The Global Vipassana Pagoda
The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a Meditation dome hall with a capacity to seat around 8,000 Vipassana meditators and this is the world’s largest pillar-less dome, near Gorai, northwest of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was built as a tribute to Sayagyi U Ba Khin, a Vipassana teacher from Myanmar. It’s neither a temple nor a mosque, nor is it a church or synagogue. But people from every religion and every caste and creed come here to practice meditation — Vipassana meditation.
Vipassana is a Pali word that means to see things as they are. The meditation technique was rediscovered by Gautam Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a way to ease universal suffering.
Vipassana is a process of self-realization, truth realization, and realization of the truth pertaining to oneself, within oneself, and by oneself at the experiential level. The teaching of Buddha is not to convert people from one organized religion to another organized religion. Conversion is there. But conversion from misery to happiness. Conversion from bondage to liberation. Conversion from cruelty to compassion. And to become a very good human being, enjoying peace and harmony for oneself, and generating nothing but peace and harmony for others.
As centuries came and went, the teachings of Gautama Buddha got muddied, or, as in the case of India, lost entirely. However, the ancient technique of practicing Vipassana meditation was preserved in Myanmar. The Myanmar Gate is a symbol of deep gratitude to the people of Burma, where a chain of teachers maintained the pristine purity of the dhamma. For more than 2,000 years, they diligently passed it on - from teacher to student, from teacher to student.
A golden dhamma wheel sits just below the gate’s eight, ascending, tapering tiers - an architectural symbol of the link between Earth and Sky, and the elevated mind-body connection achieved through meditation. Two lions guard the entrance to the Pagoda. They represent courage and strength qualities necessary to achieve mastery of the mind through the practice of Vipassana.
A wide concourse surrounds the octagonally shaped pagoda, a tribute to Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path to enlightenment. It starts with a very wide base that smoothly transitions upward to a solid crystal that gleams in the sun by day, and is lit by optic fiber at night.
The pagoda’s interior consists of three sub-domes - the main one being a meditation hall of such magnitude, it will take your breath away. It measures around 5,600 square meters, with a diameter of approximately 85 meters. In fact, 8,000 people can comfortably sit on the expansive teak floor and meditate together under the powerful sacred relics. The relics are held in a special chamber located directly above a golden dhamma wheel, which towers stunning 27-and-a-half meters above the hall. The logistics of constructing a pagoda as tall as a 30-story building is mind-boggling.
The pagoda is always open, People who have taken the 10-day introductory course to Vipassana are free to meditate in the main hall at any time of day or night. The smallest sounds vibrate and carry across the enormous expanse. So, out of respect to those meditating, please maintain a perfect silence.
The path of Dhamma is the path of peace The path of dhamma is the path of happiness Whoever walk the path of Dhamma Makes an end of suffering
This towering sculpture of Gautam Buddha sits on a monolithic plinth. It was carved out of a single rock of marble found in Mandalay Hill in Myanmar. Buddha meditates under a gold umbrella that’s adorned with the same bells that decorate the umbrella that’s perched on top of the main pagoda. Similarly, its gold and red motifs blend in perfectly with the primary structure.
Buddha meditates under a gold umbrella that’s adorned with the same bells that decorate the umbrella that’s perched on top of the main pagoda. Similarly, its gold and red motifs blend in perfectly with the primary structure. Buddha sits on a plinth colorfully decorated with four major events in his life his birth, his enlightenment, his first discourse, and his death. In fact, even on his deathbed, Buddha kept teaching dhamma to those who wished to work toward their liberation.
Gautama Buddha was not a god. He was not an incarnation of a god, nor did he become a Buddha
by divine grace. Rather, he was a historical person who became a Buddha by his own efforts. When he sat under the Bodhi tree, 2,500 years ago, practicing Vipassana meditation, he observed fundamental truths of reality. From his body, he discovered the interrelationship between mind and matter.
He gained a deep understanding of how mind influences matter, and how matter influences the mind. Through these insights, he discovered how to end suffering. He was a super scientist.
This place also has 120 paintings and it might take 1-2 hours to see. Even there is a theater where every visitor can see a short 20-minute film which is made on making of the pagoda. You must visit once.