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Today we left Kandy early and went to Dambulla Cave Temple carved into the rock. There are five caves. In the largest is the Buddha reclining. He is carved straight from the rock and painted using natural dyes. He was carved 1 BC and painted 700 years ago.
The second cave had a series of buddhas in differing positions. We hired one of the local guides and he explained that the stupa is representative of state of being. The base is where most people reside, and the mind focuses through meditation and progress up, leaving earthly concerns behind. But only the Buddha attained enlightenment and progressed to the peak of the stupa.
The fourth cave the guide told us the story of the queen whose husband constructed one of the caves. He worked 14 years and when he was finished the queen, who had stayed in the palace, came to see it. She meditated a long time. She was covered in jewels that caught the light. At the end of her meditation she took off all her jewels and told her husband she would give them to the temple and leave an ordinary woman. The king built a tiny stupa that encased her jewels, only about a meter and a half tall. For thousands of years the jewels remained encased there, until 19 years ago, thieves broke open the stupa and stole the jewels. They have never been recovered. It has occurred to me that if no one knows what they look like, as the stupa had never been opened, recovery would be difficult. Hopefully an unscrupulous collector bought them, and they may one day come to light rather than them being cut down and destroyed. All supposing when the thieves broke the stupa, they did find the jewels.
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