Abstract
Although scholarly terminology should have clear meanings as signs, Korean pagoda terminology has become jargon and is creating difficulties in communicating meanings which are far from the originally intended meanings; this terminology is sometimes notated in dead language, meaning old Chinese characters, or Japanese styled Chinese characters. Nobody has asked questions on the terminology itself which has long been commonly used for a century, since the Japanese-ruling period. One of the main reasons for this error is that the Indian Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit has been translated into Chinese with vague understanding of form and meaning of stupa since 3rd Century A.D. On the other hand, the English-language terminology, already built by Indology scholars since the beginning of the 20th century, consists of easier language and clearer meanings. This paper examines misunderstanding and mistranslation of the original Indian stupa terms and suggests new terminology in current, easier language.