Of Palaces and Pagodas： Palatial Symbolism in the Buddhist Architecture of Early Medieval China

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.

Perfecting the Mountain:On the Morphology of Towerii^ Temples in East Asia

本文旨在从形式和概念两方面探析中世纪早期中国巍峨的佛教建筑的南亚原型。笔者认为,印度高耸神庙建造背后的几个中心概念,即祭坛、山和宫殿,对佛塔建筑的重要意义不逊于塔中供奉的舍利。这类神庙建筑依托充满精神能量的设计蓝本,其形制和平面类似于最原始的祭坛和南亚宇宙观中巍峨壮观的须弥山,围绕垂直中轴形成多层级宫殿建筑,以承袭作为世界始源的第一祭祀所拥有的原动力。一座完美的宇宙山就此构建而成,其外部表现为巍峨高耸的宫殿,以作为供奉佛教或是印度教神祗的圣殿。其落成后,对再生之灵的祭祀崇拜不再局限于特定地方圣地(南亚或东亚),信徒在此也可以真切感受到圣山的精神氛围。