• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.159-169
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• 2011

This research aims to discover how the pure land(Sukkavati), which had the greatest impact on ordinary people since the Shilla period, are represented in the Buddhist temples. This study first looked into the seven landscapes of the pure land, which are written on the $Amit{\bar{a}}yurdhy{\bar{a}}na$ $S{\bar{u}}tra$ a reliance on $s{\bar{u}}tras$ of the Pure Land School. Then, their meaning in the modern world were interpreted. Next the research moved on to the next step to see how the spirit and ideas of the pure land are shown in temples of the Pure Land School. Korean temples of the Pure Land School were found to faithfully embody the landscapes of the pure land in the $Amit{\bar{a}}yurdhy{\bar{a}}na$ $S{\bar{u}}tra$. One might say that those landscape traits of the temples surveyed are common among all Korean buddhist temples, but in the temples of the Pure Land School. those traits consistently reflect special concepts, forming their landscape identity. But ponds, on which the $Amit{\bar{a}}yurdhy{\bar{a}}na$ $S{\bar{u}}tra$ and the picture of $Amit{\bar{a}}yurdhy{\bar{a}}na$ $S{\bar{u}}tra$ put huge emphasis and drawn without an exception, were hard to find among the temples surveyed. This means that previous idea that a pond was an indispensible part in the temples of the Pure Land School needs to be corrected.