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Bhutanese thangka of Mt. Meru and the Buddhist universe (19th cent., Trongsa Dzong, Trongsa, Bhutan).. Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jainand Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. [1]
Sumeru is said to be shaped like an hourglass, with a top and base of 80,000 yojanas square, but narrowing in the middle (i.e., at a height of 40,000 yojanas) to 20,000 yojanas square. Sumeru is the polar center of a mandala-like complex of seas and mountains. The square base of Sumeru is surrounded by a square moat-like ocean, which is in turn ...
The foundations of the earth All of the structures of the earth, Sumeru and the rest, extend downward to a depth of 80,000 yojanas below sea level – the same as the height of Sumeru above sea level. Below this is a layer of "golden earth", a substance compact and firm enough to support the weight of Sumeru. It is 320,000 yojanas in depth and ...
The back of the pedestal has an image of location that is known to be the center of the universe. This location holds the heavens, the oceans and the earth apart from each other. [2] This place is known as Mount Sumeru. The right panel shows a picture of the Buddha in a previous life and the left panel shows the scene of "The Hungry Tigress ...
The number seven appears frequently in Babylonian magical rituals. [13] The seven Jewish and the seven Islamic heavens may have had their origin in Babylonian astronomy. [1] In general, the heavens is not a place for humans in Mesopotamian religion. As Gilgamesh says to his friend Enkidu, in the Epic of Gilgamesh: "Who can go up to the heavens ...
Apkallu or and Abgal (𒉣𒈨; Akkadian and Sumerian, respectively [1]) are terms found in cuneiform inscriptions that in general mean either "wise" or "sage".. In several contexts the Apkallu are seven demigods, sometimes described as part man and part fish or bird, associated with human wisdom; these creatures are often referred to in scholarly literature as the Seven Sages.
Center: The view of the mountain as the center appears in its most comprehensive form as a central axis linking together the three levels of the cosmos – heaven, earth, and hell or underworld. As the link between heaven earth, and hell, it acts as a conduit of power, the place where sacred energies, both divine and demonic, spew into the ...
Underneath the terrestrial earth, which formed the base of the dome, existed an underworld and a freshwater ocean called the Abzu. The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; that of the earth was named Ki. First the underground world was believed to be an extension of the goddess Ki, but later developed into the concept of Kur.