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From the perspective of worldly knowledge, stupa - the reliquary monument constructed to enshrine the relics of the Buddha and other noble beings - has its origin associated with the caitya, the traditional burial mounds of ancient India.

But for the supramundane beings whose accomplishment in siddhi (ngödrup) enables them to recognise the true state of reality pertaining to the sensuous-sphere, form-sphere and formless-sphere, they behold the three realms of existence as the emanation of the spontaneous self-arising stupas, and the four continents surrounding Mount Meru at the centre of the universe, crowned aloft by the celestial realms of the devas, as the unsurpassable stupas - the expression of the four immeasurables - with two blessed reliquary stupas for each continent. All these stupas are in actuality inseparable from the enlightened mind of the buddhas.

- Extract from the second of a four-part teachings on the origin, construction, benefits and practises related to stupa by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche. The full text is available to read under the feature of Gateway to Tibetan Buddhism. Click here to see the full list of articles available.