Architectural Principles of Early Vajrayana Buddhism

The proposed project deals with the architecture of early Vajrayana Buddhism in the western Himalayas. Its aim is to research the proportional system and iconometry of the architectural space. The applicant`s recently published architectural studies conclude that this period`s architecture is based on a geometric order which is identical to the concept of a mandala. This had already been claimed by Prof. Giuseppe Tucci in 1937, but mathematical and geometrical proof had, until now, not been produced. This project`s aim is the complete elaboration of the proportional system and the reconstruction of the methodical process, in which an ideal mandala plan has been transformed into an architectural plan, i.e. a practically useable configuration of rooms. The reconstruction of this design method also allows references to a building`s underlying type of original mandala. Besides the conceptual aspects of the architecture and the iconometry of the space, attention will be paid to interaction of the space and the contained decorative elements. Questions such as the origin of this kind of planning and construction principles, which arrived in Tibet in the 10th and 11th century, will be equally dealt with as will questions about the possible influence of important personalities (eg. Rin-chen bzang-po and Atisha) or certain religious schools on the architectural design. The understanding of a space`s structure beyond the built form is a significant criteria when judging a religious monument correctly. The judging of the order of contents such as paintings and sculptures is only possible once proper knowledge about the spatial order has been established. Finally, the project will provide new insight on significant aspects of the Buddhist`s way of religous conceptualisation of space and its practical application. The project`s significance lies in the primary research within the area of Buddhist and Tibetan architecture. In addition one can assume that the applied architectural concepts used here are based on North Indian samples. Consequent analysis of the architecture of this once minor region of the Buddhist part of Asia allows precious conclusions with regards to the religious architecture and art of India and perhaps even Central Asia to be made. Due to the almost complete destruction of the monastic centres there by Islamic invasions and increasing dilapidation according to recent climatic changes this unique study will otherwise be hardly possible.

The major results of research conducted on architectural monuments in the context of early Vajrayana Buddhism included identification of fundamental changes in the spatial conceptualisation during the formative phase of the doctrine as well as the identification of variants of a specific proportional system that was particularly related to that development. The basic idea of an ideal cosmosolgical order that became the over-all pattern of spatial configuration in Vajrayana Buddhism goes back to the five-fold order of the five families consisting of one central Buddha and four directional Buddhas.This earlier Mahayana concepts was adopted and continously transformed into a new architectural language through the standardization of the so-called cruciform temple type. The related building activity took place in the regions of Bengal from the 7th/8th centuries onwards. This type of temple was based on a central stupa shrine to which four sub-shrines were attached at the cardinal positions. As a consequence the architectural concepts of the stupa and the temple were merged and the stupa literally became the centre of an ideal mandala-like order. At the same time the stupa itself inherited the symbolic meaning of a mandala. Another significant step was the introduction of a chamber into the stupa-concept. While the early tantric monuments of Bengal such as the central temples of Paharpur or Vikramashila had solid cores, the later cruziform shines such as the Bhasu Vihara temple from Bengal were provided with accessible, central cellas. This development mirrored the tantric practice of meditation when the practitioner literally could take the central position of the mandala. Thus architecture was conceptualized as a reflexion of the basic developments leading from Mahayana to Vajrayana. On the architectural level the result was the transformation from centralized, five-fold to oblong-shaped lay-outs. The proportional system based on the ratio 1:1,41 (side length of a square : diagonal i.e. external circle) could be identified at the 100-Stupa Temple of Yarkhoto (probably dating from the late 8th century) in the Turfan region earliest and at all the monuments of the `Second Diffusion of Buddhism` in Western Tibet that were analized so far including the main temples of Nyarma,Tabo and Tholing from around AD 1000. Inside the later monuments from Ladakh (11th/12th Century) proof could be given for the use of an over-all proportional and structural concept which incorporated the system of the mandala cycles into the plan of their architectural environment. Thus temple architecture and all contained elements were forming a conceptual and formal unit on the physical and on the meta- physical level.