Design Principles of Early Stone Pagodas in Ancient Korean Architecture: Case Studies on the Stone Pagodas at Chongnimsa and Kamunsa Buddhist Temples

Ancient books on East Asian mathematics introduced to the Korean Peninsula enrich our understanding of the arithmetic notions that mold the creative thought processes of the ancients. They believed that all objects in the universe could be composed of circles and squares and all items could be expre...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cha, Juhwan (Author) ; Kim, Young Jae (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2019]
In: Religions
Year: 2019, Volume: 10, Issue: 3, Pages: 1-18
Further subjects:B inscribed and circumscribed circles
B Zhoubi Suanshu
B stone pagodas at the Chongnimsa and Kamunsa Buddhist Temples
B Jiuzhang Suanshu
B arithmetic proportional system
B the square root of 2 (?2)
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Summary:Ancient books on East Asian mathematics introduced to the Korean Peninsula enrich our understanding of the arithmetic notions that mold the creative thought processes of the ancients. They believed that all objects in the universe could be composed of circles and squares and all items could be expressed in terms of geometrical profiles. Through the combination of circles and squares, the ancient East Asians expressed the order of the world and unraveled it mathematically. These principles are evident in the construction principles of early Korean stone pagodas. In particular, the square root of 2 (√2) is a very important number in the delineation represented in the consolidation of inscribed and circumscribed circles with squares. Further, the square root of 2 is applied as a design principle in the construction of the stone pagodas at the temples Chongnimsa and Kamunsa. This article demonstrates that the ancients on the continuous impact of the Jiuzhang Suanshu and the Zhoubi Suanshu constructed the pagodas complying with design principles based on the arithmetic and geometric proportional systems of √2 times, which are intended to adjust compositional proportions and the gradual decrease in length to shape the tripartite partition of the foundation, the pagoda body, and the finial in stone pagodas.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel10030208