(668–935), borrow from monastery traditions of
China and represent two distinctly Korean types of
Buddhist architecture at the same time. Pulguksa con-
sists of a front gate and two halls directly behind it,
and smaller halls dedicated to buddhas or bodhisattvas
in their own precincts. The entry and most of the en-
closing corridors of the monastery, however, are ele-
vated on stone foundations. Pulguksa’s twin pagodas
are also made of stone, the predominant and uniquely
Korean material of early pagodas. So ̆kkuram is Korea’s
most famous Buddhist cave sanctuary. The greatest
concentration of Buddhist rock-carved niches and
worship spaces in Korea is on Namsan (South Moun-
tain), also in the vicinity of Kyo ̆ngju. The largest
monastery in Korea is T’ongdosa, located between
Kyo ̆ngju and Pusan. One of the most noteworthy
monasteries is Haeinsa, where an extensive set of
woodblocks of the Korean CANONsurvives.
Monastic architecture in Japan
Early Buddhist monasteries in Japan are believed to
have followed the patterns of continental East Asia,
transmitted directly from China or from China by way
of Korea. Much can be learned about East Asian
monasteries from Japan’s monasteries because more
pre-ninth-century wooden architecture survives in
Japan than anywhere else in East Asia. As was the case
in contemporary China and Korea, the main structures
of Japanese monasteries of the Nara period (710–784)
were the Buddha hall and pagoda. Their arrangements,
however, signaled distinctive types believed to follow
regional variations in Korea and probably also in
China. At Shitennoji in Osaka, for example, whose plan
dates before the Nara period, to 593, the pagoda and
hall are on an axial line, matching the arrangement that
was implemented in China at Yongning Monastery in
the late fifth or early sixth century. At Horyuji and
Kawaharadera, the pagoda and main Buddha hall,
known in Japan as kondo,were built side by side.
At Asukadera, south of Nara in Asuka and dated to
the sixth century, three kondo enclosed a dominant
central pagoda on all but the south side. Yet another
Nara-period plan included twin pagodas on either side
in front of the main hall. Eighth-century monasteries
of Japan also inform us of the range of buildings in an
active temple complex of the early period in East Asia.MONASTICARCHITECTURE
The Great Buddha Hall at Todaiji, in Nara, Japan, built in 1692. It replaced an original of 752 that was twice destroyed by fire.
© Robert D. Fiala, Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. Reproduced by permission.