On 12/16/2013 3:40 PM, Share Long wrote: > Richard, do you know what the significance of a fence is? Most topes have a dome shape with a harmika on the top and a parasol, which also has a little rail around it, just like the MUM domes. Likewise, a stupa is a sort of mound, surmounted by a kalasa, supported by the amalaka in which the akasha, symbolizing dimensionless space, is supported by an invisible linga, surmounting harmika which is a basic hypaethral pavilion - a veritible chaitya-garbha for pradakshina, with a nice fence around it.
The parasol, atop the stupa represents the canopy of heaven - its pole being the cosmic axis mundi and the dome's surface, the earth. As a cosmic egg image it is preeminent among the aniconic images of the Buddha. In Buddhist mythology the bodhi tree, also the symbol of MUM, is the original parasol duplicated in the dome with the kalasa on top. The point where the pole of the parasol pierces the canopy corresponds precisely to the point defined by the harmika, where the pole emerges from the summit of the stupa garbha. When seen from above, the stupa outlines a circle and the fence around it represents the protective area of the surround, just like in a two dimensional design of the Sri Yantra, but in three dimensions, and with a bindu or point in the center.
