Beyond the Battle for Relics: Swayambhunath's Sacred Stupa
Ema Ho! The great natural Dharmakaya stupa, blessed by the enlightened ones' compassionate minds, is that renowned Vajra Enclosure. Before this inconceivably wondrous site, I offer this supplication. In the city of Shanta Puri, where the ground is sacred, the emanated mandala of Heruka abides. To the great sacred stupa of the noble Shingkun, embodiment of the Form Body, and to Gandhar in Gomasala, I offer prayers. This verse was recited by Chökyi Lodrö in the presence of the supreme sacred supports.
In prehistoric times, Nepal was once a vast lake that attracted many great sages. From the lotus, the self-arisen Dharmakaya Stupa self-manifested; blessed by the wisdom mind of all buddhas, it arrived at the renowned place "Vajra Peak" and manifested countless inconceivable wonders. With devotion, I pray. In the earthly town of Santi Pur, the mandala of Heruka's emanation—the glorious Swayambhu Nirmanakaya Stupa—stands. To Gomashara Ganda, I offer my prayers. ... Thus, Chökyi Lodrö made this aspiration before the sacred stupa.
Journeying there as part of a pilgrimage, Vipaśyin—among the Seven Buddhas of the past—placed a seed into the lake's waters. Subsequently, from that lake a shining lotus bloomed, and inside it appeared of its own accord (svayam abhūt samutpannah) a radiant crystal stupa (Sphaṭikamaya caitya) embodying pure light (Jyotirūpa).
Revered as the abode of the Victorious Ones (Jinālaya), adorned with every mark of a Buddha (Sarvalakṣaṇamaṇḍita), carrying all that is auspicious (Sarvaśubhārthabhṛt), it is the jewel of the true Dharma (Saddharmaratnabhṛt), the very foundation of the Five Tathāgatas’ essence (Pañcatathāgataśraya), and the support of enlightenment’s sublime virtues (Sambodhiśrīguṇādhāra).
The Great Stupa of Svayambhū, also known as Svayambhū Mahāchaitya, derives its name from the Sanskrit term meaning "self-manifested" or "self-originated," reflecting its spontaneous emergence from a lotus. This luminous edifice, constructed of crystal, underpins the Five Dhyani Buddhas. These details are recounted in the Newar Buddhist scripture Svayambhū Purāṇa, from which the preceding passage is drawn, narrating the site's mythical beginnings.
At the southern foothills of the Himalayas, in the Kathmandu Valley, stands the Svayambhū Stupa, which today forms the sacred heart of Swayambhunath Temple. This iconic monument is immediately identified by its four pairs of "All-Seeing Eyes of the Buddha," which gaze from each cardinal direction with wisdom and compassion, representing the omniscience of the Primordial Buddha (Ādi-Buddha). Its radiant glow is said to comprise five colored rays—white, blue, yellow, red, and green—each linked to the distinct qualities of the respective Buddhas.
Above the eyes, a third eye is shown. When the Buddha expounds the Dharma, a luminous light radiates from this eye, carrying the teachings to celestial realms and bidding deities to descend and listen. Between each pair of eyes lies a curly symbol resembling a nose—actually the Nepalese numeral "1" (एक)—which represents the unity of all existence. For beings in the three lower realms unable to hear the Dharma directly, this light relieves their suffering.
Among Nepal's most ancient and sacred temples, Swayambhunath has been a pilgrimage hub for a range of ethnic communities throughout the Himalayan region since ancient times. This spiritual symbol is jointly revered by Newar Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Brahmanism, and even the Bon religion. At its peak, the stupa's crown is formed by thirteen stacked umbrellas (chattras), which signify the thirteen stages of spiritual practice that sentient beings must pass through in order to reach enlightenment.
The concept of "Hétérotopie" (Heterotopia) was introduced by the noted postmodern French thinker Michel Foucault in his lecture Of Other Spaces (Des espaces autres), and among sacred spaces, Swayambhunath quintessentially embodies this idea.
As Foucault noted, "There is no culture in the world that does not constitute heterotopias." He described heterotopias as actual, socially produced spaces—unlike the fictional and idealized "utopias." Since then, this framework has found wide application across architecture, sociology, and literary criticism.
Foucault observed that heterotopias always operate in shifting modes depending on the historical era. The Battle for the Sacred Relics. Using Swayambhunath as a case study, this paper will investigate how the sacred space’s spatial order has been built, maintained, and continually reshaped by diverse cultures, communities, and time periods as a heterotopia.
He pointed out that Swayambhunath, while always a sacred place, has had its operational logic change over time in response to evolving societal demands. This mirrors the example of Western cemeteries, which, though continuously used for burials, shifted from medieval corpse disposal to contemporary memorialization meant to comfort the living. Consequently, a genuine grasp of Swayambhunath depends on looking at its dynamic relationships with the broader sociohistorical context.
The Gopālarājavaṃśāvalī, a 14th-century chronicle, constitutes the earliest surviving historical record, attributing the foundation of the Svayambhū Stupa to the early 5th century CE under King Viśvadeva of the Licchavi dynasty. Yet because this text was composed nearly a thousand years after the events it narrates, its reliability continues to be questioned by scholars—aside from the mythical origins recounted in the Svayambhū Purāṇa, which are here disregarded.
In the field of Swayambhunath studies, Alexander von Rospatt is among the leading scholars. He argues that the Gopālarājavaṃśāvalī's account of construction probably concerns the renovation of an already existing edifice, comparable to the eleven recorded renovation projects from 1370 to 1817. John C. Huntington, on the other hand, draws a comparison between its architectural style and that of ancient Indian stupas, proposing that the original building may have been erected before the Christian era.
Local Swayambhu traditions assert that Emperor Aśoka visited the stupa during the 3rd century BCE, lending support to this hypothesis. Given that the Kathmandu Valley lay within the sphere of ancient Indian influence two millennia ago, Swayambhu probably already functioned as a sacred site at that time. Based on Indian relic stupas from the same period, the Swayambhu Stupa likely originally served to enshrine the Buddha's relics.
Following the parinirvāṇa of Śākyamuni Buddha, a monumental "War of the Relics" erupted across India. The reason lies in two key aspects of the relics' significance in early Indian Buddhist culture. On the religious side, they stood not only for the physical presence of Śākyamuni Buddha but also for the essence of the Dharma. On the political side, they were seen as powerful and auspicious talismans—an influence still felt today.
The following event is recorded in the Buddhacarita: "Eight kings raised eight stupas—for the golden urn, the ashes, and the embers. Thus in Jambudvīpa began the Ten Stupas." This passage indicates that eight ancient Indian clans were in armed conflict over the Buddha's relics. Eventually, with the Brahmin Droṇa acting as mediator, the relics were divided equally among the eight princes, who each returned to their own tribe and erected stupas to house them. These stupas became the renowned "Eight Droṇa Stupas" (Droṇastūpa).
According to historian John S. Strong, Emperor Aśoka (r. 273-232 BCE) became famous for moving the relics of Śākyamuni Buddha from the Eight Droṇa Stupas to 84,000 Dharmarājika stupas. Strong describes this event as having two key stages: first, the relics were gathered; second, they were systematically distributed throughout the empire. Considering the Mauryan Empire's warlike tradition under Magadha's dominance, Aśoka's relic collection campaign inevitably had military overtones.
The Sanchi Stupa reliefs portray King Aśoka moving relics on war elephants. As recorded in the Ashokavadana: “Aśoka, intent on widely disseminating the Buddha’s relics, marched with his fourfold army to the stupa built by King Ajātaśatru. He dismantled the stupa, extracted the relics, and after retaining a portion, erected a new stupa.”
John C. carried out a comparative analysis of the Ashokavadana, Svayambhū Purāṇa, and Mahāparinibbāna Sutta. That analysis shows that, despite Aśoka ruling over all of India at the time, local authorities in charge of these stupas resisted in order to protect the relics, as indicated by the statement: "This procedure was repeated at each subsequent stupa—removing relics and establishing new stupas as expressions of his Buddhist devotion." As for the original Eight Droṇa Stupas, the Rāmagrāma Stupa was situated in the ancient Nepalese kingdom of Rāmagāma.
According to the Ashokavadana, when Aśoka sought relics from the seventh stupa and arrived at Rāmagrāma, the nāgas escorted him to their palace and affirmed their reverence for their own stupa, namely the Rāmagrāma Stupa. This account may relate to the legend of Emperor Aśoka's visit to Swayambhunath in the third century BCE, possibly tied to the "War of the Relics." Huntington has suggested that the Rāmagrāma Stupa may have been the forerunner of the present-day Swayambhunath Stupa.
The Nāga King personally escorted Aśoka as he departed, after Aśoka allowed them to retain the relics. Notably, the Svayambhū Purāṇa names the ancient lake from which the self-arisen stupa came forth as Nāgavāsadaha—"the Lake of the Nāgas." Even today, the Kathmandu Valley remains a center of nāga veneration, which further weaves together the legendary and historical dimensions of this sacred site.
Because of the sacred status of the Rāmagrāma Stupa, the inhabitants of the Nāga territory were not subjected to Aśoka’s military campaigns. This indicates that in early Indian Buddhism, stupas served many purposes well beyond simply storing the Buddha’s relics. Through his widespread construction of stupas and deliberate redistribution of relics, Emperor Aśoka made himself a foremost patron of the Dharma, which allowed him to strengthen his religious and political authority all over India.
By integrating physical relics with diverse Buddhist symbolic elements, these stupas served as what might be called "hétérotopies de crise" (crisis heterotopias) in an age of relentless warfare, affording war-ravaged communities sacred shelter in both material and metaphysical respects. Crucially, this link to the relics granted their patrons considerable discursive authority across spiritual and political spheres alike.
The Newars, meanwhile, established a relatively stable polity in the Kathmandu Valley, and from the 15th century onward they developed a distinctive Newar Buddhism, ushering in an era of social stability. In other developments, Buddhism spread from India to China by the 5th century and, having been introduced to Tibet from the Central Plains in the 7th century, thrived there even as it steadily ceded discursive ground in its Indian homeland.
The rewriting of Swayambhu's history—which often begins with myth—became a key undertaking for the Newars. At that stage, they saw the Indian Buddhist framework that positioned Swayambhu as merely a local cult center as "outdated." Consequently, they set about transforming this heterotopia to fit emerging sociopolitical realities.
The Svayambhū Purāṇa, referenced above, stands as a pivotal work in this effort, chronicling the Swayambhu Valley's past. Through this text, the site's religious and spatial significance were thoroughly transformed.
In the Purāṇa, it is stated that Newar Buddhism regards the valley as a pilgrimage site for ancient Buddhas even during the prehistoric lake era, with its existence preceding the world itself. The text deliberately plays down the worship of Śākyamuni Buddha's relics, opting instead to introduce the Five Tathāgatas of the Vajrayāna tradition and past Buddhas, thereby highlighting the stupa's "self-arisen sanctity.
While meditating at his residence on Wutai Mountain in China,
Captivated by what he saw, he split the Kathmandu Valley with his sword and emptied the lake that once covered it, so that devotees could dwell there and keep honoring the sacred Svayambhū Stupa without interruption. In time, King Pracandadeva, ruler of the Gauda Kingdom in eastern India, gave up his crown and arrived in Kathmandu, where he was ordained as a Newar Vajrācārya. Anticipating the kaliyuga, or Age of Decline, he grew concerned that Svayambhū might be profaned.
According to the "Book of the Past," the Swayambhunath Stupa seen today is not the "self-illuminating" crystal stupa itself, but a physical edifice erected by later generations to safeguard this sacred entity. He resolved to protect the radiant crystal stupa, so he encased it in a strong structure via two stages: initially sealing the self-arisen caitya with stone, and afterward building a brick stupa on top of it. Meanwhile, Mañjuśrī cleaves the valley to drain the sacred lake.
In the "Book of the Past," the newly introduced main object of worship, Manjushri Bodhisattva, is identified as coming from China rather than his customary homeland, India, possibly to reduce India's significance as a Buddhist center. Meanwhile, the Nepalese reconceptualization of the stupa as a sacred entity and the employment of its physical form diverge markedly from the conventional appearance and purpose of ancient Indian stupas.
The stable Nepalese regime of that era urgently wanted to take control of Buddhist discourse away from Lumbini and create a fresh Buddhist cosmic order at Swayambhunath. This desire is undoubtedly reflected in the practice of portraying the crystal stupa as the basis of the five Dhyani Buddhas and as a pilgrimage destination for previous Buddhas, which obviously aims to position Kathmandu as the supreme Buddhist cosmocentric hub, surpassing India and every other Buddhist center.
The "Book of the Past" not only reconfigures the sacred geography of Swayambhunath but also, to a certain degree, shapes the religious landscape across the Himalayan region. Parallel accounts appear in the Bon tradition as well. According to Bon literature, Shenrab Mipho （གཤེན་རབ་མི་བོ） , the founder of Yongdzong Bon （གཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་） , journeyed to Swayambhunath prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha and directed his followers to erect a statue stupa at that location.
Swayambhunath is therefore regarded as a holy place for Bon followers, and Bon lineage masters—including Dzam Namdak Rinpoche (སློབ་དཔོན་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྣམ་དག)—have traveled there on pilgrimage. Regarding "The Book of the Deceased", multiple versions exist as a result of repeated revisions. The earliest such text was composed in Sanskrit, and the Nepalese scholar Diwakar Acharya suggests it might date from the first half of the 16th century.
Subsequent versions came to be written in Nepali, whereas the first Tibetan translation was completed in the mid-18th century by the 8th Situ Rinpoche (ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་གནས།; 1700-1774), a renowned Tibetan scholar. This was in response to a request from the Nyingma monk Khathog Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu (ཀཿཐོག་རིག་འཛིན་ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་བུ།; 1698-1755), made during Situ Rinpoche's 1748 visit to Nepal.
In multiple Tibetan translations, Tibetans refer to the Swyambhunath as "འཕགས་པ་ཤིང་ཀུན།" (Sacred Forest); according to some accounts, "ཤིང་ཀུན།" is a phonetic transliteration of the Nepali word "Singgu" (meaning "self-origin"). Solemn forest. Based on this translation, Situ Rinpoche later wrote "The Nepal Pilgrimage Guide." It is also recorded that he oversaw the restoration of stupas and donated generously toward that work.
In the 13th century, the rediscovered Lotus Teachings present an alternative account of how the Swyambhunath stupa originated. According to this narrative, after Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva had saved sentient beings, he saw that countless others remained trapped in the cycle of existence, and he felt sorrow and helplessness. Two tears from his eyes then became two celestial maidens, one of whom was born as the human Dechen Nyima. The Tibetan people, for their part, have long held Swyambhunath in deep respect and appear to possess their own "Swyambhunath history.
In the human realm, Dechen Nyima bore four sons, each fathered by a different herder. The brothers amassed wealth, developed faith in the Dharma, and pooled their resources to construct the Swyambhunath stupa (called the Buddha Natamaya stupa in certain versions). Once the stupa was completed, the four brothers made wishes before it.
The rebirth aspirations of the four brothers were as follows: the youngest son wished to become an envoy (Yalong Bame Chiksel), the eldest son a king (Chakdze Zangpo), the third son a monk (Bodhisattva, also known as Jigme Chokyi Wangpo), and the second son a Vajrayana guru (Lotus-born Great Master).
In the account, the Swyambhunath stupa serves as a decisive link, setting the stage for the Lotus-born Great Master’s voyage to Tibet to spread the Dharma. That journey came about through the workings of karma, which moved Chakdze Zangpo to extend the invitation, and the Master was accompanied by King Chakdze Zangpo, Abbot Jigme Chokyi Wangpo, and envoy Yalong Bame Chiksel.
According to the "Life of the Lotus Master," the Swyambhunath stupa was not erected by a king or through "self-origin." Instead, it arose from the past karmic connections among the Lotus Master, Jigme Chokyi Wangpo, and Tibetan royal officials, who carried out the construction in support of the "Lotus Master faith" and in establishing the "king-monk-envoy" triad model within the Tibetan region.
Swayambhunath has been repeatedly reinterpreted over time, shaped by shifting religious and historical contexts. Its identity evolved from an ancient pilgrimage destination linked to India's Emperor Aśoka, to the self-manifested site revered as the "Foundation of All Buddhas," and eventually to a place tied to Padmasambhava's karmic bonds with Tibetan royalty. Each era imposed fresh origin narratives and spiritual meanings upon it.
Under globalization's tide, this Himalayan sanctuary now attracts worldwide notice. Through its ongoing rewrites of the sacred site's historical stories and operational principles, it has met the varied idealistic hopes of communities in social flux, softening the existential fears brought on by transformation.
The Kathmandu Valley, transformed into a meeting point for global pilgrims, scholars, capitalists, and politicians by UNESCO’s 1979 World Heritage designation, now faces a sociopolitical metamorphosis that may profoundly reshape this heterotopia once again, as globalism and modernization collide with ancient belief systems. Meanwhile, Nepal’s nascent democracy is being reshaped by an influx of Western ideologies.
Foucault observed that the ancient Persian garden illustrates a key aspect of heterotopias: their ability to juxtapose multiple contradictory or incompatible spaces within a single real place, thereby creating unique heterogeneous spaces by creatively combining disparate elements. In that garden, designers aimed to recreate an earthly paradise, elongating one axis into a rectangle with four waterways that intersect at a central pool. This exemplifies the notion of a 'land of many places'.
Through a Buddhist framework, the architecturally and ritually built spaces of several faiths are brought together at Swayambhunath, which—like the Persian garden—stands as a masterclass in spatial juxtaposition. Its quadripartite layout symbolically placed the world's four elemental components—sky, water, earth, and flora—in contrast, giving tangible form to humanity's longing to restore Edenic perfection.
Five elemental shrines encircle the Svayambhū Stupa, each aligned with a cosmic principle: Vasupura (Earth), Vāyupura (Wind), Agnipura (Fire), Nāgapura (Water), and Śāntipura (Space). The Stupa itself anchors this sacred microcosm, with a purposeful assemblage of structures around it—stupas of various sizes and styles, niches emblematic of the elements, temples from multiple lineages, and modern museums—all sharing the same sacred space.
Indigenous ritual traditions are kept alive through worship at these shrines. Within the Buddhist framework of the Five Tathāgatas, these fundamental Brahmanical elements are skillfully juxtaposed. For example, before Kathmandu's grand Rato Machhindranath chariot festival, devotees offer a water buffalo at the Wind shrine to safeguard the tall chariot against storms. And when droughts happen, offerings go to the Water shrine to petition the nāgas (serpent deities) for rain.
Adjacent to the Swayambhu Stupa lies the Hariti Shrine, also called Hariti Temple—a remarkable heterotopic space. In Buddhist tradition, Hariti is venerated as a major female dharma protector. Legend holds that she once killed human infants in order to feed her own children, before being tamed by Śākyamuni Buddha and becoming an essential guardian of Buddhism. Meanwhile, these rituals, including animal sacrifices, are now conducted within Buddhist ceremonial settings, led by Buddhist priests.
The Swayambhu hill is marked by numerous exposed boulders, which in pre-Buddhist times were honored as Āju ("Grandfather") and Ajimā ("Grandmother")—the sacred dwellings of local deities. Through his examination of the Hariti Shrine and the primordial goddess Ajimā, Alexander von Rospatt's scholarship sheds vital light on Swayambhunath's intricate, layered spatiality, revealing how Buddhism incorporated and reinterpreted native religious practices, skillfully weaving them back into the site's cultural and spiritual landscape.
According to Rospatt, the placement of the Svayambhū Stupa atop a prominent rock outcrop was likely a deliberate effort to subdue and discipline a primordial feminine spirit, Mā ("Mother") or Ajimā ("Grandmother"), who was believed to inhabit the stone. In local belief, this goddess embodied maternal powers connected with disease and calamity. After Buddhism’s arrival, practitioners built the stupa there, and Buddhism strategically incorporated her worship into the analogous figure of Hariti, the child-protecting dharma guardian.
According to tradition, Hariti repeatedly hindered the stupa's construction. Rospatt proposes that the primordial goddess was never entirely conquered. To settle the dispute, the Buddha negotiated an agreement: a shrine dedicated to her (the Hariti Temple) would be constructed beside Svayambhū Stupa, in exchange for her loyalty and a pledge to protect children. This syncretic transformation is further evidenced by contemporary rituals venerating Hariti, which still integrate indigenous shamanic practices.
At Swayambhu, the indigenous deity never fully submitted, despite Buddhist narratives asserting hierarchical dominance. The stupa-shaped finial atop Hariti’s shrine symbolizes Buddhism’s enduring containment of the goddess. Rather than a unilateral conquest, Buddhism’s spread there was an ongoing negotiation: the goddess’s worship continued, albeit with blood sacrifices replaced by Buddhist ritual offerings.
The ongoing nature of Swayambhunath's Buddhist conversion is reflected in the persistence of local ceremonial practices across the rest of the Kathmandu Valley. In the late 18th century, after King Rana Bahadur Shah's consort came down with smallpox, he held the goddess accountable and defaced her temple image, revealing that underneath the Buddhist-local religious contract, she still possessed her wild, primal essence. Alongside this, there is a feeling of detachment from the tangible world.
Although Swayambhunath is certainly a Buddhist pilgrimage site today, the presence in the valley of temples and rituals rooted in local religious traditions suggests that the veneration of natural forces still carries considerable weight in the community. Rather than completely replacing these indigenous beliefs, Buddhism has woven them into its own narrative, a process marked by ongoing difficulties and necessary concessions.
Rather than entirely "occupying" this space and turning it into a place exclusively for Buddhist practitioners in pursuit of enlightenment, the introduction of Buddhism saw the "ideal space" generated by Buddhist discourse merged into a pre-existing sacred space devoted to the worship of natural forces for averting calamities and seeking blessings.
Nepal's constitution of 1992 promoted religious and cultural pluralism alongside caste equality, yet it also paradoxically designated Brahmanism as the state religion, thereby deepening the country's religious tensions. The religious competition at Swayambhunath came to the forefront during early 21st-century reconstruction efforts following the earthquake, when Tibetan Buddhists financed major undertakings, including the primary circumambulation wall, a "Thousand-Buddha Stupa" featuring 1,108 gilded Buddha images of six inches in height, and additional structures.
Swayambhunath's distinctiveness as a "place of many places" results from the way its space presents a juxtaposition of spatial and discursive systems. In 1976, Tibetan Buddhists built a gate for Swayambhunath. Alarmed by what they perceived as Tibetan architectural dominance, the Newars responded by erecting a traditional Newar Buddhist gateway to assert their indigenous claim to the sacred complex.
Swayambhunath is a "splendid ruin" shaped by earthquakes and history, yet it also serves as a lively pilgrimage site where adherents of various faiths vie to install their deities and erect their temples. Within this sacred territory, whose recorded past spans at least two thousand years, a place for meditation and enlightenment exists alongside a domain that honors all sentient beings. In this setting, the forces of ritual and political authority operate in tandem, free of any conflict.
Swayambhunath today embodies a continually accumulating and rearranging set of relationships, whose internal order is uniquely shaped by every fracture and contradiction. It is also not just a "chessboard" for religious contest, but a venue for "marches" and "gatherings" where different classes and groups vigorously fight for their rights, thus displaying a vitality consistent with human history.
Buddhists venerate the Bodhi tree each morning. As Bruce McCoy Owens observed in 1995: "In South Asia, the images of gods are drawn, painted, adorned with gold, offered sacrifices, dressed in fine clothes, adorned with jewels, and even worn out in the worship of believers. Without these processes, these gods would 'die' in the hearts of believers, as their power is entirely dependent on human intervention." Swayambhunath The Republic.
Svayambhunath, like other religious sites in the Kathmandu Valley that are dynamically evolving, cannot be regarded as an 'ideal' sacred place. The task of creating such a place is far more intricate and demanding than crafting an ideal deity, which relies on devout 'intervention' from believers. It involves weighing the interplay of people and objects within the space, the effectiveness of rituals, cultural conflicts, political pressures, and the way unity and fragmentation are interwoven.
Across eras and civilizations, it has been shaped, adorned, razed, and restored—driven by deep religious conviction or practical necessity. To the Newars, it serves as the "self-origin tower"; to the Tibetans, a "sacred forest"; to travelers, a "monkey temple"; and to politicians, a "discourse high ground.
According to Foucault, heterotopias 'disrupt language,' 'destroy syntax,' and 'dissolve our myths,' whereas utopias permit 'fables and discourse' to conform to the 'essence of language.' These hazardous qualities constitute Svayambhunath: it is contradictory and disharmonious, yet it laboriously projects different groups' visions of an 'ideal state.
The ways that shape Svayambhunath are not unique, though the site itself is; thus, understanding civilization's particular creation of a "dystopia" is of special importance. In this place, one sees troubling deterioration and a glimpse of the shadow of "Shangri-La.
Humanity has carried its loftiest convictions and most elemental urges into the tangible world, translating one "ideal country" after another from the realm of imagination into muddy reality—visible in Lhasa, Lumbini, Angkor Wat, the Thousand Buddhas Cave, the Sagrada Familia, Borobudur, Jerusalem, and the Giza Pyramids. To grasp the fragmentation and wandering embedded in that endeavor is to recognize ourselves mirrored on the far side of the glass.