Huayan Lower Monastery, Bhagavat Sutra Hall  華嚴寺下寺薄伽教藏殿

Building Information

The Bhagavat Sutra Hall is located in the southeast side of Huayan Monastery. It serves as the main hall of the Lower Monastery and is the scripture repository of larger site. The hall is also the earliest and only remaining building from the Liao dynasty in Huayan Monastery. The repository is a tingtang 廳堂 style structure with a hip-gable roof. It is five bays (25.65 m) wide and four bays (18.47 m) deep, facing east. Due to its function as a storage hall for the canonical writings (jiaozang 教藏, Skt. pitaka) of the Bhagavat (Baojia or Boqie 薄伽), one term used for Sakyamuni Buddha (DDB), only the three central bays of the front facade have doors. To ensure the secure storage of scriptures, the gable ends (shanmian 山面) are solid walls and there is a small window in the central bay of the back wall. Although the building seems simple from the outside, the solid walls are lined with wall cabinets for scriptures (bizang 壁藏) that are exquisitely constructed using xiaomuzuo 小木作 (small-scale carpentry) to resemble a miniature heavenly palace (中国文物地图集 山西分册, 78; Hong 2017; Steinhardt 1997, 124-140). 2

The Sutra Hall is situated on one end of a spacious platform measuring 4.2 meters high, and there is a broad “moon terrace" in front (yuetai 月臺). The single-eaves hip-gable roof incorporates seventeen different types of bracket sets, including some of the most complex found in Liao dynasty architecture. Being a sutra repository, the hall is dark inside, and the different shaped pillars suggest that multiple repairs have been done to the hall over time (中国文物地图集 山西分册, 78; Steinhardt 1997, 124-140). 3

薄伽教藏殿位於華嚴寺的東南方，是下寺主殿，也是華嚴寺的藏經殿。它是華嚴寺中現存最古老的建築，也是唯一留存下來的遼代建築。 它採用廳堂式建築風格，頂部為歇山頂，寬五間（25.65米），深四間（18.47米），朝向東方。 由於其功能是用於存放經卷（"教藏" Skt. pitaka），除了正面三間有門之外，兩山面都是實牆，後牆有一扇高窗。這棟建築外觀雖簡陋，但藏經閣（俗稱壁藏）卻是用小木作小木作精雕細琢，猶如一座微型天宮（中國文物地圖集山西分冊，78；Hong 2017；Steinhardt 1997，124-140）。 2

大殿坐落在4.2米高的台基，前設有寬闊的大月台。 它採用了單簷歇山頂的設計，屋頂採用了十七種不同類型的枓栱，其中包括遼代建築中最複雜的一些建築結構。 作為一個藏經殿，其大廳內非常昏暗，不同形狀的柱子暗示了多次修復的痕跡（中國文物地圖集 山西分冊，78；Steinhardt 1997，124-140）。 3