Abstract
Abstract: The paper aims to examine the meaning of sacredness in such a religion as Buddhism where there is no idea of God or any supernatural being. Instead, there are elaborated inner practices for achieving enlightenment. The paper consists of two parts. The first one analyses the place of the sacred in Buddhism considering the two important concepts of samsara and nirvana. The second part discusses sacred places in Buddhism comparing two different space structures: stupa as representative for a vertical structure and mandala for a horizontal one. On the base of juxtaposing these seemingly opposite concepts and structures the paper reveals that in terms of Buddhism the real sacredness is non-sacredness: a term that transcends the opposition sacred-profane and expresses the specific Buddhist vision of non-duality.Key words: Buddhism; sacred-profane; non-duality
Highlights
Buddhism is a strange religion, a «religion of no-religion» as Alan Watts called it2
How can there be a sense of sacrality? In what sense can we call the symbols of Buddhist religion sacred? What is the meaning and aim of sacred places in Buddhism? Is there any space for the sacred within Buddhist teaching? These are the questions that this paper aims to answer
The place of the sacred in Buddhism In Buddhism, there certainly are two terms that correspond to the opposition sacred-profane
Summary
Buddhism is a strange religion, a «religion of no-religion» as Alan Watts called it. In Buddhism there is neither an Almighty God, God Creator, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent that should be obeyed and feared, nor any higher supernatural power controlling our destinies, nor any divine revelations or divine messengers. In such a case, how can there be a sense of sacrality? In what sense can we call the symbols of Buddhist religion sacred? What is the meaning and aim of sacred places in Buddhism? Is there any space for the sacred within Buddhist teaching? How can there be a sense of sacrality? In what sense can we call the symbols of Buddhist religion sacred? What is the meaning and aim of sacred places in Buddhism? Is there any space for the sacred within Buddhist teaching? These are the questions that this paper aims to answer
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