The Significance of the three-door Architecture in Vietnamese Culture

The three-door gate is a familiar image at works such as temples, pagodas, mausoleums … But not everyone knows what is the architectural significance of the three-door gate in Vietnamese culture? Thanh minh 2021 The following article will be an answer to the meaning of this three-door architecture.

The architecture of the three-door gate

Three doors means three doors. The three-door gate is a gate designed with three aisles with a large middle door and two small doors on either side. The wall of the three-door gate is usually made of wood or built with brick or stone walls. The upper part is usually roofed, the two sides of the gate often have a carved line. The part connecting the walls and the pillars is the front of day chuyen san xuat nuoc dong binh the gate with the name of the pagoda, temple, tomb … or also the name of the door.

The three-door gate is usually divided into two types: the three-door gate with guard and the four-pillar gate.

Three-story gates with attic are small design gates that can be one-story, two-storey, three-story roof or with attic. For the three-door gate with the upper guard, it is often used to hang the bell, khanh ….

The four-pillar gate is the gate instead of designing the walls, it makes four pillars to create three aisles. The upper part connecting the four pillars is the frontal part.

The meaning of the three-door architecture in Vietnamese culture

The three-door gate is a popular architecture in Vietnamese works

The three-door gate is an indispensable part of the architecture of temples, pagodas, and tombs … That’s because the three-door gate has so many meanings for Vietnamese culture.

Meaning according to the Buddhist conception

The most common meaning of the architecture of the three-door gate is to represent the three Buddhist perspectives, including “sensible”, “unconcerned” and “neutral”. In which, “relationship” is to express the (false), “unimportant” represents the emptiness (impermanence) and “neutral” is to show the fidelity of both factors of materiality and emptiness.

But there is also another theory that explains that the three-door gate is the concept of ‘liberating doors’ consisting of infinite, formless and empty doors in order to enter Nirvana. Only when people understand the meaning of these three doors can people get rid of anger, anger, and suffering to find peace, peace of mind.

In addition, the three-door gate also has another meaning as the gate for the Three Jewels.

Meaning according to the concept of ancient kings

In the ancient kings’ times, the works often built the three gates. That is because the central rule is for the king, the left door is for the mandarin, the right door is for the mandarin. Therefore, village gates or temples, pagodas, communal houses, shrines and tombs have built the type of three-door gates to welcome the king to visit. On weekdays, the main door is usually closed to open only two doors on both sides except for big holidays or to welcome the king, when the lord comes to visit, the main door will open.

The above is an explanation of the significance of the three-door gate architecture in Vietnamese culture. Hopefully, with this sharing, everyone can understand more about this unique culture. If you want to learn more about stone gates, stone gates, and much unique information about the culture and architecture of the Vietnamese tombs.