Exclusive

China's Early "East Asian Buddhism Architecture": Studies on Damago Buddhist Temple Ruins and Related Cultural History

  • WU Xinhua
Expand
  • Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100710, China

Received date: 2012-06-19

  Revised date: 2012-10-11

  Online published: 2012-10-28

Abstract

Ancient Khotan, once China's most famous Buddhist center, has long been called "Buddhist Kingdom in the West". The character "佛" in Chinese language is translated from ancient Khotanese. In the early records of Buddhism in China, Buddhists who pilgrimaged to the West to bring back scriptures only reached as far as Khotan. The Buddhist Doctrine and art in Khotan has influenced East Asian Buddhism greatly, and the effects remain until the present day despite the fact that Buddhism there was taken over by Islamism about one thousand years ago. In Taklimakan Desert that borders contemporary Hotan Oasis, there remain the greatest number of Buddhist architecture settlements in Tarim Basin. The settlements discovered in Damago area are second to none in terms of quantity, scale, distribution, and importance. From the beginning of the 20th century to this day, dozens of famous Buddhist temple settlements were discovered along Damago waters from south to north. This article focuses on the latest archaeological findings of Buddhist temple ruins discovered in the past ten years in the Damago area.

Cite this article

WU Xinhua . China's Early "East Asian Buddhism Architecture": Studies on Damago Buddhist Temple Ruins and Related Cultural History[J]. Science & Technology Review, 2012 , 30(31) : 15 -22 . DOI: 10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2012.31.001

Outlines

/