Impact of inplanted Monastic Architecture on the way of practice of Buddhism

Abstract

Architecture is considered as a form or art which makes a direct appeal to the best in the human being. Art communicates massages through the expressions produced by it. The expressions are created by individual elements. by an assembly of elements into built forms and by the spatial quality of the compositional forms involving several built f'ol111S as well as nature components. Thus architecture of the built forms and the architectural planning of spaces, infuse an imperceptible quality into. expressing. communicating and evoking ideas, moods and feelings in the user. These in tern affect their behavioral patterns. Therefore the built environment should accommodate appropriate architectural expressions 111 order to facilitate the correct behavioral patterns of the user./ Buddhist religious places are those that help to develop the correct behavioral patterns in the user far the desired physical and metal development. Thus these places needed particular works of architecture and spatial planning to achieve its goal. The environment which facilitates correct physical and mental development maybe defined as a Buddhist Environment./ The building called 'Aroma' which were used earlier purely for the monks' living purposes, became places of worship with some later additions such as the 'Cathay', 'Bo tree', soon after the Parinibbana (passing away) of the Buddha. With the increase in the monk community. some other buildings were also added such as refectory, Janthagara medicinal bath). dining halls etc. Such developed places were called monasteries./ The Architectural planning of spaces and the built forms of Buddhist monasteries thus evolved to satisfy the basic needs of both groups namely mental and physical discipline. As taught by Buddha, a person is a combination of "Nama" and "Rupa" (Nama= mind. "Rupa ~ physical body). To discipline the mind, it is needed to discipline the body. One cannot be achieved without the other. The Buddhists achieve this ill t\VO ways: namely 'i\misa puja, 'Prathipththi puja. 'Amisa puja means concentrating on the good virtues of the blessed one and offering flowers. lighting oil lamps dc to him in a disciplined pasture. 'Prathipaththi puja' means the practice of the Dhamrna. following the path laid by the Buddha, which involves meditation, learning Dhamrna, etc. Both these facilities were provided in a monastery./ It is ail obvious factor that the above mentioned calm and quiet environment cannot be seen in most of the contemporary temples. The architecture of these temples is not compatible with the ancient Sri Lankan temple architecture and the buildings are far from the simplicity and religiousness. Modern architectural techniques have been used for the construction of these temples and they have caused damages to the impression that 'we are in a temple' among the worshippers. This dissertation tries to understand this problem by providing information on how the recent temple architecture is changed due to cultural, political, economic and social changes and how the worshippers' way of practice of Buddhism is changed due to these changes in contemporary temple architecture. The study focuses on such three contemporary temples where such influences are very obvious. They are; It Kalutara Bo diva in Kalahari From the observation by the researcher himself and information collected from knowledgeable persons, it is very clear that the architecture of these three temples is far away from the traditional Sri Lankan temple architecture. All three temples arc highly commercialized and supplementary buildings are added to the temple premises with the intention of drawing money to the temples. The temple premises look very complicated and congested with decorative buildings. The simplicity and calmness which can be experienced in ordinary temples can hardly be seen in these three temples. This situation has lessened the devotedness and faithfulness to the temples among the worshippers. The worshippers who perform their worships just physically without having much mental concentration, is sometimes evident in these temple premises. It may be mainly because of the busyness and tightness of the temple atmosphere which obstructs calm and religious feelings of the worshippers' minds.