A Mahavira Hall, usually simply known as a Main Hall, is the main hall or building in a traditional

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

, enshrining representations of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

and various other

buddhas In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the supreme goal of Buddhism, variously described as awakening or enlighten ...

and

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

s. It is encountered throughout

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

Names

From their importance and use, they are often simply known in English as the temples' "Main" or "Great Halls". The term "Mahavira Hall", also encountered as "Mahāvīra Hall" or "Hall of the Mahāvīra", is a reverse translation, employing the original

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

term in place of its Chinese or English equivalent. They are also known as the Precious Hall of the Great Hero, the Hall of Great Strength, or the Daxiongbao Hall. Less often, a main hall is called an "

adytum In Classical architecture, the ''adyton'' ( , 'innermost sanctuary, shrine', ) or (Latin) was a restricted area within the ''cella'' of a Greek or Roman temple. The ''adyton'' was frequently a small area at the farthest end of the cella from ...

", after the equivalent area in Greco-

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...

s. It is also sometimes misunderstood as the "Great, Powerful, and Precious Palace"..

Description

Mahavira Hall is the main hall of a Buddhist temple. It is generally located in the north of the Heavenly King Hall and serves as the core architecture of the whole temple and also a place for monks to practice. Statues of

Sakyamuni 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 legends, he was ...

, the founder of Buddhism are enshrined in the hall. Sakyamuni statues enshrined in the Mahavira Hall have three modeling postures. The first is sitting in the lotus posture with the left hand placing on the left foot and the right hand dropping naturally, representing that he has sacrificed all he has for people before he becomes Buddha. All these can only be proved by the ground. This posture of the statues is called "posture of becoming Buddha" (). The second is sitting in the lotus posture with the left hand placing on the left foot and the right hand's finger ringing. This is called "posture of preaching" (), showing his postures when preaching. The third is a standing Buddha with the left hand dropping, signifying the hope that all people can fulfill their wishes, and the right hand stretching arm, indicating all people can relieve their sufferings. This posture is called "Sandalwood Buddha" (). Usually two disciples' statues are placed next to the statue of Sakyamuni, the older is called " Mahakassapa" and the middle-aged is called "

Ānanda Ānanda (Pali and Sanskrit: आनंद; 5th4th century BCE) was the primary attendant of the Buddha and one of his ten principal disciples. Among the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda stood out for having the best memory. Most of the texts of ...

". At the back of Sakyamuni's statue, three statues of Bodhisattva facing the north are usually enshrined. They are Manjushri Bodhisattva riding a lion,

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Samantabhadra () is a great bodhisattva in Buddhism associated with practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, he forms the Shakyamuni Triad in Mahayana Buddhism. He is the patron of the ''Lotus Su ...

riding a white elephant and

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

Bodhisattva riding a dragon. Some temples also set island scene behind Sakyamuni's statue and only enshrine the statue Guanyin Bodhisattva with a clean vase of water and a willow branch in it.

Examples

* The Mahavira Hall of

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Longhua Temple The Longhua Temple (; Shanghainese: ''Lon-ngu-zy''; alternatively Lunghwa Temple; literally ''"Dragon Flower Temple''") is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the Maitreya Buddha in Shanghai. Although most of the present day buildings date from la ...

* The Mahavira Hall of

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

Lingyin Temple Lingyin Temple () is a prominent Chan Buddhist temple near Hangzhou that is renowned for its many pagodas and grottos. Its name is commonly and literally translated into English as Temple of the Soul's Retreat. The monastery is the largest ...

* The Main Hall of

's Jing'an Temple * The Main Hall of

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...

Shanhua Temple Shanhua Temple () is a Buddhist temple located in Datong, Shanxi Province, China. The temple was first founded during the early 8th century of the Tang dynasty, but its earliest surviving building dates from the 11th century. The temple was heavil ...

* The Main Hall of

Gaobeidian Gaobeidian () is a county-level city in central Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Baoding Prefecture-level city. Gaobeidian has 4 subdistricts, 6 towns, and 4 townships, and a total of 442 villages. I ...

Kaishan Temple Kaishan Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Xincheng village near Gaobeidian, Hebei Province, China. The temple was first founded in the Tang dynasty, and grew large and important in the subsequent centuries until declining in recent centurie ...

* The Main Hall of Yixian's Fengguo Temple * The Main Hall of

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Ocean Banner Temple The Hoi Tong Monastery, also known by many other names, is a Buddhist temple and monastery on Henan Island in Guangzhou, China. It shares its grounds with the city's . Names The official English form of the name is "Hoi Tong Monastery", ...

References

External links

{{Buddhist temples in China Buddhist architecture Buddhism in China

Names

Description

Examples

See also

References

External links