History and Design of the Early Buddhist Architecture in Korea. (Volumes I and II).

Abstract

Buddhism and Buddhist architecture were transmitted to Korea from China in the late fourth century, and then to Japan from Korea in the next century; yet the Buddhist architecture of Korea and Japan followed faithfully that of China. This thesis focuses on the Buddhist architecture of Korea through the eighth century, which, in this study, is not viewed as one separate development but as a constituent part of the early Buddhist architecture in East Asia. The study, particularly, aims to identify: (1) the evolution of the site patterns of Buddhist temples; (2) the socio-religious background of the changes; and (3) design principles observed through perceptual analysis. All the original temples of this period have been destroyed, hence excavated sites and historical texts are the two major sources of information. This study consists of three parts. Part one discusses early Chinese Buddhist architecture from its beginning through the fourth century, which determined the direction of the whole of future development. Part two discusses the development of Korean Buddhist architecture from the fourth to the eighth century with reference to the Chinese and Japanese development. Based on the identified historical evolution of temple design, part three discusses the perceptual aspects of design involved in each stage of change. The historical metamorphoses of site patterns, and the factors that motivated the changes, could be identified. The investigation of perceptual aspects unveiled some important rules of design that further clarified the findings of the historical studies. Both historical and perceptual investigation coincide in the fact that the development of site design expresses the increasing awareness of man's symbolic position in temple design and his perceptual mode.