{"id":11092,"date":"2018-07-16T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/?p=11092"},"modified":"2018-07-16T13:29:13","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:29:13","slug":"stupas-conservation-heritage-historic-gardens-in-ladakh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/stupas-conservation-heritage-historic-gardens-in-ladakh\/","title":{"rendered":"Stupas, conservation, heritage, historic gardens in Ladakh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DQOTRzzZx8E\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nHeritage conservation is founded on a modernist view of the supremacy of reason and science over faith, religion and belief.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11095\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11095\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11095\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation3_-624x351.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11095\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The foundations of these stupas were probably damaged by flood water before the roadway was built. Should conservation work be undertaken?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This leads to the conservation policy of detaching objects from their cultural contexts and freezing them in time. If the culture that produced the object has died, this may be justifiable. But a different policy is surely necessary when, as with Buddhism in Ladakh, the culture is alive.<br \/>\nStupas are a case in point. They were made for religious reasons, to symbolise man\u2019s place in space-time and the universe.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11096\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11096\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11096\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_heritage_conservation2_-624x351.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11096\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stupa heritage conservation? Note the damage from vibrations or collisions<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Building a stupa yields merit. Maintaining a stupa yields merit. Going clockwise around a stupa yields merit. Yet seeing a stupa decay is also instructive, as an illustration of impermanence, of anicca. With his last words, the Buddha reminded his followers that \u2018All created things are impermanent\u2019. So good actions are more important than any material or worldly goods. Similar considerations apply to the conservation of historic gardens, and much else.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.co.uk\/books?id=mhBgAwAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=Counterheritage:+Critical+Perspectives+on+Heritage+Conservation+in+Asia+Denis+Byrne&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjmoYzklaPcAhWKC8AKHXwnCYoQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&amp;q=Counterheritage%3A%20Critical%20Perspectives%20on%20Heritage%20Conservation%20in%20Asia%20Denis%20Byrne&amp;f=false\">Denis Byrne<\/a> writes that \u2018the life of a stupa is one of disintegration and accumulation\u2019. I agree, and I also believe \u2018that the life of a garden is one of <em>disintegration<\/em> and <em>accumulation<\/em>\u2019. Only a few gardens and a few stupas should be managed like museum exhibits. Some stupas do memorialise the lives of holy men, but none were conceived as \u2018sleeping places\u2019 for the dead, which is the origin of the word \u2018cemetery\u2019. The Buddha was cremated and his ashes were scattered by dividing them among his followers.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11094\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11094\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11094\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/stupa_ladakh_truck_heritage_conservation_-624x347.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11094\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roadside stupa in Ladakh: is it good that so many people see the stupa? Or is it bad that the trucks damage stupas?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.landscapearchitecture.org.uk\/stupa-field-symbolism-heritage-conservation-ladakh\/\">Landscape Architects Association blog post on the design layout of stupa fields<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heritage conservation is founded on a modernist view of the supremacy of reason and science over faith, religion and belief. This leads to the conservation policy of detaching objects from their cultural contexts and freezing them in time. If the culture that produced the object has died, this may be justifiable. But a different policy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11092"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11101,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions\/11101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}