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The Mystery as a Symbolic Idiom — A Buddhist Temple in South China


Type

Article

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Authors

AIJMER, Göran 

Description

This essay explores a southern Chinese Buddhist temple as an assembly of symbolic spaces and of objects distributed over these spaces. The symbolic construction is regulated by explicit rules as to distinctions and directions. The objects fill the spaces with a Buddhist story line by clustering elements of Buddhist creeds that are largely unknown to worshippers. These objects have been provided with an artistic form. Taken together, beautiful things and the design of the halls form an aesthetic iconic vision which carries a nebulous moral message. In the temple, exclusive discourse is converted into inclusive iconic displays, theological speculations into demotic transcendental experiences.

Keywords

South China, Buddhism, Temples, Symbology, Cultural grammars

Journal Title

Cambridge Journal of China Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2054-3727

Volume Title

11

Publisher

Publisher DOI

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