The art of Tibetan Buddhism religious architecture

Two rows of blank windows are added to the stone walls in the lower part, under which there is a 20-meter-high wall that exaggerates the height of the structure. On the dark brown wall belt there are many gilded copper plates. The chin-chuang, golden treasure bottles, and golden lotus on top of the wall extend into the sky and, together with the gilded roof, glow with charming radiance under the foil of the blue sky, white clouds and snow-clad mountain. From the bottom up, the way of treatment moves from coarse to fine, from simple to complex, from solid to charming and from monotonous to rich; the color goes from plain to colorful. Together, this naturally diverts people’s sight line to the heights, making the structure more lofty and imposing.

The majestic, brilliant, magnificent and uninhibited Potala Palace stirs the hearts of the people. It has a strong artistic appeal and is an architectural art treasure that can be shown off to the world.

Xili Tu-Zhao in Hohhot

The Tibetan-Han mixed Lamaist temples in Inner Mongolia are mostly built on flatland which can be represented by the Xili Tu-Zhao in Hohhot. Xili Tu-Zhao was built at the end of the 16th century (latter part of the Ming Dynasty); it was expanded in the 27th year (1688) of Qing Emperor Sheng Zu.

Its general plane is fully of a Han style, seating north and facing south. Multiple courtyards are arranged in accordance with the symmetrical axial style, and arranged from the front to the back are archways and temple doors. Inside the gate are east and west bell and drum towers, and Han-styled Buddhist halls and large scripture halls. In the southeast, in front of the large scripture hall, is a Lamaist pagoda, adding much luster to the front courtyard. With regard to single structures, except for the large scripture hall which serves as the heart of the whole temple and is of a Tibetan/Han mixed style and the Lamaist pagoda of Tibetan style, all other structures are of a pure Han style.

The pillars and decorated brackets in the seven porticos on the ground floor of the front elevation of the big scripture hall are all Tibetan type. The overhanging short eaves on the portico support the balustrade on the upper floor. Porticos are reduced to five on the upper floor, while the two ends each have one portico changed to brick walls, thus enriching composition. The five porticos in the middle are wooden and support the eaves.

There are not many overhanging eaves. An additional parapet wall is laid up on the eaves, its style being identical with the short eaves on the lower floor. The protruding golden dharmacakra (wheel of the law) in the center of the parapet wall, dual deer and chin-chuang retain many Tibetan styles. The brick blank walls on both sides of the portico are stuck with peacock blue glazed wall tiles. Tile eaves are used to divide the wall into three sections, the lower section simple, the upper complicated.

The roof of the big scripture hall does not use Tibetan-style flat-top; instead, three Han-style Chinese-hip-and gable roofs are strung together from the front to the back, covered by yellow glazed tiles. Together with the bright-colored portico, they present a warm and strong atmosphere, illuminating people with bright colors.

Chengde monasteries

From the Ming Dynasty to the Kangxi and Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty marked the third climax of the development of Chinese architectural art history. One of the achievements of the Qing Dynasty was that many large-scale Lamaist structures were built in interior areas. The Chengde monasteries near the Chengde Summer Villa is the most important work.

Chengde monasteries are located on the east and north sides of the Summer Villa. Actually, there are 12 monasteries, which started construction from the 52nd year (1713) of Emperor Shengzu and took 70 years to complete. Eight remain well-preserved. Puning Monastery, Pule Monastery, Putuo Zongcheng Temple and the Sumerian Fushou Temple are the greatest and most important ones, all being of the Tibetan/Han mixed style. Comparatively speaking, Puning and Pule temples contain more components of the Han style, while the Putuo Zongcheng and Sumerian Fushou have distinct Tibetan features.

Puning Monastery was built in the 20th year (1775) of Emperor Gaozong. A clear axial line runs through the north and south. The front part is a typical north China Han-style Buddhist temple, belonging to a palatial structure and consisting of screen wall, archgates, temple door, stone-tablet pavilion, bell and drum towers, Heavenly King Palace, east and west wing halls and Mahavira (Hall of the Great Hero). The terrain at the back is steep with an elevation of nearly 10 meters. On the tableland is the main structure, the Mahayana tower with more Tibetan architectural features.

The Mahayana Tower consists of four floors, basically in the Han style, but the roof is modeled on Tibet’s Bsam-yas Monastery. A pavilion is built on each of the four corners, and a big pavilion and a big pavilion tower is located in the multi-eave at the center, symbolizing Mt. Sumeru at the center of the universe.

The height of the tower is 24 meters, containing a huge thousand-hand, thousand-eye Avalokitesvara. The 14 platforms and halls of various sizes around the tower represent the sun and moon appearing and disappearing around Mt. Sumeru, and the four large buzhou and eight small buzhou. There is a Lamaist pagoda on each of the four corners colored white, black, red and green, representing the “four-intelligence” or four heavenly kings. Wavy walls enclose the structures, while at the back is the Vajra Dalun Weishan Hill. The whole group of structures symbolize the so-called “Mandala Graph”, introduced from India to Tibet, forming a novel style rarely seen in the Han (Chinese) homeland.

Putuo Zongcheng Temple in the north of Chengde Villa was built in the 2nd year (1767) of Emperor Gaozong, and is modeled on the Potala Palace, but with the addition of many Han architectural techniques. The terrain of the whole temple is low in the front and high at the back, with a big drop.