Shanmen

The Gate of Shanmen or Hall of the Shanmen or simply Shanmen (simplified Chinese: 山门殿; traditional Chinese: 山門殿; pinyin: Shānméndiàn)^[a], is the entrance gate of a Buddhist temple.^[1] In ancient times, nearly all Buddhist temples had a single Shanmen gate leading into a large hall for the temple.^[1] Today, it is observed that most of the surviving Chinese Buddhist temples follow the hall style but have three main gates incorporated into their construction.^[1] After successive wars and cultural discontinuity, most Chan Buddhist temples have changed the middle gate into a hall entrance, called "Hall of Shanmen".^[1] The Shanmen is the most important gate of a Chan Buddhist sect temple.^[1]

One theory is that "Shanmen" takes its literal meaning of "Mountain Gate", because temples were traditionally built in forested mountain areas where Chan monks could seclude away from secular life.^[1] Another suggests that during various episodes of suppression of Buddhism in Chinese history, monks moved their monasteries deep into the mountains, and later built gates at the foot of the mountain to guide pilgrims to the temples.^[1] A further theory is that "Shanmen" is a corruption of "Sanmen", or "Three Gates", referring to the "three gateways" to liberations.^[1](三解脫門) in the Dharma – the "Kongmen" (空門; emptiness liberation), "wuxiangmen" (無相門; no-aspects liberation) and "wuyuanmen" (無愿門; desireless liberation).^[2][3] This latter view correlates with the traditional structure of Chan temples which included three gateways, said to symbolise the three gateways.^[1]

Historic Shanmens in China are either a gateway of the paifang style, or a more substantial building, typically with three archways.^[1] When a more substantial temple building is built, the two side gateways might be simplified to arched or circular windows, leaving only the middle gate for access.^[1] The gate building may be called the "Hall of Three Liberations" or "Hall of the Mountain Gate".^[1]

Traditionally, if the Shanmen takes the form of a gate building, the statues of two figures from Buddhist lore are erected in that hall to guard the entrance, identified as "Heng and Ha" or the "A-un" Nio in Japanese.^[1] Such is the arrangement at the Jietai Temple in Beijing.^[1]

In some Chan temples, the Shanmen building is combined with the Hall of the

In niches positioned on both sides of a Shanmen Hall, there will be enshrined a statue of a heavenly deity with a Vajra in his hand.^[1] These deities are called Nio—Buddha's warrior attendant.^[1] They may also be known as the "Yakasha Deity" (夜叉神) or "Zhijingang" (執金剛).^[1] Vajra originally refers to the short metal weapon of the King of All Heavenly Deities, named Indra in Indian mythology.^[1] It symbolises solidness and sharpness in Buddhism.^[1] Nio is a Dharmapala who protects Buddhism with the ever present Vajra in his hand.^[1]

Originally, there was one Nio incorporated into a temple.

• Hover over pictures to view captions
• 
  General Heng (哼將軍) inside the Shanmen Hall of the Hongfa Temple, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
• 
  The Hall of Mount Gate at the Jietai Temple, Beijing. The arched windows represent the traditional side gateways.
• 
  The shanmen at the

  Changsha City, Hunan

  province.
• 
  General Ha

  guarding the Shanmen Hall inside the Hongfa Temple, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

• Sanmon or Sanmen

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shanmen.

• Wang Guixiang (2016-06-17). 《中国汉传佛教建筑史——佛寺的建造、分布与寺院格局、建筑类型及其变迁》 [The History of Chinese Buddhist Temples] (in Chinese). Beijing: Tsinghua University Press.
  ISBN 9787302427056
  .
• Zhang Yuhuan (2014-06-01). 《图解中国佛教建筑、寺院系列》 (in Chinese). Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House.
  ISBN 9787515401188
  .

External links