Gathering Southward under Secularization and Syncretism: Study of the Spatial-Temporal Distribution and Influencing Factors of Chinese Historical Buddhist Architecture in Zhejiang

Abstract

After Buddhism spread to the Zhejiang, it underwent sinicization, giving rise to Chinese Buddhist architecture and forming a secularized character. The spatial-temporal distribution of historical Buddhist architecture in Zhejiang is strongly representative of Buddhist architecture. From the perspective of religious cultural geography, this study takes 11 prefecture-level cities of Zhejiang as the basic research units, and employs the spatial-analysis method of ArcGIS to analyze the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of representative historical Buddhist architectural samples, and to explore the factors affecting their distribution. The research results indicate that the spatial distribution of representative historical Buddhist architectural samples in the Zhejiang is extensive, with a distinct single-core clustering characteristic. The mean-center movement of the representative historical Buddhist architectural samples in Zhejiang during different historical periods manifests in four distinct directional phases, overall moving from north to south. Natural, transportation, political, technological, economic, and religious cultural transmission factors collectively influence the spatial-temporal distribution of Buddhist architecture in Zhejiang. Especially the secularization of Buddhism and the syncretism of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism have been the primary drivers in the spatial-temporal distribution evolution of Buddhist architecture.