The Northern Wei Temple Layout at the Yungang Grottoes in China and East-West Cultural Exchange

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Thoughts on Current Research in East Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Despite its critical role as a source for restoration works on Buddhist temples and pagoda, the Buddhist sites located in the upper plot of the Yungang Cave(雲岡石窟) have not been sufficiently studied. In this paper, location of sites and full information acquired through field trip and excavation data are presented. In particular, this paper addresses issues regarding the origins of an unique temple layout and paintings of No.33 upper cave and assimilation into Chinese style. In addition, what caused the east-west cultural exchange in Buddhist temples and the monks who had resided here, are discussed, based on the historical records stating temple names and archaeological data. It is thought that the Yungang Cave upper Buddhist temple site of cavern No.33 was established in the Northern Wei Period. Pagoda is positioned in the middle of the garden with a rectangular outline and surrounded by monk’s residential pavilions. This arrangement type is distinguished from the one pagoda-one Buddha hall system represented by the Siyuanfosi(思遠佛寺) and Yongning temple(永寧寺) sites. So it is time to survey on the origins of this temple layout, background and east-west cultural exchange.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Thoughts on Current Research in East Asian Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23034