A pure-white domed stupa rising from rice paddies at the northern edge of Lumbini, the most photographed structure on the site. It was funded by Japanese Buddhist donors and stands as a monument to non-violence. Four gilded statues of the Buddha occupy niches around the dome at the cardinal directions, each showing him in a different episode — birth, enlightenment, first sermon, parinirvana.
Reach it by rickshaw from the Tourism Village or by long walk from the Mayadevi Temple. The site is peaceful and the surrounding pond holds Sarus cranes — the world's tallest flying birds, common in the Lumbini wetlands. Best at sunset when the white dome catches the orange light.