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Filed in Science

First There Is a Mountain (Then There Is No Mountain)

How science brought down the Buddha's Mount Meru.

Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

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Mount Meru with Mandala, Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), silk tapestry, 33x33 inches. In this Chinese tapestry, Mount Meru appears with a moon and red sun marking the vertical midpoint of the mountain. The funnel-like shape symbolizes the increasingly large realms above the Heaven of the Thirty-Three Gods. A mandala with eight lotus petals is placed in the center of the highest realm, Akanishta Paradise.

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