Preliminary Study On Pagoda Form In The Context Of The Tang Dynasty Esoteric Buddhism

Esoteric Buddhism is one of the schools that appeared in the last stage of Mahayana Buddhism of India.Before the third century AD,translation of Buddhist scriptures had appeared in China,reflecting that Esoteric Buddhism had been permeating into traditional Chinese culture for long.In Tang Dynasty,generations of Indian monks came to carry forward Buddhism,allowing this religious school to be born in China.Until Kaiyuan years in Tang Dynasty,the unique,systematic,and genuine Tantrism was eventually generated,which was called Esoteric Buddhism.As was highly believed by the royal family,along with the social prosperity at that time,Esoteric Buddhism reached the zenith of its development,enabling Chang'an,the capital of Tang Dynasty,to become its center among the entire Southeast Asian.This obviously shows that Esoteric Buddhism was one of the most brilliant pearls of Tang's culture.Esoteric Buddhism was mysterious and colorful,with its unique art incisively and vividly shown on its temples and pagodas.It also exerted profound influence to all walks of society and brought with a new look at that time.However,Esoteric Buddhism suffered a heavy blow due to the extermination of Buddhism at the end of Tang Dynasty,and gradually declined.As a result,the unique monastery layout and pagoda form of Esoteric Buddhism were also changed from flourish to decadence.With the urgent needs of the reviving traditional Chinese culture in modern times,the study on the construction culture and art of Tang Dynasty's Esoteric Buddhism has gradually attracted academics' and experts' focus.Most of the research,however,only tends to its developmental history and doctrine theory,rather than the Esoteric Buddhism temple,the main rite and carrier for its promotion,and Esoteric Buddhism stupa,one of the most unique types of these temples.Actually,rare researches involved the unique monastery layout and pagoda.This thesis sets this part as the research object,aiming to make up for the lack in academic community to a certain extent.With compilation of historical documents on the layout and form of Japan Esoteric Buddhism's monastery pagoda which was inherited from that of Tang Dynasty,the analysis on the pagoda remains images portrayed in Dunhuang Fresco,and the comparison with the pagodas in the Tibetan Esotericism,a splendid branch of Esotericism,it hopes to catch a glimpse of a more probable situation of the temple and pagoda in the Tang Dynasty.The second chapter of this thesis attempts to clarify the situation of Esoteric Buddhism in three stages,Pre-Tang Esoteric Buddhism,Tang Esoteric Buddhism,and post-Tang Esoteric Buddhism,with the help of literature and documentations.The third chapter,taking mandala art as a clue,makes a deep comparative analysis and speculation on the pagoda layout of Tang's Esoteric Buddhism rite and Japan's Esoteric Buddhism temple,which were greatly influenced by Tang's Esoteric Buddhism.The fourth and fifth chapters sort out the Esoteric Buddhism pagoda in Japan under the background of Tang Dynasty,the pagoda ruins of Esoteric Buddhism in the sites of Dunhuang Fresco,and the history of Tibetan Esotericism pagoda,then analyze their shapes and forms as a whole.On the basis of the above-mentioned systematical analysis,the sixth chapter compares these pagodas' decoration and color,seeking the color preference at that time on these pagodas which were affected and by Tang Dynasty's Esoteric Buddhism.