Emergence of Temple Gardens
2 min readIn this period, Buddhism was widespread and won the support from royal families.
Monks set to construct gardens on a large scale. Monastic architecture was closely connected with gardens. At beginning, Emperors believing in Buddhism introduced temples into their own palaces and hunting parks, where worship of gods was one ofprimary functions. In the Qin and Han times, under the influence of the immortality ideology, the pattern of “one lake with three isles”was adopted to await the arrival of the immortals. Therefore, it is quite normal and reasonable to build temples in gardens and hunting parks.
There are some principles for choosing the location of temple gardens. First, it should be close to water; thus it would be convenient for monks to fetch water for their daily use. Second, it should be near woods or forests. It is not only for the sake of beautiful scenery but also for getting firewood easily. Third, it should be cool, sunny, and against wind.A place with the three conditions must be a tranquil and beautiful place. Therefore, it was a convention to build temples in deep mountains.
In the feudal society, emperors and nobles built gardens and hunting parks only for their own pleasure; the poor grassroots could enjoy the beauty of gardens only when they went to temples to pray for a good life. Therefore, in this period of time, the development of gardens was closely related to religion. Different from the imperial and private gardens, temple gardens were public and, as a result, had a unique style. In China, some famous mountains, such as Mount Lushan, Mount Huangshan, Mount Songshan, and Mount Zhongnanshan, are all scattered with temples, which are considered to be perfect summer resorts.
Generally speaking, gardens and parks in this period largely followed the pattern of immortal isles derived from the Qin and Han times. Nevertheless, social changes in fad and conditions, political turmoil, and people’s varied tastes and interests brought about great changes to the structure and the appearance of gardens. At the time, the belief in immortality was gradually abandoned and the idea of enjoying life may become prevalent. Accordingly, the garden’s function of worshiping gods and pray gave place to recreation and entertainment. The natural mountain and water gardens became trendy forms of gardens. Palaces, halls, and storied buildings, were leading architecture in such a garden, where animals ancbirds were still raised for entertainment. The old forms of palaces and hunting parks came off the stage little by little; however, the techniques of building mountains with rocks and forming streams with water were maintained and passed fromone generation to another. Mountains and waters later became the essence of gardens.
