First Storey
Front Courtyard Topics
First Storey Topics
Sangharama Guardians
Location Description
On the ground floor of the Bell Tower is an elegant altar housing a beautifully wood-carved Male Sangharama Guardian（男伽蓝）. Over at the Drum Tower, also on its ground floor is another altar, this one dedicated to the Female Sangharama Guardian（女伽蓝）.
About Sangharama Guardians in Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum
Both Sangharama Guardians measure approximately 120 (height) × 70 (width) × 60 (depth) cm. Seated on an ornate throne or seat, they are dressed in traditional Chinese costumes befitting those of ancient Chinese magistrates.
The male Guardian is depicted as a middle-aged man with a short black beard, drooping eyebrows and long earlobes. He wears a type of Guan Mao (冠帽) which is an official's headdress comprising of a bright blue headband fitting snugly just above his ears. Both sides of his headdress are - decorative and orange in colour and its front part is pentagonal and multi-coloured . He wears a layered bright red long flowing robes with light blue collar and a rectangular flap draping down to the level of his shins. The long outer sleeves flared up somewhat dramatically to reveal the inner—also red—robe. Just protruding from the bottom of his long robes is glimpsed the pointed fronts of his polychromatic boots, echoing the colours of his hat. This type of shoes was typically worn by ancient kings and officials on formal occasions. The long wide sleeves of their costume would reveal the white robe worn underneath.
With an expressionless solemn gaze to the front, his right hand holds a thin plain golden sceptre (a symbol of imperial authority) while his left hand rests on his left thigh.
The female Sangharama has long slender curving eyebrows and distinctly blue hair tied up behind an elaborate coronet. She sports long earlobes and a small finely formed mouth with rosy lips. She too gazes forward solemnly.
Her clothing is more flamboyant: she wears an ornamental gold necklace and a green scarf draped over her shoulders. Her main dress is orange in colour withyellow undersides. Underneath her dress, she wears a white robe. At the level of her elbows, there are blue, yellow, green and red ruffles (strips of cloth) on her sleeves. Her colourful shoes are shown sticking out from the bottom of her dress.
Her left hand is raised to the level of her shoulder with her open palm facing outwards; her middle and ring fingers are drawn in, holding a golden ring from which hung a small gold bell. The back of her right hand rests on her thigh with her index finger extended and the rest of her fingers clasped.
About Sangharama Guardians
Sangharama or Sanghagara (सँघाराम) is a Sanskrit word meaning 'community garden' (sangha, community + arama, garden) and thus 'monastery', or ‘temple’, the place, including its garden or grove, where dwells the Buddhist monastic community (Sangha). A famous sangharama was that of Kukkutarama in Pataliputra. The Kukkutura sangharama was later destroyed and its monks killed by Pusyamitra Sunga, according to the 2nd century CE Ashokavadana.
"Then King Pusyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went to the Kukkutarama. (...) Pusyamitra therefore destroyed the sangharama, killed the monks there, and departed."
— Ashokavadana, 133, trans. John Strong.
Sangharama Guardians (simplified Chinese: 伽蓝菩萨; traditional Chinese: 伽藍菩薩,; pinyin: Qíelán Púsà, Vietnamese: Già Lam) are only revered in Chinese mixed Buddhism-Taoism. The Sangharama Guardians refer to a group of devas and spirits who not only guard the Buddhist monasteries but also the dharma . Usually there are 18 Sangharama guardians in a Buddhist monastery.
In Chinese Buddhism, over time and as an act of syncretism, Guan Yu was seen as a representative Sangharama guardian of the temple and the garden in which it stands. His statue is usually located on the far left of the main shrine, opposite his counterpart, Skanda.
About Guan Yu
According to Buddhist legends, in 592, Guan Yu manifested himself one night before Ch'an Master Zhiyi, the founder of the Tiantai school of Buddhism, along with a retinue of spiritual beings. Zhiyi was then in deep meditation on Yuquan Hill (玉泉山) when he was distracted by Guan Yu's presence. Guan Yu then requested the master to teach him about the dharma. After receiving Buddhist teachings from the master, Guan Yu took refuge in the triple gems and also followed the Five Precepts. Henceforth, it is said that Guan Yu made a vow to become a guardian of temples and the dharma. Legends also claim that Guan Yu assisted Zhiyi in the construction of the Yuquan Temple (玉泉寺), which still stands today.
They were hand-carved and hand-painted by the master carver, Mr Zhang Weicheng from Yueqing Global Arts and Crafts Factory of Zhejiang Province, China.
Upon arrival from China, they were assembled in the Hundred Dragons Hall for the consecration ceremony before they were placed in their respective positions in the bell and drum towers.
Bibliography:
- William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2000, ISBN 81-208-0319-1, pages 212, 225