecs and Olmecs build in ancient Mexico at Teotihuacan -- Borobudur, Java, Indonesia (Shubh M. Singh/flickr.com)

Bells (TrevThompson/flickr)

The largest and most elaborate stupa sits at the center of the largest Buddhist temple complex yet discovered at Borobudur in Java, Indonesia. 

 

It runs a close second to one in the jungles of Cambodia known as Angkor Wat, "the Temple at Angkor." This was once the center of the city of Angkor with a million inhabitants and a very complex water-distribution system, the jewel of the ancient Khmer empire.

Angkor Wat (Alexey Stiop/livescience com)

Its suburbs sprawled 150 square miles (400 km²) into the Southeast Asian jungle with ornate bas relief covering the stone walls with Hindu and Buddhist imagery of space nymphs, devas (light beings), yakshas (ogres), and very significantly nagas (reptilians, flying serpents). Its obsession with the latter seems to have precipitated its downfall, much as happened in the jungles of Central America with their stone monoliths and Mesoamerican pyramids.

• US underground: Alaska's buried pyramid near Mt. McKinley is real (Linda Moulton Howe)

Bell/breast-like dagoba, Thanthirimale, Sri Lanka (Dev Wijewardane)

One explanatory diagram (zhaxizhuoma.net)

Seven Temples

DhammaCakraTra USA

Tiger's Nest (Vajrayana) Monastery is perched on the edge of a 3,000-foot high cliff in the Paro Valley, in the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Wat Rong Khun (Theravada) Temple is splendidly situated high atop Chiang Mai, the northern capital, which is Thailand's second largest city.

Shwedagon Pagoda (Theravada) is a massive temple complex in Rangoon, Burma. No one knows exactly when it was built but it houses hair relics of the Buddha. Legend states that it is 2,500 years old, but archaeologists estimate that it must have been built (at least in its present form) between the 6th and 10th centuries.

.

Chion-in Temple in Japan was built in 1234 to honor Jodo, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism.

In the 19th century, Dutch invaders in Indonesia found massive ancient ruins deep in the jungles of Java. They discovered the complex of Borobudur (Theravada), a gigantic structure built with nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet of stones. The temple has nearly 2,700 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.

The largest temple in history and the inspiration to countless novels and Hollywood movies: Angkor Wat, Cambodia (Theravada). It was swallowed by the encroaching jungle and lost for centuries until Western archaeologists went in to recover its magnificent history. Not only is it a massive mandala-shaped temple, there are suburbs that once were home to million people with an extraordinary water distribution system to rival the scale of Egypt's pyramids in scale.

Hsi Lai (Mahayana) Temple, Los Angeles County, is the largest Buddhist temple complex in the Western hemisphere. It is designed in the shape of a giant Bodhi leaf (as seen from the air) on a suburban mountainside overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and foothills. Take a virtual tour. (Photo: sacred-destinations.com)