The Hall of Sangharama Palace is an important building in
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...
Buddhist temples. It is the east annex hall of the
Mahavira Hall. The term "Sangharama" () refers to "gardens of monks" (). In
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
, it originally refers to constructing the base of monks' dormitories () and later it refers to the general term of temples, including land and buildings.
Description
Ancient India
In the Hall of Sangharama Palace, King
Pasenadi
Pasenadi ( pi, पसेनदि ; sa, प्रसेनजित् ; c. 6th century BCE) was an ruler of Kosala. Sāvatthī was his capital. He succeeded after . He was a prominent (lay follower) of Gautama Buddha, and built many Buddh ...
, Prince Jeta and
Anathapindika
Anathapindika ( pi, Anāthapiṇḍika; sa, Anāthapiṇḍada); born Sudatta, was a wealthy merchant and banker, believed to have been the wealthiest merchant in Savatthi in the time of Gautama Buddha. He is considered to have been the chief mal ...
are enshrined. They created the grand Jetavana Vihara () for the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
to live and preach, which was a significant contribution to the creation and spread of Buddhism. So they were regarded as Sangharama God, namely the guardian of the land.
China
In
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
, general
Guan Yu
Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...
in the
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
period (220–280) is often enshrined in the Hall of Sangharama Palace. It is recorded that in the
Sui dynasty (581–618), when the founder of the
Tiantai school, master
Zhiyi
Zhiyi (; 538–597 CE) also Chen De'an (陳德安), is the fourth patriarch of the Tiantai tradition of Buddhism in China. His standard title was Śramaṇa Zhiyi (沙門智顗), linking him to the broad tradition of Indian asceticism. Zhiyi i ...
was in Yuquan Mountain in
Jingzhou
Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...
,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...
, he saw many strange monsters. A deity with long beard who claimed to be Guan Yu appeared and talked to him. Zhiyi preached Buddha Dharma to him, which moved him and he finally devoted himself to Buddhism and became the Dharmapalas of Buddha. Including Guan Yu as Dharmapalas of Buddha promoted the spread of Buddhism in China.
References
Further reading
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{{Buddhist temples in China
Chinese Buddhist architecture