Eternal ritual in an infinite cosmos
Subtitle: the Chaoyang North Pagoda (1043--1044)
By: by Youn-mi Kim
Series: Collections of the Harvard University Archives
Published: 2010
Language: eng
Number of pages: 468
Description: This dissertation examines the relationship among space, ritual, and cosmology in medieval Buddhism by means of a comprehensive analysis of the pagoda, the most representative architectural typology of East Asian Buddhism throughout its two-thousand-year history. The Chaoyang North Pagoda (1043-44), a Liao-dynasty (916-1125) structure in northeast China whose excavation was completed only in the 1990s, provides an excellent focus for such a study. After Buddhism was transmitted from India to East Asia, a cosmological scheme of unprecedented sophistication, which consists of an infinitely expanding multiverse framed by a fractal-like structure, was developed in the seventh century by the Huayan school, a uniquely East Asian Buddhist sect. Examination of the Chaoyang North Pagoda reveals that it was designed to be an architectural epitome of the trichiliocosm described in the literature of the Huayan school. It conceptually transforms physically finite architectural space into an infinitely expanding cosmic space. Thus, examination of this space allows us to see how an Indian architectural prototype--namely, the stupa, which was envisioned to be the center of the cosmos--later developed in China. More importantly, however, it suggests that Buddhist architectural structures should be viewed as embodiments of vision rather than understood only in terms of their physical shape.

Further examination of the inner space of the pagoda reveals that its relic crypt simulated a miniaturized version of the altar for chanting the Buddhist incantation known as the Us[dotbelow]n[dotbelow] is[dotbelow]avijaya Dharan[dotbelow] i . This suggests that the pagoda was designed not simply as static reliquary on an architectural scale but was intended to be a dynamic space wherein the benefits of ritual could be extended infinitely and eternally. The discovery of this ritual altar inside a permanently sealed space raises further questions regarding our present notions of ritual and ritual space. Lastly, my comparison of the ritual altar configuration from this Liao pagoda with documents concerning a twelfth-century Japanese ritual brings this study into transnational dialogue. It reveals hitherto unknown connections between continental ritual practices and the purportedly indigenous Japanese esoteric ritual known as the Nyoho Sonsho Ritual, practiced by the Shingon school since 1109. This discovery testifies to the importance of the Liao dynasty, which is drawing increasing academic attention due to recent archaeological excavations, in completing our understanding of the landscape of medieval East Asian politics and religion.
Notes: "May 2010."

Thesis (Ph.D., Dept. of History of Art and Architecture)--Harvard University, 2010.

Includes bibliographical references.