A reverential admiration, pleasing and amazing, arises when contemplating and visiting places of worship, quite common in China and Japan, India and Vietnam, Cambodia and Korea, Thailand and other countries that preach Buddhism.
Miraculous properties
The pagoda is a multi-tiered temple tower (obelisk, pavilion) with numerous bright decorations and cornices. Initially, it served as a memorial, preserving numerous relics - the remains of Buddhas and the ashes of monks. The construction of the very first pagodas dates back to the beginning of our era.
Appearing in China, they spread widely throughout Southeast Asia and the Far East. According to ancient Chinese legends, pagodas were intended for healing people from diseases, for comprehending the truth in the process of meditation, and also in order to gain the opportunity to become invisible to enemies. However, too many bad human actions led to the fact that these structures began to "hide" their miraculous power.
Mysterious treasures
The meaning of the word “pagoda” in literal translation from Portuguese (pagoda) and Sanskrit (“bhagavat”) is “treasure tower”. The monastery buildings for the most part retained their original purpose, but access for travelers to existing monasteries is limited. Park buildings fulfill a rather symbolic role, attracting many tourists with unique interior decoration and the ability to explore the surroundings from the height of any tier. But in them one cannot see ritual ceremonies and truly sacred objects.
The brilliant magnificence of sacred structures, perfectly combined with noble tranquility, recalls, and often is, palace complexes. The Imperial Pagoda is a building stylized with special pomp and grandeur, covered with yellow tiles, the color of which symbolized the supreme power.
Architectural Delights
Chinese builders erected structures using the original technology based on the wooden frame construction “Daugun”, which means “bucket and beam”. During the construction of such houses not a single iron nail was used. Having arranged the pillars in a certain order and fastened them with crossbars, the Chinese installed a frame, which was subsequently covered with a roof made of heavy tiles. But the most interesting: to relieve pressure on the poles, the Chinese built truncated pyramids from wooden blocks, the wide bases of which rested on the upper ceiling, and the peaks - on the pillar. As a result, all the burden falls on these little bars, which differed in size and shape and were called “dow” - “bucket”, respectively, “gun” - “beam”.
Thus, the pagoda is an amazing structure in which the walls do not carry any load. They serve as partitions and allow you to install windows and doors in any quantity.
Intricate Features
The earliest Chinese pagodas were built in the shape of a square, and later buildings were already six-, eight- and twelve-cornered, some round. You can find wooden and stone buildings, but often poured bricks, iron and copper were used. The number of levels in ancient Chinese pagodas is usually odd, the most common buildings with 5-13 levels. The imagination of architects erected graceful buildings that miraculously fit into the surrounding natural space and form a unique architectural ensemble. Traditionally, such buildings were built in the mountains, away from the noisy central regions of China.
Shanxi Pagoda, palace buildings
Of particular interest is the exclusivity of the 9-level pagoda (its height is 70 meters) in Shanxi province, built about a millennium ago. This is the oldest wooden building in the world, preserved to this day. Moreover, the uniqueness of the anti-seismic structure saved it from numerous destructive earthquakes.
Chinese pagodas in the style of palace buildings focus on the greatness of the emperor. Elegant, bent up roofs decorated with figures of birds and animals serve to divert rainwater away from the base of the building. This allows you to keep the wooden walls from moisture, making these structures more durable.
Japanese pagoda - Buddha music
Creating an atmosphere of spirituality, it is customary in the Japanese garden to erect Buddhist temples on higher elevations, natural or artificial. Traditionally, when arranging the garden, the gates are first installed, and then the Japanese pagoda, which is the central compositional object.
The height of the structure is not limited by anything except ... stone lanterns, which should be 1.5-2 times lower than the pagoda. In the country of the rising sun, they can be very small (up to 1 meter), located in a miniature garden. And this means that in the zone of visibility there are no stone lights at all. According to the classical canons, a pagoda is a structure consisting of individual stones and forming a square at the base. Its vertical section is a trapezoid with curved sides. The most interesting thing is that the stones in the Japanese pagoda are not fixed among themselves, and the building is held at the expense of their own weight. Therefore, during its construction, careful calculation and accuracy are very important.
Against the backdrop of magnificent landscapes in a pacifying, spiritualized atmosphere, multi-tiered pagodas reign, distinguished by their shapes, heights and bright colors. They invariably attract attention and excite the imagination of man.