Buddhist Monasteries in Buddha’s period

Abstract

The objectives of this article are 1) to study the ideas behind building temple during the era of Buddha 2) to study the components of temple durig the era of Buddha. The source of data is mainly from Tripitaka, including the commentary and other documents. The result of study is;

                During the Buddha's era, temple was called Arama, Avasa, Sangharama, and Vihara. The idea behind temple was, first its neccessity for monks and female monks as a place for staying and meditating.Second it was from the faith of the Buddhist followers to support Buddhism. Those components of temple are Vihara, Kuti (Monk’s cell), Ubosata, dining hall, furnace house, robe storehouse, hall for walking meditation, well, and toilet. The first temple was Veluvana Vihara built by King Bimbisara. But the temple longest accomodated for Buddha was Jatavara Vihara,  built by Anatapindika.

                The characters of temple and monk's lodgement in temple during the Buddha's era were with the minimalist style. all component usage was based on Vinaya (monk's principle) and harmonious with nature.