pagoda

Buddhist structure built to contain a relic or sutra (collection of recorded Buddhist dialogues and discourses). They are common in China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and Tibet. Pagodas usually have three, five, or seven storeys, although Chinese pagodas may be up to 13 floors high. They are crowned by a tall spire, or sōrin. There is generally no room inside, so that a pagoda is essentially just a stack of roofs, not a functioning building. Deriving from the Indian stupa, the pagoda came to resemble a Chinese watchtower; the shape also has symbolic meaning.

A Tibetan pagoda is known as a chorten, meaning ‘funeral pyre’.

Pagodas are often the foci of a Buddhist pilgrimage, and monasteries may be established close by. There may be a shrine incorporated or nearby, but regular Buddhist worship usually takes place in temples adjacent to the monasteries.