Thai architecture, like most architecture, mimics akasha-deva worlds (Aung@/Flickr)
Is there a "heaven"? Yes! In fact, there are many.
The Buddha described 25 of them. Only four of them are immaterial states; most of the others are "fine" material worlds. They are often called light-being worlds (deva-lokas or "realms of shining ones").
It seems easier to conceive of them as extraterrestrial worlds -- planets as well as "platforms" (vimanas), large celestial ships(mythologically interepreted to mean "mansions" and "mounts," as in animals mounted for the purpose of riding, not Mount Olympus or Mount Sumeru, an axis mundi used to describe their heights above the surface of the planet).
Fortunately, they are not the goal of the Buddha's Path to the end of suffering (nirvana).
Why? They are not eternal worlds. True, inhabitants live much longer. But impermanence (anicca) dominates from moment to moment just as in the human world, even if those beings do not notice because they are sunk in their own delights. These worlds are not utterly peaceful like nirvana. There is conflict and war (at least in the lower planes closest to this planet). And even there, in every one of those worlds, which feel like "home" when one returns, at least compared to our short visit on this planet, things are utterly impersonal (anatta).
If the Buddha had made the goal of the Dharma the heavens, Buddhism would be no better than any teaching that leads to rebirth in them by way of good karma.
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