Asia's spectacular monument of gratitude

Asia's spectacular monument of gratitude
By Raja M

Which two persons are rare in the world? One who serves others selflessly without expecting anything in return; and one who is grateful toward anyone who does one a kindness. These two persons are rare in the world. - Gotama the Buddha

MUMBAI - Air travelers over Mumbai will soon have something spectacular to goggle at: a cloud-high view of the golden Global Pagoda, the world's largest stone monument and the first dome in



human history of this size without any supporting pillars.

The completed massive main dome of the Global Pagoda, to seat
more than 8,000, is to be officially inaugurated this Sunday in the presence of many Indian leaders, including possibly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This 100-meter-high monument, expected to be one of Asia's major tourist attractions, bridges Vipassana - an ancient path to liberation from all suffering - to the complexities challenging the world today. About 100,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony on the island of Gorai in suburban Mumbai, including guests from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and other countries.

In the morning, authentic relics of the Buddha will be enshrined in the Global Pagoda, atop the largest meditation hall on the planet, where more than 8,000 Vipassana students can practice together in one-day refresher courses. The Buddha bone relics were offered by the government of Sri Lanka and the Maha Bodhi Society in India in 1997, and have been awaiting this October day when the main dome of the Pagoda is ready. Another set of relics is being sent by the Indian government.

The Buddha relics had a long journey, from India to the London Museum, where the British colonial rulers of that time took them before World War II. The relics were returned to the subcontinent after strong but peaceful protests broke out in Sri Lanka over disrespect shown to the relics by placing them in a museum.

The Global Pagoda, the final resting place of these Buddha relics, has been modeled on the famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, as a mark of deep gratitude that Vipassana Principal Acharya (teacher) S N Goenkaji has for his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899-1971), the first accountant general of independent Burma (now Myanmar), and to the little-known chain of Vipassana teachers in that country who preserved the teaching long after Vipassana was lost in India and to the rest of the world.

"If Emperor Asoka (265-238 BC) had not sent the words of the Buddha and Vipassana from India to the neighboring countries, they would not have survived anywhere in the world," said Goenkaji. "Fortunately, some wise monks of Sri Lanka and Myanmar as well as of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos preserved the Dhamma literature in its pristine purity through the teacher-student tradition for more than 2,000 years. Similarly, meditation teachers preserved the technique of Vipassana in Myanmar until recent times."

The Global Pagoda symbolizes the resurgence and quiet but rapid worldwide spread of Vipassana, the practical quintessence of the Buddha's non-sectarian, universal teachings. Residential Vipassana courses, from beginners' 10-days to advanced 60-days, are being offered without charge from more than 130 established Vipassana centers and innumerable non-center venues. Courses are run on voluntary donations and services of grateful previous students who wish to share the benefits with others.

An instance of Vipassana as a catalyst for peace is its growing popularity in both Israel and Iran, where demand for courses outruns supply. "Peace in the world is not possible without peace within the individual," Goenkaji said. For millennia, Vipassana has proved to be a powerful mind-purification tool to inner peace, by leading the practitioner to "egolessness".

Course participants cut across all professions, strata and religions of global society. "The Buddha has made me a better Muslim," wrote Imam Omar Rahman after doing a Vipassana course held at the Level 6 Security Alabama Prison, one of the most violent prisons in the US.

Many senior Christian priests and nuns have commented to Goenkaji that Vipassana is Christianity in practice, with Vipassana courses even being held in seminaries for novices. Many prominent Hindu leaders have undergone Vipassana courses. In India, more than 20 government circulars have been issued by the central and state governments enabling officials to undertake the 10-day Vipassana courses with paid leave.

Being built with voluntary donations, the Global Pagoda will have a large exhibition gallery giving accurate information about Vipassana and the Buddha's historical life. The Pagoda combines functionality with new architectural frontiers. A hollow stone monument with an octagonal base, the Pagoda externally rises and tapers at the top through a circular bell shape (see picture), forming within a stupendous pillarless hall 85 meters in diameter.

This pillarless 27-meter-high dome is attracting architectural wonder considering that thousands of stones, each weighing about 600-700 kilograms, are suspended without any external support. "These massive stones seemingly float over our heads, locked into place by the interlocking principle of one stone gripping and holding another. The more weight that is added to the stones, the more firmly the stones grip and hold each other," said M M Khandhar, a veteran construction engineer with experience of building projects in the US. When fully complete, the pagoda will be 100 meters high.

The biggest stone dome with a hollow interior built anywhere in the world before the Global Pagoda was the Gol Gumbaj Dome in Bijapur, southern India, which is 40 meters in diameter. The Global Pagoda is more than twice its size.

"We initially contemplated building the pagoda in reinforced concrete and steel. But the project aim is to build a structure to last for a thousand years, so we decided to use the basic building principles that have existed in ancient India for centuries, combined with latest construction technologies," explained the Mumbai-based Global Vipassana Foundation that is executing the project. "The construction plans were finalized following advice from consultants and research studies, including one by the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai."

When Goenkaji first expressed his wish to have such a dome built without any pillars in the meditation hall, to avoid inconvenience to meditators, almost all consultants and technical personnel expressed their doubts, saying this was almost impossible.

Chandubhai Sompura, an Indian architect, provided the breakthrough by demonstrating the idea of the locking system of stones using bars of soap cut into the same shape as the present stones are cut. A stone has grooves cut both horizontally and vertically, and is designed to interlock in both directions and hold the stones in place.

The inner dome and outside serrations are constructed from Jodhpur stone, historically known for its longevity and used in many Indian structures. About 15,500 cubic meters of Jodhpur stone and 46,000 cubic meters of rubble stone have been used so far, equivalent to a 120-kilometer-long line of trucks filled with the stones.

Posterity will look upon the Global Pagoda with awe similar to that evoked by the pyramids of ancient Egypt, besides the universal message of peace and purity that Asia's new monument of gratitude symbolizes.