International Journal of Arts & Sciences,

CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 5(5):39–50 (2012)

Copyright c 2012 by UniversityPublications.net

THE APPLICATION OF BUDDHISM ART IN GENERAL EDUCATION

OF UNIVERSITY IN TAIWAN—TAKE SANCHI STUPA AS EXAMPLE

Hsiu-O Chien

Ling Tung University, Taiwan

Shih-Ching Shiu

Hsiuping University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Sanchi Stupa, renamed Great Stupa of Sanchi, is situated in north of Bhopal-the state of Madhya
Pradesh of India. It was built between the 3rd Century B.C. and the 12th Century A.D. The monument
has been listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1989. The four elaborately carved
gateways of the Stupa, were added in the first century B.C., and are the finest examples of Buddhist art
in India. There are finest works of art including Jataka tales, symbols, splendid lines of animals and
plants. The scenes carved into the pillars and their triple architraves of the gateways are of episodes in
the various lives of the Buddha. In its earliest stages Buddhist art didn't represent the Buddha directly.
Instead, his presence was alluded to through symbols such as the bodhi tree, the wheel of Dharma or his
footprint. The paper analyzed earliest stages Buddhism philosophy from the art display of Sanchi Stupa,
and discussed the Buddhist image development. Because the Stupa is abundant of Buddhist art, the
authors developed the exquisite teaching materials and used in the teaching of general education
curriculum. The self rating scale and questionnaire was used to collect the learning effectiveness and
opinions of the students, the result from 175 data showed that the learners got very good response.
Finally, according to the findings, the study brought up some suggestions to the general education of
university especially related to multi-culture.

Keywords: Buddhism art, general education, Sanchi Stupa.

1. Introduction

E. Dale, a famous U.S. scholar in audio-visual instruction, addresses ̌experience pyramid̍ in learning,
dividing the human learning experience from abstract to concrete into eleven stages. Another scholar,
Psychologist J. Brunner, devised a descriptive scheme that differentiates three concepts of enactive,
iconic, and abstract learning for labeling instructional activities that parallels Dole’s Cone of Experience
[1]. Dale contented that learners could make profitable use of more abstract instructional activities to the
extent that they had built up a stock of more concrete experiences to give meaning to the more abstract
representations of reality. According to the theorem, the transference of abstract experience if want get
effective, need to use more concrete auxiliary media as an assistant. Sanchi Stupa, renamed Great Stupa
of Sanchi, is situated in north of Bhopal-the state of Madhya Pradesh of India. It was built between the
3rd Century B.C. and the 12th Century A.D. The monument has been listed among the UNESCO World
Heritage Sites since 1989. The four elaborately carved gateways of the Stupa, were added in the first
century B.C., and are the finest examples of Buddhist art in India.

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