Preliminary Study Of The History Of Tibetan Ancient Architecture Pagoda

Tibetan ancient architecture stupa is an important part of traditional Tibetanstupa culture, and is also an important component of Tibetan traditional religiousculture. Although there are many scholars who have done some useful research on theTibetan ancient architecture stupa ,such as the origin and the the Eight Types stupa,and special regional or location of the stupa, few haven't carried out a comprehensivesummary on the history of the development of Tibetan ancient architecture stupa. Onthe other hand, the majority research papers concerning Tibetan ancient architecturestupa study, are based on literatures rather than using iconographic data of differentperiods to note and present the history of the development of Tibetan ancientarchitecture sputa.In view of this, referring to Tibetan Buddhist and Bon religiousclassics , research fidings, and collecting figures and maps of deferent regions andtimes in Tibet,this paper aims to bring forward the overall history of the developmentof Tibetan ancient architecture stupa.With the methods of combining the relevant documents, iconographical data,field survey information, this paper sets foot in a vast field relatet to ancientarchitecture sputa. And the regions related to the subject arranges from ancient India(including today's Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Nepal, Ladakh, India, etc.)to morethan 10 provinces and autonomous regions in China(including Tibet, Xinjiang, InnerMongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Beijing, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi andZhejiang). Although the author doesn't visit these places except Tibet, but with usingBook Index Search, electronic literature search,the paper have achieve its objective.The full text is divided into six chapters.Chapter I, IntroductionFirstly, this chapter makes a brief introduction to the status of research related tothe main theme in this paper, and the purpose and content of the study. Secondly, itmainly discusses the definition of "stupa" in Tibetan and Sanskrit language and it's corresponding visual arts and pattern of manifestation, the evolution of theconcept of stupa in ancient Indian and the similarities and differences between theconcept of stupa in Tibetan language. The paper makes a carding to the origin, and theevolution of the modeling appearance of stupa in ancient India. And it gives a briefintroduction to the general process of building a stupa, the symbolic meanings ofdifferent forms of stupa, and the main types of stupa according to some classicalliterature.Chapter II, Different stages of development of Tibetan architecture stupaThis chapter divides into two component parts. The first part focuses on theorigin of stupa in Tibet. The second part explains the different stages of developmentof Tibetan architecture stupa.Chapter III,Architecture stupa during the Tubo Dynasty periodThis chapter divides into two component parts. Based on literaturedocumentation , the first part summarizes the background and some informationconcerning to constructing stupa through 200 years from King sonstan gampo toKing Langtharma of Tubo Dynasty.The second part analyzes and introduces the basic status of architecture stupa ofTubo Dynasty, based on the existing physical specimens, photos and written recordsof the architecture stupa belonging to this period.Chapter IV, Architecture stupa from the period of FormerProsperity ofTibetan Buddism to the 15th centuryThis chapter divides into three component parts and six subdivisions. The firstpart Clarifies the architecture stupa with a general characteristics of this period.The second part makes a brief introduction to the diversified presentation formsof stupa during this period.The third part introduces to and commentates on the classical literatures aboutthe measure of stupa, rituals of building a stupa.Chapter V, Architecture stupa from 16th century to 19th centuryThis chapter divides into two parts. The first part Clarifies the architecture stupawith the general characteristics of this period. The second part introduces to the stupa-related classical literatures.Chapter VI, ConclusionThis chapter makes a complete summary on the history of development ofTibetan ancient architecture stupa. Based on the three major types of architecturestupa mentioned in chapter 4, It outlines the history of development of Tibetanarchitecture stupa which are of the general characteristics of architecture stupa.Through writing this paper, I have acquired a certain degree of understanding tothe history of ancient Tibetan architecture stupa, and deduced the origin of the ancientTibetan architecture stupa with a more detailed studies than previous once. Inparticular, with using the related literatures and the methods of archaeologicaltypology, this paper expounds the stupa in its early forms, and its localization processinto Tibet. By using these methods, the paper helps people understand the origins ofarchitecture stupa in a more scientific view of history, and will provide a morecomprehensive reference for people to know the general background and developmentof the Tibean ancient architecture stupa.