Topological Study on the evolution of early Chinese Buddhist Monasteries：Layout of Pagoda,Buddha Hall,Lecture Hall and Pavilion Tower

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2011.04.008

Abstract：Chinese Buddhist monastery originated from its Indian prototype,adopted the form of timber pagoda and the layout of courtyard in the vogue of ＂donating one＇s residence to the service of Buddha＂ among aristocrats after the Han dynasty,reached its typological climax during the fifth and sixth century.Looking through key examples like Yongning Monastery and Horyuji at the time,the Buddha hall had became increasingly important as the result of popular needs on worship of Buddha image.Variations of arrangements on the location of Buddha hall and pagoda during the period,implied a trend of new interrelation between key building elements along the main axis.This diversity of typological transformation continued to develop until the preeminence of Buddha hall was commonly accepted in Tang dynasty,while the dominance of layout sequence on gate hall,pagoda,Buddha hall and lecture hall had also finally established.Meanwhile,the significance of pagoda continued to decrease during the Tang,and it eventually developed into a separate building cluster outside the central monastery enclosure.During the same period,traditional Chinese architecture forms such as pavilion tower（ge） and belfry,gradually established their importance and became key elements of Chinese Buddhist temple.This series of formal transformation on Buddhist temple in this period was not only a reflection of the development of Buddhism philosophically,culturally and socially,but was also the major change of use pattern as the result of localization on monastery layout.By mapping diagrams of temple layout adopted from materials including archive documents,pictorial representations in Dunhuang murals,archeological excavations and few surviving monuments in China,Japan and South Korea,This paper finally arranges all available samples in a chronological order for examining their evolution typologically.By building up the tentative traces of their development from late Han through Northern and Southern Dynasty,all the way to late Tang and the five Dynasties,this paper intends to look into key questions on the formal transformations of monastery in early China,addressing the role and layout on pagoda,Buddha hall,lecture hall and pavilion tower in the temple complex.