【正文】
湖北歸元寺英文導(dǎo)游詞 guiyuan temple chinese buddhist temples are never single buildings. they always consist of a group buildings following a fundamental patter, which can, however, be modified. the main buildings and their symmetrically corresponding secondary buildings form individual groups and courtyards. the entire temple plex is spacious. the building inside the plex are usually singlestoried and the main halls are sometimes decorated with a double roof. the towers, pavilions and halls can be multistoried structures. the chinese temple plex has been subject to great structural changes throughout the centuries. but temple architects follow the basic principles of secular structures from the tang dynasty onwards. the plexes stand on a central axis, usually a northsouth axis: eastwest only as an exception. (guiyuan temple is just the very exception.) the main buildings are strung along this central axis, their broadest sides facing south or east. the most important and most frequently presented building inside a buddhist temple plex are the main entrance gate, the bell and drum towers, the hall of the heavenly kings, the hall of the buddha and a pagoda. buddhism is said to be founded in india in the 6th century bc by siddatha gautama (bc565 – bc486), the son of a nobleman and member of the kshatriya caste near the present borders of india and nepal. buddhism advocates that all the people are created equal and turns against the caste system of brahmanism, so it was popular with the mon people. it was said that buddhism was spread to china in 2 bc. at the beginning,