Buddhist stupa as a symbol of the teaching

Stupas were the first religious buildings of Buddhism, which represented the complex structure of Buddhist cosmology and the unity of philosophical concepts. The article deals with the history of the Buddhist stupa, its symbolism, functions and significance. In Buryatia, the construction of stupas has become an integral part of the spiritual life of believers. Buddhists consider that building a stupa brings great dignity and sacra-lizes the space it occupies. They believe that the spiritual influence of the stupa is great, it is a source of positive impact on the environment and the people who live nearby. Therefore, in Buryatia, the believers erected a large number of stupas, differing from each other in aspects of their meaning and architectural symbolism. For Buddhists, stupas are not just memorial structures, but are sacred objects, repositories of Buddhist relics and things of high teachers. Worship of stupas received an ideological substantiation in the Buddhist doctrine of karma, which is considered not within a narrow social framework, but on a cosmic scale. The Buryats call stupas suburgans and build them according to the ancient Buddhist canons. The erection of stupas dedicated to the 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World in the Yangazhinsky datsan is a vivid confirmation of this.