Inauguration of Global Vipassana Pagoda in Mumbai

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has inaugurated the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai in Mumbai on Sunday.
The 325 feet tall pagoda structure has been established by the Global Pagoda Foundation to promote the practice of Vipassana.
Vipasana in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the nature of reality.
The centre of the Global Pagoda boasts of the worlds largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars.
The Pagoda is hollow from inside, and this portion serves as a very large meditation hall for over 8000 people enabling them to practice Vipassana meditation as taught by Acharya Goenka.
Lord Buddhas bone relics have been enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome.
The grand size and the architectural style of the pagoda is aimed at reinforce Indias global image on spiritual tourism map. The tall pagoda building looms majestically over the GVF complex, spread over 13 acres of lush greenery, near picturesque Gorai in northwest Mumbai, barely a kilometre from the Arabian Sea. Pagodas are multi-tiered structures common in China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and other countries where Buddhism is followed. At the centre of the pagoda building, the tallest pillar-less dome in the world has been constructed measuring 280-ft in diameter and 90-ft height, flanked by two 60-ft tall pagodas, claimed Vallabh Bhanshali, a GVF trustee. Designed by Indian architect Chandubhai Sompura on the lines of the She Dagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, this pagoda is a hollow structure, having a dome of 280-ft diameter. Below it is a massive 6,000-sq pillar-less meditation hall, which can accommodate 8,000 people at a time, he said. It is more than three times the size of the large masonry structure - the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka, which is 90 ft in diameter. The pagoda is the outcome of efforts by nearly 700 labourers toiling daily for the past 11 years to make what is billed as the 8th wonder of the world. Combining ancient building principles with modern techniques of construction, Sompura finally guided a structure using the ?interlocking principle of construction? for the huge stones - each weighing around 600-700 kg. The entire structure has consumed over 2.5 million tonne of Jodhpur stone. Mr Bhanshali said though Goenka?s GVF started in Igatpuri, around 120 km away from Mumbai, it has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with independent vipassana meditation centres.

www.pressbrief.in

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Mumbai
• Rahul Gandhi
• Sonia Gandhi
• Congress
• Youth
• Robert Vadra
• Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
• Rajiv Gandhi
• RGF
• Indira Gandhi
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Nehru
• RTI
• Amethi
• Raebareli
• pressbrief.in
• India
• Uttar Pradesh
• NREGA
• Hindustan
• Bharat
• Politics
• NAC
• Lokpal Bill
• Women reservation Bill
• RGMVP
• Global Vipassana Pagoda

[Theravadachannel]

@hoangkybactien

Group meditation is a very beneficial thing.

Refuge is in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.

While group meditation one takes especially refuge in the Sangha.

[WhatIsUpYoFool]

farting? If you are observing any gross or unpleasant sensations.... :]

[kao1306]

Buddha Is Not A Vegetarian

69. To disrupt the Sangha, Devadatta asked the Buddha to make stricter rules of conduct for the Sangha. He asked that monks not be allowed to sleep in houses or eat any meat. But the Buddha refused and said: "If some monks prefer to sleep in the open or not eat meat, they are free to do so. But if they do not wish to live this way they do not have to." ... "Devadatta, if you try to break up the Sangha you will reap the evil fruits."

.... Story Of Buddha No.69

[hoangkybactien]

A real vipasana meditator or any serious meditator who wishes to liberate himself/herself from misery does not even need a quiet hut to practice meditation. Which huts are not quiet?

If one does not direct one own mind outwardly, then all huts are quiet! Besides, if one cant cut off ones myriad thoughts in his/her mind, how can one know what exactly is quietness?

If serious, all one needs is a sincere mind!

[ruzickaw]

A real vipassana meditator does not need these " biggest pagodas". Just a quiet hut is enough. These "biggest pagodas" are just good for tourism, like the pyramids in Egypt. .

[lyntonio]

1:33 slowly faded in India....i thought you guys were into seeing things as they really are. the truth is Buddhism didn't fade Muslims slaughter millions of Buddhists and Hindu's for being idolaters and infidels. the biggest genocide in human history was instigated by Muslims on the 2 oldest Indian faiths. and it is starting again

[kiwikiswahili]

haha, remain equanimous with awareness of anicca in regard to the farting.

[40gaonkar]

There should have been a small clip of Sharad Pawar NCP supremo when he asks Dy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal to take a Vipassana course.

[oreomarch]

The biggest in Asia? Does that mean there are, or is a bigger pagoda in Africa,Americas or Europe? By the way this place being a place for meditation,calm and serenity,people should respect it and, refrain from farting.