Chorten also known as ‘stupa’ in India, are quite common in the countryside of Bhutan. Thousands of chortens can be found all over the country, at crossroads, near a dzong or a monastery and even on high mountain passes. They range from being very small and just two meters in height to being huge and over ten meters in height. Serene and peaceful, chortens are religious monuments that are built in a precise way and are a receptacle for worship or offering. Chortens were originally built to keep the relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist saints but with time, building a stupa is considered a pious thing to do and the builders and those who pay to make a chorten are believed to earn merit for it. Chorten or a stupa is considered to support faith and represent Buddha’s Body.
Chortens or stupas also symbolize the five elements of the Universe. Its square base represents earth, the dome represents water, the shaft represents fire, the crescent represents air and the circle represents ether.
One of the five ‘Jina’ (also known as Dhyani Buddhas or primordial Buddhas) corresponds to each of these elements. For religious and didactic reasons, the chorten has always been an object of faith and devotion for the entire Buddhist world. All the major gompas or monasteries have their own chortens, preserving the remains of the Head or Senior Lama. The walls of the chorten are painted from inside with murals, each telling a different story. Sometimes thick prayer walls called ‘mani’ connect chortens. Chortens may be built in various ways. The most common one in Bhutan is called ‘Khangtseg, that’ or house chorten, which is simply a building with a square base, enclosed on all four sides sealing sacred objects and relics inside it and perhaps an ornamental roof.
There is a wooden square known as ‘sokshing’ that acts as the central post of the chorten, around which it is built. It is adorned and has inscriptions of sacred text representing the vital principle and ‘life spirit’ of the chorten. While building a chorten, there are special rituals and ceremonies for each stage of work as it commemorates the death (Parinirvana) of the Buddha Sakyamuni and his spiritual progress towards enlightenment. The other types of chortens are Chendebji or Chorten Kora that follow the model of Bodnath in Nepal, made up of lime washed stone and are huge; smaller Tibetan style chortens; and pure Bhutanese square chortens or stupas with four-sided roofs. The red stripe below the roof called ‘khemar’ mark the religious nature of chortens, just like dzongs.
According to legends the Chorten is the oldest Buddhist religious monuments and was originally only a simple mound of mud or clay to cover relics of the Buddha. After the Parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes were divided and buried under eight stupas.
Built for a variety of reasons, Buddhist Chortens are classified based on form and function.
Significance of eight different Chortens
The Lotus Blossom Chorten
The Chorten is also known as the Chorten of heaped Lotuses. It refers to the birth of the Buddha. At birth Buddha took seven steps in each of the four directions- East, South, West and North. In each direction lotuses sprang, symbolising the four immeasurable of love, compassion, joy and equanimity.
The four steps of the basis of the Chorten are circular, and decorated with lotus-petal designs. Seven heaped lotus steps are constructed occasionally. This refers to the seven first steps of the Buddha.
The Chorten of Enlightenment
This enlightenment Chorten is also known as the Chorten of the conquest of Mara. It symbolises the 35 year old Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment in the village of Magadha in Bodhgaya under the Bodhi tree on the 15th day of the 4thmonth in the Bhutanese calendar.
It is here that the Buddha subdued all the evils and conquest worldly temptations and attacks manifesting in the form of Mara.
The Chorten of many Doors
The Chorten of many Doors is also known as the Chorten of many gates. After attaining enlightenment, the Buddha taught his first students in a deer park near Sarnath in Varanasi on the 4th day of the Sixth Bhutanese month.
The series of doors on each side of the steps represent the first teachings of the Buddha- the four noble truths, the six perfections and the noble eightfold path.
The Chorten of descent from the God Realm
At the age of 42, Buddha spent a summer retreat in Tushita Heaven, where his mother had taken rebirth. In order to repay her kindness he taught the dharma to his mother reincarnate. So in order to commemorate this event the local inhabitants built a Chorten on the 22nd day of the 9th Bhutanese month.
This stupa is characterised with a central projection at each side containing a triple ladder or steps.
The Chorten of great miracles
This Chorten refers to various miracles performed by the Buddha when he was 50 years old. Legend claims that he overpowered Maras and heretics by engaging them in intellectual arguments and also by performing miracles.
This Chorten was raised by the Lichavi Kingdom to commemorate the event.
The Chorten of reconciliation
According to Lam Neten of Wangduephodrang this Chorten commemorated the Buddha’s resolution of a dispute among the Sanga or among the Buddhist community.
“A Chorten in this design was built in the kingdom of Magadha, where the reconciliation occurred.
It has four octagonal steps with equal sides.”
The Chorten of complete victory
When the Buddha was 80 years old, on the request of the king of the evils Buddha decided to attain the state of Parinirvana. But the devotees again requested the Buddha to still stay alive.
So, the Buddha then prolonged his life by three months.
In order to commemorate the prolonged life of Buddha this Chorten of complete victory was built.
It has only three steps, which are circular and unadorned.
The Chorten of Nirvana
This Chorten refers to the death of the Buddha, when he was 80 years old. It symbolises the Buddha’s complete absorption in to the highest state of mind.
It is bell shaped and usually not ornamented.
The Lam Neten of Wangduephodrang said that building a Chorten is considered extremely beneficial leaving very positive and accumulating merits in one’s life. “At times we should circumambulate the stupa with the inner thought of the teachings of the great masters,” he said.
Buddhists believe destroying or vandalising a stupa on the other hand is considered an extremely negative deed. According to the Lam Neten, such an action is believed to create massive negative karmic imprints leading to the massive future problems during the present stay and even after death.
