Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Browse By

3rd century BCE

This page groups sacred sites by the year their sacred standing is first dated to. Wikipedia notes that the relics of the apostle James "discovered c. 830" are what made Santiago de Compostela a pilgrimage destination. Browsing by start year lets a visitor compare how old one site's sacred status is against another's.

Facts
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
The places of the Buddha's own life, together with the monasteries, stupas, cave-temples and sacred mountains of every land Buddhism reached. The group spans Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, and most of its members lie outside the country the tradition began in - Buddhist sacred geography followed the religion's expansion rather than staying with its origin. 2
Size of the Traditional Set
Four: the places the Mahaparinibbana Sutta names as those a Buddhist should visit - the birth, the awakening, the first teaching and the final nirvana of the Buddha. Later tradition extends the four to a set of eight. 2
Directory
Category
Sacred Sites 1
Learn More
The Holy Places of Buddhism

This group holds the sacred sites of Buddhism, spread across Asia along the paths of the religion's expansion from India. Buddhist sacred geography begins with the places of the Buddha's own life (his birth, awakening, first teaching and passing), and extends to the great monasteries, stupas and cave-temples raised over relics and images.

The browser will find the pilgrimage places of the Buddha's biography together with the monastic and devotional centres of the lands to which Buddhism spread. The entries describe each site's history and significance, noting the tradition (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana) to which it chiefly belongs.

3rd century BCE
Filter Results1 entry

Great Stupa of Sanchi

3rd century BCE
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, 2nd edition
Peter Harvey, Cambridge University Press, 2013View the Source
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.