CHINESE ARCHITECTURE—BOERSCHMANN. 555 
for all the different kinds of gods who have been in any manner asso- 
clated with the other world. One of these temples enthrones the ser- 
pent king. Eight serpents coil around the columns before him, and 
one hangs down from the middle. This is in contrast with the eight 
blessed dragons with the pearl, as in the temple of Kuanyin, the god- 
dess of mercy, on the sacred island, Pu-té-shan, in the extreme east. 
In this manner the embodiment of the numbers 3, 8, and 9 may be 
developed to ideally represent the infinity of phenomena. This idea 
is embodied by the impressive aureole of the Buddha with his thou- 
sand arms and hands in the temple of Great Lamentations at 
T’aiyiianfu, the capital of Shansi. Everything in our physical world 
as separated from the pure idea of the divine and from the true nature 
is imperfect, piecework, and fleeting. The Buddhist says that the best 
feature of matter is its transitoriness. All creatures may groan and 
bewail their existence and endeavor to become a Buddha from whom 
they came forth as the arms of the statue. This is the signification of 
the Buddha of Great Lamentations, of whom there are three gigantic 
images in the spacious halls of this temple. 
The rhythm in the infinity of the world of phenomena is illustrated 
by the Buddha in the temple of the 500 Lohan in Suchon. He is 
here represented with four bodies growing out of the middle and 
having his thousand arms stretched out diagonally. These are the 
basic numbers 4 and 8 of the rhythmic world. They correspond 
to the four sacred Buddhist mountains, the four great Bodhisatvas 
and the swarm of gods throughout the world. 
The old Chinese temples formed a quadrangle with corner turrets 
and four gates. The Buddhist thus conceives the spiritual world 
and represents it as Buddha’s sacred castle. 
Buddha’s sacred castle is a representation of the conception of the 
world as a whole, like a city, as the Chinese think of their country 
with its five sacred mountains. The whole is inclosed in a quadrangle 
by a crenalated wall with the round sanctuary in the center. There 
is a gate on each side, four in all, and a tower on each corner. Four 
evardians, or disciples, stand on each side wall or sixteen in all (pl. 5, 
fig. 1). - 
The idea of having a stronghold of faith capable of military de- 
fense is actually carried out in Jehol in the Lama temple Potala, a 
copy of the castle of the late Dalailama in Lhassa. Massive walls 
surround the interior five structures, the approaches to which are 
terraced-like fortifications to secure the battlement and it is a symbol 
of challenge by the shield-bearer of religion. 
The idea is developed on a grand scale in the plans of Peking and 
other large cities. The Emperor’s throne is in the hall in the center 
of the palace of Peking. Numerous courts surround this palace, 
which all lie within the forbidden red city, this in turn 1s located 
