Compare the symbolism of Qin Shihuangdi’s burial with that of Buddha’s. Answer: The ideal response would include the following

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

1. More than 700,000 people were employed in preparing the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi. Although the actual tomb has never been unearthed, excavations of nearby pits revealed nearly 8,000 life-sized, earthenware soldiers, many of which possess unique features, and most of which carry actual weapons. (There is evidence that the inclusion of these figures replaced an earlier tradition of human sacrifice.) According to the Shiji (Historical Records) of Sima Qian, the emperor was buried in a bronze casket surrounded by a river of mercury, placed inside a subterranean palace estimated to be about 400 feet by 525 feet. The scale of this burial indicates both the wealth of the ruler and his regime’s extraordinary bureaucratic competence.
2. Among the most important of the Buddhist monuments are stupas, burial mounds. The earliest eight of them were built around 483 BCE as reliquaries for Buddha’s remains, which were divided into eight parts. In the third century, Ashoka opened the original eight stupas and further divided Buddha’s relics, scattering them among a great many other stupas. The division of the Buddha’s body and the relative modesty of his burial, compared to that of Qin Shihuangdi, might reflect the Buddha’s rejection of the desire for material things, believed to be the source of all human suffering, and the primary form of ignorance. In accordance with the Buddha’s stature as a great spiritual guide, the stupas serve not merely as memorials to his life but as symbols of the Dome of Heaven and as places of meditation and the search for enlightenment.