The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a

Meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

dome hall with a capacity to seat around 8,000 Vipassana meditators (the largest such meditation hall in the world) near Gorai, north-west of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Maharashtra, India. The

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

was inaugurated by

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

, then President of India, on 8 February 2009. It is built on donated land on a peninsula between Gorai creek and the Arabian Sea. The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony. The Global Vipassana Pagoda has been built out of gratitude to Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899 - 1971), Vipassana teacher and the first Accountant-General of Independent Burma, who was instrumental in Vipassana returning to India, the country of its origin. Built entirely through voluntary donations, the purpose of the Global Vipassana Pagoda is to: 1) share information about Vipassana, and 2) spread information on Gotama the Buddha and his teachings. Vipassanā is the practical quintessence of the universal, non-sectarian teachings of the Buddha. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar for preserving the practice of

Vipassana ''Samatha'' ( Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' ( Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of ...

. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

(Golden Pagoda) in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Myanmar. It was built combining ancient Indian and modern technology to enable it to last for a thousand years.

Description

The center of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world's largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. The height of the dome is approximately 29 meters, while the height of the building is 99.06 meters, which is twice the size of the previously largest hollow stone monument in the world, the Gol Gumbaz Dome in

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural i ...

, India. The external diameter of the largest section of the dome is 97.46 m and the shorter sections are 94.82m. The internal diameter is 85.15 m. The inside of the pagoda is hollow and serves as a very large meditation hall with an area covering more than 6000 m² (65,000 ft²). The massive inner dome seats over 8000 people enabling them to practice the non-sectarian Vipassana meditation as taught by

S. N. Goenka Satya Narayana Goenka (ISO 15919: ''Satyanārāyaṇ Goyankā''; ; 29 January 1924 – 29 September 2013) was an Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma to an Indian business family, he moved to India in 1969 and started t ...

and now being practiced in over 100 countries. An inaugural one-day meditation course was held at the pagoda on 21 December 2008, with Goenka in attendance as the teacher. Ten-day vipassana meditation courses are held free of charge at the Dhamma Pattana meditation center that is part of the Global Vipassana Pagoda complex.

Construction history

Timeline

Planning for the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda began in 1997, while actual building work started in 2000. The pagoda consists of three sub-domes. The first and largest dome was completed in October 2006 when bone relics of Gotama Buddha were enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome on 29 October 2006, making it the world's largest structure containing

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of the Buddha. The relics were originally found in the stupa at Bhattiprolu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. They have been donated by the Mahabodhi Society of India and the prime minister of Sri Lanka to be kept at the Global Vipassana Pagoda.Goenka, S.N. (2006). ''Vipassana: The Practical Path to Unity in Diversity''. Global Vipassana Foundation. The second and third domes sit atop the first dome. Construction of the third dome was structurally completed on 21 November 2008. The Global Vipassana Pagoda complex is an evolving construction. A museum depicts the historical life and non-sectarian teaching of Gotama the Buddha. The Global Vipassana Pagoda's educational displays communicate the Buddha's teaching of the universal practice of Vipassana as a path towards real happiness. The Global Vipassana Pagoda complex consists of the following structures: *Pagoda dome containing relics of the Buddha. The pillar-less structure of the massive Pagoda dome encompasses a meditation hall to seat around 8,000 Vipassana meditators - the largest such meditation hall in the world. *Vipassana meditation centre Dhamma Pattana *Museum depicting the historical life of the Buddha *Two smaller pagodas on the north and south side *Library and study rooms *Circumambulation path around the dome *Administration building *Underground parkade *Vipassana Research Institute office and facility for Pali study program *Dhammalaya Guest House for Vipassana meditators The south pagoda contains 108 meditation cells for use by Vipassana students taking a meditation course at the adjoining meditation centre.

Construction materials

The foundation of the dome consists of basalt, while the dome itself is made from sandstone brought from Rajasthan. The individual blocks of sandstone weigh 600–700 kg each and are kept in place due to the unique design of the bricks. Each of the bricks interlock with the ones adjacent to it and lime mortar is used to fill in any remaining gaps. The circumambulation path is laid in marble. The pinnacle of the pagoda is adorned with a large crystal. The spire is covered in real gold, while the rest of the pagoda is covered in gold paint. The spire is topped with a special ornamental umbrella piece donated by the Burmese. The main doors to the pagoda are wooden and hand-carved in Myanmar (Burma). Truly gold Global Vipassana Pagoda.jpg, left, View from the Arabian sea Pagoda_at_Mumbai.jpg, Night view of main entrance Pagoda sunset view.jpg, View of the pagoda from Gorai creek at sunset Amazing monuments in the Global Vipassana Pagoda.jpg, Amazing monuments in the Global Vipassana Pagoda Motif on Global Vipassana Pagoda.jpg, Motif on Global Vipassana Pagoda Pagoda Meditators.jpg, Meditators seated inside the Global Pagoda dome

References

External links