It’s not elitist nonsense.Nemo wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:29 pmSo a stupa without a life stick is a lawn ornament?PadmaVonSamba wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:14 pmNobody said anything about empowerments, or level of difficulty.Queequeg wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 1:53 pm
Building a stupa, even if you observe the most meticulous instructions, is not difficult. And if you're saying you need some special empowerments and stuff to build one, I'll respectfully disagree. There are degrees of formality, but I would not consider a stupa constructed with all the attention to ritual detail any more meritorious than one made of sand by someone with the most fleeting positive thought about the Buddha.
Nor was there any mention of formality.
But just as with anything that serves a function,
There just happen to be specific procedures for constructing, filling, and consecrating stupas.
If all you want is a lawn ornament, then that’s different.
You can also shave your head, wrap yourself in a blanket, and call yourself a monk.
If it’s true for you, fine. Go for it.
There are 2 types of blessed stupas. Both are holy. One is traditionally consecrated the other is not. To say one only blessed with faith and good intentions does not benefit beings shows a profound poverty of mind. It is elitist nonsense.
And I didn’t say that one type of stupa or another necessarily lacks benefit or causes harm.
But if you don’t know what you are doing, and you place the remains of someone in a stupa, and it is not placed correctly, or if it is an ordinary person’s remains and people circumnambulate it, this can have negative effects. It can have the opposite effect of benefitting the person.
But, do whatever you want. I’m only relaying what my teacher taught based on centuries of tibetan tradition.
Maybe you know better.