CHAPTER V
the stūpa-house, or chapter-house of the buddhist order
The organisation of the primitive Buddhist Church, based upon the Sangha, or Assembly of the Aryan clan, required a meeting-place; this naturally would be attached to the relic shrine or stūpa of a Buddhist saint. The simple ritual of the Hīnayāna school only needed a thatched shed enclosing the stūpa, giving a sheltered place for the members of the Order where they could sit and meditate on the words of the Blessed One or settle the affairs of the monastery. A passage for circumambulation of the stūpa was also necessary. The lay community whose offerings contributed to the maintenance of the monastery were provided with a corridor on either side of the shelter where they could see the stūpa and circumambulate it without interfering with the service of the Sangha. This primitive type of Buddhist Church was apsidal at the further end, for the procession path followed the shape of the stūpa. It had three doors, the large one in the centre being the entrance to the Assembly-hall of the Sangha—the nave of the Church; the left one being the entrance, and the right one the exit for the procession path of the laymen. Plain wooden pillars slightly sloping inwards to resist the thrust of the barrel-shaped roof supported the latter and divided the nave from
