Pagoda's symbolism of yogi's progress to Nirvana This page shows each feature of a pagoda symbolizing the steps to Nirvana.

In Discourses on Satipatthana Sutta,  S. N. Goenka mentions a similar symbolism on how the pagoda relates to the Maha Satipatthana Sutta:


  In every chapter the repetition of certain words indicates the importance of this sampajañña. Ātāpī sampajāno satimā applies to the observation of kāya, vedanā, citta and dhammā: sampajañña has to be present. Similarly samudaya-, vaya-, and samudaya-vaya-dhammānupassī, which apply everywhere in the Sutta, have to be with sampajañña and sensations. For example, in Myanmar there are many pagodas on plateaus, with four staircases, one each from the east, west, north and south. Similarly you might start with kāya, vedanā, citta, or dhammā, but as you enter the gallery they all intermingle in vedanā, and reaching the shrine room it is the same nibbāna. Whichever staircase you start climbing, you come to vedanā and sampajañña: and if you are with sampajañña you are progressing step by step towards the final goal.


Are there any other forms of symbolism regarding pagodas and the Maha Sattipattana Sutta and other suttas covering Samatha meditation subjects?
There are so many stupas (pagodas as you call them which are chinese versions of stupas) which architectural meanings are never recorded, they are symbols for the viewer to interpret, especially the modern ones.

Symbolism from Wikipedia

"The shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire; his head is the square at the spire's base; his body is the vase shape; his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace; and the base is his throne."[7]

Five purified elements

Although not described in any Tibetan text on stupa symbolism, the stupa may represent the five purified elements:[8]

The square base represents earth
The hemispherical dome/vase represents water
The conical spire represents fire
The upper lotus parasol and the crescent moon represents air
The sun and the dissolving point represents the element of space