HISTORY-III

BUDDHISM THEORY

PRESENTED BY :
AR. NEHA PAREEK
(ASSISTANT PROFESSOR)
APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY –
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING, GR. NOIDA

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 1
 INTRODUCTION :
RELIGION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY
• Buddha (563-483 BC), the Indian philosopher and the founder
of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini, Nepal.
• His original name was Siddhartha and he was a prince, who
went in search of the ultimate truth and became "the
enlightened one".

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 2
 The Buddhism belief
His teachings are based on 4 noble truths:
• There is suffering,
• There is a cause to suffering,
• There is an end to suffering,
• There is a path out of suffering.

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 3
 The Buddhism belief
• The Reality of Suffering-dukkha.
• The Cause of Suffering- samudaya.
• The Cessation of Suffering-nirodha.
• The Path to the Cessation of Suffering-
magga ( 8-fold path ).

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 4
 The Buddhism belief
• Correct view.
• Correct intention.
• Correct speech.
• Correct action.
• Correct livelihood.
• Correct effort.
• Correct mindfulness.
• Correct concentration.

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 The Buddhism belief
• Meditation is the core and heart of the Buddhist way to find
truth.
• It helps one to realize oneself , come out of negative mental
status and fill up the mind with positive and peaceful ides.
• The religion initially did not involve making of figures or idols
but gradually with the passage of time, the followers
• Hinayana
• Mahayana

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 The Buddhism belief
• The rules of religion paved the bas for the kind of practices that
generally had demand for a different and new kind of spaces or
buildings.
• The monks left material things and lived away from thebusy streets
of the city, in search of oneself.
• The need for permanent and safe structures away from the cities
carried them towards the small mountain cliffs on the outskirts of
the settlements.
• They had to earn their living by begging, which means that they lived
not too far from the cities. The rock cut units in these mountain cliffs
became the residential units for these monks.

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 The Buddhism belief
• The religious practices included chanting and meditation.
• The chanting could be in isolation or groups. The desire
was for a space larger in volume to hold large number of
people at a time, perhaps which gave way to the
construction of large assembly halls.
• These halls were created by scooping out rock from
naturally existing mountain cliff s, and were used for
large congregations.

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 8
 The Buddhism belief
• The relics of Buddha were sacred and needed preservation.
Perhapsthe best method assumed for this purpose was burial.
• Hence, these relics were buried under the mounds (elevated
on the ground).
• These gradually developed as the pilgrimage sites for the
Buddhist followers.
• The believers circumambulate the sacred mounds, during the
visit to such mounds. Mound as perhapsthe obvious choice
being a stable form.

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 9
 The Buddhism belief
• The relics of Buddha were sacred and needed preservation. Perhaps
the best method assumed for this purpose was burial.
• Hence, these relics were buried under the mounds (elevated on the
ground).
• These gradually developed as the pilgrimage sites for the Buddhist
followers.
• The believers circumambulate the sacred mounds, during the visit to
such mounds. Mound as perhaps the obvious choice being a stable
form.
• The mass is gradually decreasing, as the height is increasing thus
making more stable

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 10
 Buddhist Architecture
• Buddhist architecture is a term used to define special kind of
buildings/ monuments / structures, those were constructed
during the period when Buddhism was practiced and received
patronage of many rulers, during different periods.
Buddhist architecture
1. Monolithic pillars
2. Stupas
3. Chaityas
4. Viharas

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 Stupa
• Stupa is a term applied to the burial mounds, where the relics of Buddha are
preserved.
• They were initially constructed as small hemispherical mounds, inbrick masonry.
Perhaps the early deterioration started because of the use of perishable material
like unburnt bricks.
• These were of size 16" x 10" x 3". The mound was finally covered with thick layer of
plaster.
• Later renovations and modifications exchanged the wood with stone, for
preservation and easy maintenance.
Some common terms associated with the stupa are:
• Anda or egg-the hemispherical mound.
• Parasol-umbrella on the top of the mound, as a symbol of dignity.

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 Chaitya
• The halls of worship for large congregations.
• The need for a large space in these lonely areas .for
some religious purposes like chanting or
circumambulation, etc. in groups brought into
picture the Chaityas or Prayer halls or "Assembly
halls".

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 13
 Chaitya
• various remains have proved that these chaityas werecarved out spaces in
various shapes like rectangular, circular and elongated with apsidal end.
The roof of these halls was that of barrel vault in section.
• A small representational stupa is also evident in some cases, at the end of
these halls, perhaps for the purpose of circumambulation around it. The
columns are also created out in these halls by carving them out from this
living rock.
• The various components appeared to be parti cipating instructural
exercise, although that was not the case.
• These members were not actually transferring loads, or inother words,
they were non-structural members.

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 Chaitya
• The artisans were used to work on wood and were
familiar in detail with those techniques of
construction in wooden joints. They had been
constructing in trabeated style. Bence the features
of trabeated style are copied on the facade of the
rock by the artisans and the workmen.

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 15
 Vihara
• Vihara are monasteries or dwellings of monks.
• These can be witnessed as rock cut caves, created for
living purposes.
• Spread over large areas.
• Generally a good number of viharas grouped together
• These groups have combination chaityas & Viharas
• Viharas for living and chaityas for praying

AR. NEHA PAREEK APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING 16