The Stupa is a universal and ubiquitous Buddhist iconic shrine or monument of eastern culture,  It has sprung out of and survived an ancient history from agrarian, pedestrian societies as a reminder to all who saw it of teachings of the Buddha and the sacred meaning and purpose of life, to become enlightened. It functioned as a focus of the spiritual activity of the community.  In modern western culture the comparable icon might be the drive-up fast food restaurant or the big box store. Both equally ubiquitous and symbolic of the cultural decay in which they are found.

Our cultural institutions are crumbling, controlled by an elite and wealthy few who want to dominate the world.  Our political, economic, financial, educational and religious institutions do not work and are due for radical change.    This is the time of prophecy. We are in the midst of a great planetary and personal transformation…a great awakening and expansion in consciousness that has been predicted in many traditions for ages.  The proposal to build The Stupa of the Great Awakening holds the promise of stimulating the global awakening of mankind.  (See Functions of the Stupa and 12c below)

TYPES or FORMS OF STUPAS:
There are several types of Stupa, Basically it is a solid structure which is interacted primarily from the exterior in ritual circumambulation, though there are some with interior.  The types of stupas vary through out south and eastern Asia depending on where they are located. All were representations of the Buddha. The origin of the stupa form stems from the final request of the dying Buddha, holding an upside down begging bowl as the appropriate form of a reliquary to hold his ashes.

1. The earliest were simple hemi-spherical shaped mounds of bricks holding relics and built on a circular platform common in India.
2. These evolved in complexity and function to incorporated terraced bases and structure on top of the domes such as in Nepal.
3. A much smaller monument type of shrine called a Chortan is common in Tibet and has been build in recent times in other parts of the world.
4. A domes type with a multi-stepped base called a Dagoba is built in Thailand, Myamar (Burma) and Cambodia.
5. In China and Japan the stupa took the form of the Pagoda, a multi-tiered wood structure with an open interior built around a mast in the center.

The basic form of the stupa combines the dome (a sphere: representing the higher planes/heaven) on a cube/square: representing the earth/physical plane and crowned with a pyramidal spire (triangle)-representing the bridge between heaven and earth.  In totality the stupa represents the central cosmic Mountain, Mt.Meru, around which the universe orbits.