摘要
This paper is an inquiry into possible motivations for representing timber-flame architecture in the Buddhist context. By comparing the architectural language of early Buddhist narrative panels and cave temples rendered in stone, I suggest that architectural representation was employed in both masonry and timber to create symbolically charged worship spaces. The replication and multiplication of palace forms on cave walls, in ＂pagodas＂ （futu浮圖,fotu 佛圖, or ta 塔）, and as the crowning element of flee-standing pillars reflect a common desire to express and harness divine power, a desire that resulted in a wide variety of mountainous monuments in China. Finally, I provide evidence to suggest that the towering Buddhist monuments of early medieval China are linked morphologically and symbolically to the towering temples of South Asia through the use of both palace forms and sacred man. d. alas as a means to express the divine power and expansive presence of the Buddha.
This paper is an inquiry into possible motivations for representing timber-flame architecture in the Buddhist context. By comparing the architectural language of early Buddhist narrative panels and cave temples rendered in stone, I suggest that architectural representation was employed in both masonry and timber to create symbolically charged worship spaces. The replication and multiplication of palace forms on cave walls, in ＂pagodas＂ （futu浮圖,fotu 佛圖, or ta 塔）, and as the crowning element of flee-standing pillars reflect a common desire to express and harness divine power, a desire that resulted in a wide variety of mountainous monuments in China. Finally, I provide evidence to suggest that the towering Buddhist monuments of early medieval China are linked morphologically and symbolically to the towering temples of South Asia through the use of both palace forms and sacred man. d. alas as a means to express the divine power and expansive presence of the Buddha.
