Shichidō garan is a Japanese Buddhist term indicating the seven halls composing the ideal Buddhist temple compound. This compound word is composed by the wordshichidō, literally meaning "seven halls", and garan, meaning "temple". The term is often shortened to just garan. Which seven halls the term refers to varies, and it is also pointed out that 七堂 is possibly a misinterpretation of shitsudō, meaning a complete temple. In practice, shichidō garan often simply means a large temple with many buildings. See below for more details about what are the possible seven buildings included.
Etymology and history of the term
Garan in Japanese is an abbreviated form of the expression sōgya ranma, itself a transliteration of the Sanskrit saMghaaraama, literally meaning "garden for monks". A Japanese garan was originally just a park where monks gathered together with their teacher, but the term later came to mean "Buddhist temple". The word garan can be found in a record in Nihon Shoki dated 552, although no monastery of this time survives, so we don't know what they were like. The compound word shichidō garan is found in a much more recent literature of Edo period, referring to a complex that had a complete set of buildings forming an ideal Buddhist temple.
Early ''garan'' layout
A record dated 577 in the Nihon Shoki states that a mission including among others a temple architect and a Buddhist image maker was sent by Seong of Baekje to Japan, with more Buddhist related artisans sent over in the following years. Excavations carried out between 1979-1980 on the temple site of Jeongnimsa in Buyeo, capital of Baekje from 538 to 663, revealed that the original temple was laid out in a typical north-to-south style with key buildings put on the center axis, which was an arrangement closely adhered to at Shitennō-ji in Ōsaka.
Composition of a ''shichidō garan''
What is counted in the group of seven buildings, or shichidō, can vary greatly from temple to temple, from sect to sect, and from time to time. As mentioned above, shichidō garan could mean a complete temple or even simply a large temple complex. According to a 13th-century text, "a garan is a temple with a kon-dō, a tō, a kō-dō, a shōrō, a jiki-dō, a sōbō, and a kyōzō." These are the seven listed as shichidō elements of a Buddhism_in_Japan#Asuka_and_Nara_Periods temple. A 15th-century text describes how Zen school temples, Rinzai ) included a butsuden or butsu-dō, a hattō, a kuin, a sō-dō, a sanmon, a tōsu and a yokushitsu.
Loss of importance of the pagoda within the ''garan''
Because of the relics they contained, wooden pagodas used to be the centerpiece of the garan, the seven edifices considered indispensable for a temple. They gradually lost importance and were replaced by the kondō, because of the magic powers believed to lie within the images the building housed. This loss of status was so complete that the Zen sects, which arrived late in Japan from China, normally do not build any pagoda at all. The layout of four early temples clearly illustrates this trend: they are in chronological orderAsuka-dera, Shitennō-ji, Hōryū-ji, and Yakushi-ji. In the first, the pagoda was at the very center of the garan surrounded by three small kondō. In the second, a single kondō is at the center of the temple and the pagoda lies in front of it. At Hōryū-ji, they are one next to the other. Yakushi-ji has a single, large kondō at the center with two pagodas on the sides. The same evolution can be observed in Buddhist temples in China.
The gate at the entrance of a temple. It precedes the bigger and more important sanmon. B Sanmon
The gate in front of the butsuden, most commonly having two stories. The name is short for Sangedatsumon, lit. gate of the three liberations. Its openings symbolize the three gates to enlightenment. Entering, one can symbolically free him or herself from the three passions of ton, shin, and chi. C Kairō
See above D Butsuden
Lit. "Hall of Buddha". A building enshrining the statue of Buddha or of a bodhisattva and dedicated to prayer. E Hōdō
Lit. "Dharma hall". A building dedicated to lectures by the chief priest on Buddhism's scriptures. F Zendō
Lit. "hall of Zen". The building where monks practice zazen, and one of the main structures of a Zen garan. G Shōrō
A bellfry H Kuri
A building hosting the galleys, the kitchen, and the offices of a Zen garan. Another typical Zen garan, of which Kenchō-ji's is a good example, begins with the sōmon followed by the sanmon, the main hall, the lecture hall, and the chief abbot's residence all aligned more or less on a north to south axis, with the bath house and the sūtra repository to its east, and the monks' hall to its west.
