Abstract
The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of Zen Buddhist temple's building composition of the Northern Song dynasty, through the analysis of literature historical material, such as Seonwon chenggyu(禪苑淸規), Cham cheontae odaesan gi(參天台五臺山記) and so on. The building composition method of Zen Buddhist temple in Northern Song dynasty, which grasped from the Seonwon chenggyu, reflects the actual situation of the temples in that time. And it was ascertained that, the Zen Buddhist temple's building composition of the Northern Song dynasty was basically same to that of Southern Song dynasty. And the comparative analysis was attempted between Zen Buddhist temples and that of other Buddhism sect described in Cham cheontae odaesan gi. From this analysis, the common features as Buddhism temple and the characteristics of building composition as Zen Buddhist temple was clarified.