page_title: Stupa
section_title: Symbolism
hierarchical_section_title: Stupa / Symbolism
caption_attribution_description: Grand Palace with Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) in Bangkok, Thailand.
context_page_description: A stūpa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics that is used as a place of meditation. A related architectural term is a chaitya, which is a prayer hall or temple containing a stupa.
  In Buddhism, circumambulation or pradakhshina has been an important ritual and devotional practice since the earliest times, and stupas always have a pradakhshina path around them.
context_section_description: "The shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire; his head is the square at the spire's base; his body is the vase shape; his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace; and the base is his throne."
caption: View of the Wat Phra Kaew complex from the northeast, temple complex of the Emerald Buddha with stupas.
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