SRI LANKA - 1,700-Year-Old Buddhist Megastructure

Towering above […] is the immense, bubble-shaped dome of Jetavanaramaya—a structure so large that when it was completed in the early fourth century CE, it ranked as the third-largest man made building on Earth, surpassed only by the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Completed around 301 CE using an estimated 93.3 million baked mud bricks, the stupa originally rose to around 122 meters (400 feet), making it one of the tallest structures of the ancient world.

Jetavanaramaya refers not only to the stupa itself, but to the heart of a vast monastic complex known as Jetavana Vihara, designed to house hundreds of monks. Every structure in the complex was oriented toward the stupa, ensuring that monks stepping outside their residences would face it first—a daily reminder of devotion and cosmological order.

Despite this sophistication, time has taken its toll. Earthquakes, monsoon rains and centuries of abandonment caused sections of the stupa to collapse. The last major renovation took place in the 12th century, during the reign of King Parakramabahu I.

-www.cnn.com, 9 February 2026

Commentary: First, we may ask: What is Buddhism? “In Buddhism, salvation (liberation or nirvana) is achieved through personal effort, self-discipline, and the cultivation of wisdom, rather than divine grace. It involves following the Eightfold Path to overcome the ‘three poisons’ of greed, hatred, and ignorance, resulting in freedom from the cycle of rebirth (samsara) and the end of suffering.”

The next question: What is Nirvana? “Nirvana in Buddhism is a complex conceptual state of being in which a person escapes the suffering in the world and realizes his or her oneness with the universe. The person whose consciousness enters Nirvana can eventually leave behind the cycle of reincarnation to exist spiritually, albeit impersonally.”

We repeat, “leave behind the cycle of reincarnation to exist spiritually, albeit impersonally.” In other words, one ceases to exist. That, Buddhism claims, is “true freedom.”

Not so when we gather our information from the Bible. Jesus declares: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9), and then adds: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (verse 10b).